over heated and coolant everywhere
 

Ugh. Driving home and all the suddon I get a battery light then no power steering and then my temp gauge shoots up to red. Pull over and shut it off to find that the coolant is empty now and I've got it all over the engine bay and it's all over the ground...

Tow truck on its way I hope it's not serious.

Overheating is a potential for disaster....Hopefully it didn't do any major damage though!! Keep us posted!

I'm betting the serpentine belt was tossed, likely from a seized water pump or idler/tensioner bearing.

Hmm sounds possible. I'm still here waiting on a tow :(.

Should be easy to tell. Lift the hood and look! Flashlight should be in your glovebox.

Battery light first was the clue.

the belt looks in tact but its hard to tell. its sitting in my driveway right now until i can get it towed to the dealership when we get back from traveling...

ill try and get a quick shot of the engine bay here shortly.

:iagree:

yep... the belt came off. See the pics.

So thinking back, I heard kind of a quick squeek then a pop then lost power steering and the battery light came on. At that point I'm at the intersection. Once the light turns green I turn, then I see steam and the temp gauge hits the red so I pull over and shut it off.

Now I have my disabled lump in the driveway :((( Flying out of town tomorrow so I feel helpless.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--...127_211106.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-U...127_211116.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-y...127_211123.jpg

Hopefully all you did was blow the expansion tank. You'll definitely need a cooling system pressure test to check for blown head gasket though.

2002 X5 3.0 244,000 miles
2004 325i 109,000 miles

That belt must have stretched a crap ton since the last time I had an oil change. The techs said everything was fine not a month ago.