1986 Accord. Alternator light comes while driving so I stop car to check under hood. See steam coming from engine compartment. I find the water pump/alternator belt sitting there in the engine compartment next to the alternator. The bearings apparently went bad on the water pump because the pulley is loose and wobbly but still attached to the water pump. The belt is not broken and completely in tact and off the engine. How the heck did that belt come off? It goes on the pulley on the crank, right? And there are two other belts "in front of" that pulley (I think the power steering and ac belts). I can see it slipping off the water pump and alternator pulleys, but how could it have come off the crank pulley? Am I missing something? In order to put it back on don't I have to remove those other two belts?

 

The belt is completely free from the other belts? When the pulley started wobbling, it threw the belt off your w/pump...If it's sitting on the outside of your other belts, then it got sucked through the spinning belts and spit out. It's amazing that it didn't throw the other belts off too.