Hey guys, some of you may have remembered the thread I made last night about my serpentine belt squealing, well, a new thing has come to my attention. As I was driving, my check gauges light came on, my volts had dropped from 14 down to the peg below 9. Nothing dimmed or got slower and it didn't start to chug or miss due to lack of voltage. I pulled over, turned it off, turned it to on without starting it and my volts read 11, but started fine.

This is where it gets weird. When I come to a stop, my volts drop from 14 slowly down to around 12, when I accelerate, the belt squeals and the volts raise back to 14, once they get to 14, the squeal stops.

Do I need a new alternator?

 

Try tightening the belt a little more if it still squeals

 

I'll do it in the morning when I wake up. Should be about 10am and 46 degrees.

 

It's a pain in the butt, but you can always pull it and take it to the auto parts store to be tested.

 

I took the belt off, the alternator spins freely like it should. So I just cranked it down, the belt that is. I'll find out tonight when it gets below freezing again if what I did had any effect.

It's never squealed until it got down to around 20 degrees.

 

You also need to check the belt tensioner.

 

Your alt is going out. Thats what mine did.