Squealing serp belt

"Herb Kauhry" > wrote in message
...
> Well, after getting a replacement tensioner and idler - and replacing
> them -
> the squeal is still there. However, I have determined that it's the
> alternator dragging. When I remove the "+" lead that goes over to the
> battery, the squeal goes away.

Just as a point of reference, this is not a good thing to do. You could fry
a lot of expensive electronic components by disconnecting a reconnecting the
battery when the engine is running.

>
> The battery is a year old, and I see no symptom of a low
> battery/non-charging condition. So maybe the alternator is bad? This
> seems
> like an odd thing to happen. The alternator turns smoothly, so no bearing
> trouble there.

The alternator is not likely to be bad unless it cannot output the power to
recharge the battery. You can bring it to just about any parts store and
they will bench test it for you. Of course, since they sell alternators,
there is a chance they will tell you it is bad no matter what.

My guess would be the battery it not charged and is drawing too much load
from the alternator. When you disconnected the battery you disconnected the
load. The alternator was still spinning and you were not getting the
squeeling. That tell me the likely problem is the load not the source.

-Fred W

I didn't say I did this with the engine running - it wasn't. I was
disconnecting the lead from the alternator which GOES to the battery, not
the battery.

What I have to figure out is, is there an excessive load on the alternator
from somewhere (like the starter having drained the battery and suddenly the
alternator is putting out a lot of current to recharge it) or is the 12v
from the battery doing an "EMF brake" thing on the alternator
for some reason (I wonder if this can happen when a diode in the alternator
opens, or the regulator has a problem?) Since the alternator seems to be
charging, I'm puzzled.
--

"Fred W." <Fred.Wills@'remove this to reply to' myrealbox.com> wrote in
message ...
>
> "Herb Kauhry" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Well, after getting a replacement tensioner and idler - and replacing
> > them -
> > the squeal is still there. However, I have determined that it's the
> > alternator dragging. When I remove the "+" lead that goes over to the
> > battery, the squeal goes away.
>
> Just as a point of reference, this is not a good thing to do. You could
fry
> a lot of expensive electronic components by disconnecting a reconnecting
the
> battery when the engine is running.
>
> >
> > The battery is a year old, and I see no symptom of a low
> > battery/non-charging condition. So maybe the alternator is bad? This
> > seems
> > like an odd thing to happen. The alternator turns smoothly, so no
bearing
> > trouble there.
>
> The alternator is not likely to be bad unless it cannot output the power
to
> recharge the battery. You can bring it to just about any parts store and
> they will bench test it for you. Of course, since they sell alternators,
> there is a chance they will tell you it is bad no matter what.
>
> My guess would be the battery it not charged and is drawing too much load
> from the alternator. When you disconnected the battery you disconnected
the
> load. The alternator was still spinning and you were not getting the
> squeeling. That tell me the likely problem is the load not the source.
>
> -Fred W
>
>
>
>
>