Serpentine Belt broke with lots of smoke under the hood

[Newb Insight]

Hey I'm new to the forums and don;t know a lot about cars. My belt broke this morning as I was backing out of my driveway and this caused a lot of smoke under the hood. I can replace the belt and the idler pulley but I'm really concerned about the smoke. It had a burning plastic chemical like kind of smell to it. Could I have melted the valves? I live in Ontario and it was around freezing this morning. Should I be checking other things besides the belt?

[Willie Williford]

The plastic smell is probably because the idler pully froze up.
HTh
Willie
Never heard of a serpentine belt breaking, squeaking a lot though.
Replace the damaged or broken items and keep on trucking.
Myself, I would want to know why the belt broke.

[gilbertguy]

The engine should be fine with no damage, I agree with Willie, get in there and pull out the old belt and then check the idler pulley for free movement, also check the AC clutch to make sure it spins freely. If those are both okay it could be the water pump but not likely, turn it to make sure it didn't lock up. Let us know if you find something locked up or with bad bearings and report back.

[Newb Insight]

Will do thanks guys!

[Kevin Dougherty]

Originally Posted by Newb Insight

Hey I'm new to the forums and don;t know a lot about cars. My belt broke this morning as I was backing out of my driveway and this caused a lot of smoke under the hood. I can replace the belt and the idler pulley but I'm really concerned about the smoke. It had a burning plastic chemical like kind of smell to it. Could I have melted the valves? I live in Ontario and it was around freezing this morning. Should I be checking other things besides the belt?

What is the year, a/c status, transmission and mileage please?

This thread may help:
which one is idler pulley? big or small?

[Newb Insight]

Originally Posted by Kevin Dougherty

What is the year, a/c status, transmission and mileage please?

This thread may help:
which one is idler pulley? big or small?

The year is 2000 and its a standard with a/c. The mileage is 250,000 km or 155,000 miles

[racer26]

smoke is not necessarily that surprising with a failed serpentine belt.

one or more pulleys stops rotating as it should, and the belt either stops and gets burned through at the crank, or keeps moving subjected to alot of excess friction at the stopped pulley until it heats up enough to fail, resulting in the smoke show. (Happened to me on a 94 civic with a seized alternator).