Many things can cause a serpentine belt to come off. Most likely, it slipped off, or the tensonier that holds it in place was not tight enough.
Loosen the tensioner pulley. Slide the tensioner pulley to the right. The serpentine belt will come loose. Remove the serpentine belt. Reverse the process to install the new serpentine belt.
Loosen the tensioner pulley. Pushed the tensioner pulley to the left. The serpentine belt will come loose. Remove the belt. Reverse the process to install the new serpentine belt.
belt tension er spring
Several things could cause this such as belt not being tight enough in the first place, or the belt isn't aligned properly, making the water act as lubrication slipping the belt off.
Loosen the tensioner pulley on your 1988 Chevrolet Corsica. When the tensioner pulley is loose the serpentine belt will easily come off. Put the new serpentine belt on and tighten the tensioner pulley.
Removing the serpentine belt on a Pontiac Aztek requires loosening the adjustment pulley. Once the pulley is loose the serpentine will have enough slack to come off.
Chances are the belt and tensioner is not the problem. Your water pump is. Check the bottom of the water pump and see if there is some anti-freeze comming from the weep hole. If there is then that is the problem. Anti-freeze will cause a serpentine belt to come off because of its lubricating properties If there are not leaking fluids dripping on the belt that would cause it to come off then, it sounds like a belt alignment problem. You should check your mechanics guide to determine how to adjust the alignment.
You need a new belt tensioner. A bent belt tensioner will eventually break and cause the serpentine belt to come off. You will experience a loss of power steering, your A/C compressor will stop working and your battery will die as well seeing as your alternator will not be driven. All those items are powered by your serpentine belt.
Loosen the tensioner pulley. Slide the tensioner pulley to the right. The serpentine belt will come loose and can be removed. Reverse the process to install the new belt.
The belt need to be replace to a new oneor check the tention of the belt.
You'd lose function of any component driven by the serpentine belt - if the alternator was among those, you'd see your battery light come on, and the vehicle would shut down once you lost sufficient battery power.
The water pump is driven from the timing belt on all 4cyl new beetles. The serpentine belt only drives the A/C compressor, Alternator, and Power steering pump. The water pump also come with plastic impellers that are prone to failure and can cause stange overheating issues...