serpentine belt replaced still not running

[chatty]

buick 97 lesabre My serpentine belt flew off. I towed my car back home. replaced the belt. still wont run. no spark?

[HotZ28]

Did the belt fragment when it came apart? If so, some of the metal strands may have damaged the crank position sensor, associated wiring, or reluctor ring behind the harmonic balancer. Recently, I had a customer with a 95 PA Ultra that did the same thing, in addition to the balancer & CKPS, it wrapped metal strands around the power steering pump drive shaft, and took out the front seal. We had to replace the balancer, CKPS and power steering pump.

[chatty]

Yep it fragmented alright. Sooo, looks like I will have to have it towed to a service station. Unless perhaps you could tell me how to check the crank position sensor? You happened to be my only reply but yet I think you got it. thanks so much.

[HotZ28]

You can feel behind the balancer to see if you have belt windings in the backside of the balancer, but that will not tell the whole story! You will need to remove the balancer for inspection. BTW, are all idler pulleys in good shape? Normally, worn bearings in the pulleys will cause the belt to go off track and disintegrate.

[Robdaparamedic]

If you are at all mechanically inclined, you can get at the sensor rather easily. There is only a couple 10 or 8mm screws holding it on and a plug. Look around each of the pulleys and shafts and clean them off. It may be time consuming but much cheaper than paying a shop. Good Luck.

Rob

[maxwedge]

Not true, the balancer must be removed to replace the cps.

[RT Jam]

Well I do think it's time to replace my belt. Thanks.

[Smith1000]

When this happened on my wife's '97 Lesabre, the idler pulley had frozen up, which burned up the belt. She kept going and ran a bunch of errands with no belt on it. Got home and said there was a light on on the dash. We got lucky though and it would still start and ran fine. Had to replace the pulley and the belt.