Ideas on a problem with a Dodge van

Not a Toyota but I was hoping someone may be able to give me some ideas what more I should look at.

1990 Dodge ram conversion van about 60K miles

I was driving down the road at about 35 MPH the van did not want to go any faster and the gas pedal pushed really hard. Something underneath made a squealing noise then a BOOM, kind of like it was locked up then released. AC went from cold to high heat, lost 90% of the breaks I had to push the pedal to the floor and put it in low gear and pulled the E brake to get it to stop. Some fool drove it home about 2 more miles going 15 MPH and the Engine temp went to almost the top of the scale and white smoke started to come out of the Engine. Also after I lost the breaks it seems to pull to the driver’s side

I also feel that before any of the issues the steering wheel had some play in it but its my elderly parents van and I drive it rarely so was not fully sure on that.

I checked all the fluids and they are all full, I cannot find anything leaking, no dripping or bused hoses, The belts are pretty new and look good. If I run the van and do not put it in gear and bring the RMP up for 15 minutes or so I get no smoke and the AC works. Pumping the breaks in park seems to not do much the pedal still goes to the floor and is really soft.

Could it be a transmission issue? Could have the breaks seized up? i got no idea I only own Toyota's and they never break unless I did it myself off roading

 

Oh here is the photo.

 

Sounds like the serpentine belt; My mom's 2004 Honda Odyssey (that she no longer has) did the same thing while she was driving home from the grocery store (like 2 miles from our house), though without the boom and white smoke...

There was a weird noise, then the A/C suddenly stopped blowing cold and the battery warning light came on; My mom was only a mile from home, so she continued on her way and had me look at it when she got back. I found that the serpentine belt had gotten so loose that it spun right off of a pulley. This same belt ran the A/C compressor and the alternator, which is why the A/C quit working and the battery light came on at the same time. The belt was also tangled up a bit and we were afraid to drive it, so we called AAA and had it towed to the Honda dealer. The dealer replaced the belt (which was not expensive) and we got it back the next day good as new; The van was probably eight years old at the time and had well over 100K miles, but it was incredibly well taken care of and this was just a freak occurrence. There was no white smoke and the engine itself did not have any problems. The Odyssey was sold in 2013 with 133K on the clock because my parents wanted a new car, and it is still alive and well in Delaware with its new owners (my dad's coworker and his wife); Almost 200K now!

However, whenever the belt in my Tacoma starts squealing excessively I replace it, because I DO NOT want a repeat performance of what happened to my mom's van!

Normally, I'd blame your problem on the fact that the van in question is a MOPAR product, but it comes from an era when MOPAR products other than diesel trucks and anything with a HEMI V8 weren't junk; So, the fact that it's a Dodge isn't the issue here. Look under the van an be ABSOLUTELY SURE that a belt isn't slipping or something, because the squealing sound you heard points to that...

On another note, if this van has the transmission I think it has, then the transmission is not the issue unless the van was VERY POORLY maintained.

 

@Taco critter

You're more mechanically inclined than I am...