Car died yesterday, Possibly battery or alternator?

spederman

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Apr 13, 2005
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After my 8 rib pulley install, ive always had this wierd groaning/whirring sound. It got louder and louder. It sounded like the power steering pump except it would be coming from the top of the engine and sounded like from the alternator. Inside when i would accelerate, i would get this really really high pitched whine that would fluctuate with rpms.

Last nite, the groaing was really loud where i knew something wasnt right and was on its last leg. I pulled into a gas station and ran in with the car running, when i got back in, my girl said all of a sudden the radio died. I look at the dash/console and all the lights were getting really really dim and the headlights started dying. My ABS light was on for some wierd reason. I limp it a couple blocks home and put it in the garage and roll up the windows, and they are as slow as can be. Shut down the car and try to restart and dead, just clicking sounds.

Any advice on where i should start and what to check first? How do you test an alternator since i cant really take it in without towing it? I'm just confused why the abs light was on and not the battery light.
 
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Sounds like the alternator.

Get a meter and check the battery with the car on. Then turn on all the accessories. With the car on, you should be reading over 13v, close to 14 (assuming you don't have a high wattage stereo system).

Now, check the alternator. Put the neg of the meter on the neg terminal of the battery, and the pos of the meter at the pos of the alternator. You should get about the same reading.

I just replaced mine last week, and at the alternator the meter was showing 11.8 while the battery was showing under 13v (battery happened to be bad due to be undercharged for so long by the bad alternator). Not a good sign :notnice:
 
My alternator is going out too...but it's just a bearing and charges fine, just annoying as hell squeeky DOH! :mad: How much are alternators anyway, any non-OEM upgrades that are relatively similarly priced?

Your problem sounds 100% alternator related, but just to be sure because it was right after an install, I would go back and make sure there are no wires that got nicked or bad grounds.