I was pulling out of my driveway one morning, and thought nothing of it, I figured I was dragging a tree branch or something, but the car started to run weird afterwards, the power steering stopped working and the gas does nothing. I really have no idea what this could be I am no expert at all but am eager to learn about these cars. The car runs great other than this.
The previous owner did say it needed a serpentine tensioner, which i have the part for, so I am just not sure what the problem with the car is.
It is a 96 850 wagon.
I hope someone can help me understand the issue.
Thanks

 

don't recognize the wiring connector - Can you see what it plugs into? check to see if the wires going to the O2 sensors are connected - tthe sensors bolt into the exhaust - one is just in front of the catalytic converter (which controls your fuel mix) and one plugs in after the converter. The power steering has a pump driven by the serpentine belt (up top you will see the fill reservoir kind of near the upper radiator hose on the passenger / front side of the engine. Check for fluid level, see if the serpentine belt is still intact etc. The pump then feeds via hoses to the power steering rack. (which connects to the tie rods to steer the wheels. You'd need to remove the lower valence to have a look around and check for leaks. Does the AC work (kick on/off)? Any check engine lights/abs brake lights etc?

See if you can snap some pics for anything that looks torn, disconnected or out of place.

 

yes the belt is still on, tensioner needs to be replaced,
the ac works fine, and there is a check engine light but it’ll turn off once you start driving. abs doesn’t work.
i just got back home today and i have a few pictures the car gets really hot so i couldn’t look underneath for too long.

 

the car car is so low it’ll need to be raised higher so i can get a better look but i’ll look at it again before the day ends, hopefully i can find where this is supposed to connect to.
hope you can recognize the issue here.
thank you for your input.

 

can you trace the wire back up under the hood and snap a pick where it connects to? how far back in relation to the front wheels does the cable go before the break? you mentioned it runs rough - but it does start and run right now correct?