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So tonight I was driving home when my car started to make a really loud Squeeling sound and then the Battery light came on and oh..

My interior lights got brighter than usual and my headlights too they looked like my highbeams were on but when I would switch over to highbeams my headlights would completely shut off.....

Also there was a wierd smell goin on too.. like if something was burning. So could this be a bad alternator? the car still starts up just fine(it's been like a little over an hour since it happend), but if I barely rev the motor it squeels badly. I checked for spark and all the plugs get a strong spark so I don't think it's the Disty...

If anyone can help asap I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks...

Or maybe I need a new belt? MAybe the burning smell was the belt burning...?

Hmm i've been looking on here for quite sometime and i'm leaning towards maybe the belt is bad... But i'm not really sure.

I need some input...

man, if it were me, i would check both of your belts, make sure neither have slipped off, and inspect them, make sure they don't have cracks or missing ribs. Sounds like your alternator is on its way out. Is the sound a whine, or a loud squeal?. Make sure there isn't anything caught in the fans as well.

it's a LOUD squeel... and I checked the belts, and everything looks ok...

I drove it to Tires Plus today and it was smoking bad from the belt, the guy there told me that My alternator is siezed up and i need a new on and a new belt...

$540 bucks....

wow man, thats alot. if you could do the work yourself you would save alot. advance auto has some alternators for like 140 bucks. and a belt is like at most 20. If you could do it yourself, i would highly suggest doing so.

Yeah If you have a 4 cyl you can easy do it yourself but I hear a v6 is slightly harder, and you need an engine hoist....

Ryan wrote:Yeah If you have a 4 cyl you can easy do it yourself but I hear a v6 is slightly harder, and you need an engine hoist....

lol not sure about an engine hoist... I've replaced a few alternators in my v6's... it's not too difficult - check out the online manual if you want to see what you would be getting into...

Then what was I reading on here about guys needing to undo an engine mount and hoist it a bit to get clearance? Hmm...

Mooneggs wrote:

Ryan wrote:Yeah If you have a 4 cyl you can easy do it yourself but I hear a v6 is slightly harder, and you need an engine hoist....

lol not sure about an engine hoist... I've replaced a few alternators in my v6's... it's not too difficult - check out the online manual if you want to see what you would be getting into...

wtf, engine hoist lol. Anyways you can replace alternator on v6 easily. You can take out battery and battery tray for more room for access. ive recently replaced one on cousins civic so make sure they test it when you buy one since they gave us one that wasnt working.

mitmaks wrote:Anyways you can replace alternator on v6 easily. You can take out battery and battery tray for more room for access. ive recently replaced one on cousins civic so make sure they test it when you buy one since they gave us one that wasnt working.

not sure how long ago you replaced it but the battery and battery tray are on the opposite side of the engine bay so there's not much reason to remove those

Hahah jesus there is so much mis info on here...

It's really no difficult. Take of the splash sheild, take of the intake runner, Loosen the belt and tensoner, take out the bolt and the bracket, put it back in.

Also, get a rebuilt one, it should be fine. OR buy one from somebody here on the forum. Usually when your battery light comes on it either means your belt broke, or that your alternator is seized or fried. Stop driving, because your battry will die!

If you need any info, look at the shop manual. Go to http://www.mx-3.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, and on the left site click on the service manual on the righthand side (might be lables Technical Info or something...you'd think i'd know by now eh haha)

Good luck!