battery light

[blaudust7]

I own a 1992 Mazda MX-3 GS. Here is my situation. I noticed that my battery light dims on (not fully lighting up) at certain times. The wierd part is when I turn my head lights on the battery light goes out, shouldn't it get brighter?

[shameem]

That means your alternator and/or battery is going out. You can take them both to an auto parts store and usually they test them for free.
You can also add more ground points and clean up existing ground points....

[huntingking01]

i once too had this problem until the car died on me so when i looked it over i had notice that the alternator belt had broke and the only thing you can do is replace it but here come the funny part when doing the replacement of the belt i had to take the pulley right off seeing as it was seized solid
have fun and i hope that is not your problem

[tmac4t4]

how much is the alt. belt and where is best place to get one...
mine broke today, then the car died and was leaking coolant..ye haw

[halfblackaaron]

if I am not mistaken its a one belt system. which isn't fun too change and since its connected to everything it automatically overheats when disconnected. belts are cheap and can be bought at just about any auto parts store for around $15 tops. now for an alternator I recommend looking on this site for one or maybe your local junk yards. because new ones are usually well over $100

[DimaK]

it sounds like an altinator

[mazdags94]

FYI... if you have a 92 GS V6, make sure you get the belt w/ the A/C connection (if you have A/C) or the belt w/o it if you don't.

Also, the alternator belt isn't connected to the water pump but you might want to look into a new water pump if you're leaking coolant from there. Otherwise, you wouldn't associate the alternator/crank/ A-C belt with the cooling system.

I would say it was your alternator as well... if your car runs but runs dim, your power supply is low and your battery isn't being recharged properly. (your alternator should be providing 14V when running to help run the car (12V) and to help recharge the battery (2V)).

[tmac4t4]

haha well i took it through deep snow and the engine bay filled up...the belt just snapped alternator is fine

[mazdags94]

"Always check the cheapest / easiest ways first, then move on to the more complex"..... The way I diagnose problems in my mx3.

[tmac4t4]

whats the quickest/easiest way to put on the alt. belt?? i removed the top bolt on the alternator but cant quite get the belt on.

[mazdags94]

You have to loosen the tensioner pulley. Theres a bolt near the oil dip stick that you can loosen as ther's an adjustable pulley attached to the bottom of it. If THAT doesn't work, it sounds like you have the wrong belt size my friend. Do you have a/c? It could be they gave you a non-a/c belt, which would be smaller....

I would double check the belt size first and go from there. You shouldn't have too much trouble getting it on there. (an error I made on mine when I was installing new belts was that I put the P/S and water pump belt on the alternator and a/c pulleys and then couldn't get the P/S one on for the life of me! Turned out I had the belts mixed up )

[tmac4t4]

You have to loosen the tensioner pulley. Theres a bolt near the oil dip stick that you can loosen as ther's an adjustable pulley attached to the bottom of it.

thanks! had it on in 2 minutes after that helpful peice of info