Diagnose my car problem..... :/

[holt0366]

-About two weeks ago I replaced my battery.
-Tonight I'm driving home, and notice the "Charge Battery" light on.
-Then, I notice my heat is blowing out cold air.
-Followed by looking at the temperature gauge almost to "H"....

ALSO:
-back in the fall, I noticed the spedometer jump every so often
-my lights dim a bit


Any thoughts? My car friend told me it's probably my alternator and thermostat.
Please help!

[Mi|<E]

What I would do is get a voltmeter and check your battery at idle. It should
read +14.4 ish volts if the alternator is working. If it reads 14.4 ish and you still
get the charge battery light take the battery back to where you got it and get
a new one its the battery. If its lower or way higher than 14 volts your alternator
has crapped the bed. It can be tested after being removed at an auto parts
place that does that, usually free to test.

The heater issue id say is not from the thermostat because they are 'supposed'
to fail open in which case your engine would not get to operating temp. Lack
of coolant would cause this and if there are no hose leaks its either coming from
the water pump (highly likely) or a blown head gasket (unlikely). If there is no coolant
in the coolant reservoir tank near the driver headlight that is whats going on there.
Fill up the radiator when the car is cold with 50/50 mix of antifreeze and see if
it holds the coolant level. If not check for leaks starting at the water pump. You
can replace the thermostat they are inexpensive and its easy to do, id suggest
this if you dont know or remember when it was last done.

If anything is unclear tell me, I have no idea how much you know. Im also
going to assume since you posted in the 4 cylinder section you have the B6.

Dimming lights is normal for a stock B6.

[nos92mx3]

hmm lets see here, overheating, battery discharging.

did it throw the ALTERNATOR and WATERPUMP belt?

[holt0366]

hmm lets see here, overheating, battery discharging.

did it throw the ALTERNATOR and WATERPUMP belt?

So are the waterpump and alternator belt the same? So you think that belt came off and caused my battery not to charge and my water pump not to circulate the coolant?

[Mi|<E]

Yes sir. Its more likely that it is loose. Its a 12 or 14mm bolt to tighten up
passenger side above the alternator. Think its 0.5 - 0.75 inch deflection
(vertical travel in the belt) tightness you want. Test it at the middle with
your thumb.

[holt0366]

Yes sir. Its more likely that it is loose. Its a 12 or 14mm bolt to tighten up
passenger side above the alternator. Think its 0.5 - 0.75 inch deflection
(vertical travel in the belt) tightness you want. Test it at the middle with
your thumb.

Yeah, you were exactly right. I popped my hood, looked at the alternator, and there was no belt there. It must of came off when I started having these problems. Do I need to just buy a new belt and put it on? Do you think my tensioner is broken and needs to be replaced? I've never replaced a belt on this car before myself. Please let me know what I need to do to fix my car. Thanks!

[jamesmx3]

same happened to me about 6 months ago, just noticed the temp gauge climbing pulled over, no belt there!

new belt should do it, just loosen the alternator bolts and pivot it toward the front of the car, place the new belt over the pulleys and pivot the alternator back to its original position. Then check the tension using the method above.

[nos92mx3]

there is no tensioner for the alt/h20 pump belt.
your alternator will pivot allowing you to increase/decrease the belt slack.

[holt0366]

same happened to me about 6 months ago, just noticed the temp gauge climbing pulled over, no belt there!

new belt should do it, just loosen the alternator bolts and pivot it toward the front of the car, place the new belt over the pulleys and pivot the alternator back to its original position. Then check the tension using the method above.

Today I installed two new belts. When I started up the car, there is a loud squeeling noise and I can see a small amount of smoke. I then shut the car off and touched both belts and the belt that had fallen off before for the alternator and water pump felt hot and the other belt wasn't hot at all. What step should I take next?

[Mi|<E]

The hotter belt is squealing from slipping which is making it heat up. Just needs to
be tightened.

[holt0366]

The hotter belt is squealing from slipping which is making it heat up. Just needs to
be tightened.

Could the alternator pulley or waterpump pulley be seized or have friction, causing it to heat up and make the old one break?

[nos92mx3]

check to see if either pulley is stuck (seized) make sure belt isnt overly tight, about 1/2 inch of play in the middle of the belt is good.
Also make sure the belt wasnt only partially on one of the pulleys

[Ryan]

Test them by turning the pullys by hand. The h20 pump should feel like there's barely anything there, and I don't know exactly what the alt should feel like. If it was disconnected, it would be easy to spin too. Connected, I don't know how the circuit causes resistance. It might be rather hard.

[holt0366]

so to get the alternator out is it just the bottom 14 mm bolt and adjustment bolt at the top. And disconnect the electrical plugs? I just don't think it could be the that my belt is to loose causing it to squeel. I have had the same alt at least since august of 02 when i bought the car and it may be the original one. THe timeing belt and water pump were done about 2 years ago. Im leaning towards the alt being bad. I am going to take both belts off today and try spinning it by hand. The alt is putting out enough juice because my battery light went off. I will post back after i try spinning the pulleys by hand and if they are to tight i wil bring the alt to an auto store to get anew one. THnaks

[Ryan]

Well, when I tightened my alt belt, I used a 3' powerbar to pry the alt away using the block as a lever.

Only then, did it stop sqealing at startup.