so I was driving home just now and the "battery" light on teh dash came on and all the lights dimmed.

earlier today I started hearing a whining noise coming form under the hood. I popped the hood just now and it sounds liek the whining is coming form the drvers side around the transmission...

the whining makes me think it's the alternator that's shot, but my battery kept a constant voltage on the drive home, but it was at ~11.8 volts instead of the usual ~14 volts.

is it possible something is just grounding out and sapping the electricity?

how do I find out what hte culprit is. how can I test teh alternator? the battery?

would it be cheap to just take it to a shop and have them check the battery and alternator?

thanks in advance guys.

it's always something... sigh

 

got an Autozone or Advance? Go to them and they can check it for free man.

 

I forgot about that, thanks for reminding me and saving me some $$$.

 

I heard if you put a piece of metal up to your alternator while it was running it would grab the metal like a magnent if it is working (while running). Other than that sounds like alternator is going.

 

thats what i'm here for.

 

unplug the battery while it's running, the car should continue to run if the alt works.

 

Not a good idea, you then have uncontrolled voltage which can FRY the electronics. Trouble shooting is cheap compared to computers.

 

Also check your battery terms and charging cable to make sure they're secure. Def sounds like the battery is not being charged though.

 

if that whining sound is accompanied by a slight "burning" smell, its in all likelyhood (sp) your alternator.......same thing happened to me when mine died.....real easy to replace tho

 

loose alternator belt maybe

 

Yes, that is what happened on my Teg and the Mistress. That is the shittiest feeling knowing that your shit ain't gonna start if you turn it off. $140 for new Alternator, plus a $50 core charge that you get back when you bring in your junked one.

Good luck.

 

Yeah, alt's aren't expensive, and are easy to replace

 

yeah it's not too bad, but just enough to push back my dr evil install by 2 weeks.

 

how can I tell if the belt is slipping? It's a fairly old belt I think.

 

 

check the belt for wear marks and esp cracks on the outside edge. If you have some high mileage, just replace all your belts, it's easier to do it in one shot while the car is good vs. doing it when it snaps and leaves you stranded.

 

wear, ground teeth or cracks

 

When you replace it, give her new belts... Go OEM for sure, unless you are like me with pulleys. The stock belts don't quite fit right. My ALT belt had to be (I think) 3 cms longer than the OEM... Just be aware if you have performance pulleys.

 

I'm only at 75k miles and as far as I can tell visually the belt looks fine, but the line on the belt tensioner seems like it's a bit past the mark it should be. does this mean the belt is too long, or that the auto tensioner is broken in some way?