Serpentine belt

[Angela Smith]

Can you start a 2001 Chevy 1500 four-wheel drive 5.3 l v 8 without a serpentine belt

[Jsdirt]

Any vehicle can be started without the belt ... but keep in mind, you will have ZERO coolant flow, and probably set some codes due to the alternator putting out zero as well. You never want to run it long this way.

 

I do this often during noise diagnosis. It's a good way to eliminate all the belt driven accessories from the equation.