simplecomplex

Hey everyone, I thought I'd post this as I just had an issue with my alternator dying on me. Perhaps the symptoms can help someone experiencing the same thing.

I have a 2003 Lancer ES. Nothing was really problematic normally except my belt would squeal often on startup and when sharply turning. Then a couple days ago I noticed my lights were dimmer than usual on the dash and the windshield wipers were abnormally slow. The symptoms of the squealing belt got worse on a cold start and all lights were dimmer than usual. Also I noticed a burnt rubber smell in the engine bay. Then finally the car wouldn't start anymore. After a jump, it started and ran for a few minutes before it died again and had the same problem. I then swapped the battery out for a fully charged new battery that I had on a float charger. The car started fine with only a little belt squeal. I took it into the mechanic since I don't really do much car repair in the cold weather and they explained that the squealing was because the V belt was too loose and the issue with the battery not charging was due to a brush not working in the alternator, therefore the alternator needed to be replaced. It's unfortunate that this happened during winter because $580 for an alternator replacement is an awful lot. If the weather was warmer I could've got the part from Rockauto for $150 and done the swap in less than an hour.

Also I'd like to throw in that I always thought it was my serpentine belt squealing but it was the V belt all along. The belt should be nice and snug on the pulleys. I hope that info is useful to anybody experiencing similar symptoms.