Oil Leak/battery discharge/serpentine belt jumped
Well my fellow Saabists I am in need of your thorough knowledge of the vehicle we love. I have an 07 9-5 2.3t which has a little over 153K miles on it. I have always had a small oil leak, but never too bad between changes. I checked the oil Monday and it was at the bottom of the dipstick. So i added a small amount to about 3/4 of the acceptable range. I also removed the radio to retrieve a CD that got stuck when the CD player crapped out. Didn't use it until Wednesday to drive about 15 miles to work. Drove in with no apparent problems. At the end of the day, i went to go home and the battery was dead. I opened the door and no lights came on and the engine didn't even turn. So I hooked up a battery charger from work and charged the battery enough to use the start feature on the charger figuring it would charge a little on the way home and I could put a charger on it overnight and investigate. I thought maybe I had done something in removing the radio that caused a drain.<br><br>I got about half way home when it felt like I was losing power steering and then I heard a thud and immediately my battery light came on and definitely no power steering; the serpentine belt jump off the pulleys. I limped down the road to a parking lot and got a ride home. At this time I thought maybe one of the pulley wheels froze, maybe the alternator. This morning I went back to have the car towed home and the flatbed operator noticed something was leaking under the car. He dipped his finger in the fluid and it was motor oil. When the car was on the flat bed, I found a pool of about half a cup of oil along the inside of the passenger side tire. I've never seen that much oil leak out before. Now I realized I have a bigger problem than I thought. Once home, I popped the hood and ran my hand along the inside of the belt and sure enough it was coated with oil. I haven't fully checked yet, but I do not believe the belt broke. It was replaced about 20k miles ago. I am guessing that the oil leak sprayed the belt and it slipped off the pulleys.<br><br>I am not looking forward to taking things apart in 30 degree weather, but I would like to know what areas you might think I should look at for a leak. Is there a seal in this area? Is there a common leak in this area? Is it possible that the leak was causing the belt to slip and the alternator was not fully charging the battery or should I be concerned with another electrical issue on the discharging of the battery? Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.
