1997 deville concour.......serpentine belt completely was found shredded............replaced but at the same time noticed severe leaking at the radiator (passenger side top of radiator)............here's my question: first, what made this good belt just shred and the radiator went bad at the same time???? my next question is how would you know possibly if the water pump failed but gave no prior noises of failure???? if the waterpump were to fail and no do what its supposed to do could it could cause a chain reaction by it (waterpump) locking up first, then shredding the belt, and thus putting alot of pressure directly on the radiator???????? i haven't taken the car to the dealership yet to get looked at but i'd like to have a piece of mind as to what i'm possibly looking at as far as repairing.........any help would greatly appreciated.....thanks

 

this is not clear .. is the water pump frozen or leaking - which one?
a serpentine belt should never fail if replaced on a timely basis even if
the water pump froze. you would hear a veryy loud squeel and burning rubber
before the belt broke. please clarify.

i run my srpentines 5 years and out they go, i have serpentines in every car i own.
if Ford or GM recommend longer periods, i dont care .. 5 years is MY LIMIT.
i aint going to be stranded or have additional damage due to a $25 belt that
takes about 90 seconds to install.

i will also inspect every 3 months and will replace at the 1st sign of cracking,
shredding, damage or drying.

when a serpentine breaks at 60+ mph, expect damage .. the pieces and ends will
wipp and snap at anything in the way, including hood, rad, wires, tubes, etc.

having the water pump leak at the same time is a "i dont know", the radiator i can see
being hit. advice that you also check vacuum lines, and harnesses for damage.