yesterday was a normal day. didnt do anyhting to my car except drive it to and from work.

last night was a normal night - did not rain or fog or anything out of the ordinary.




this morning i start my car up and i hear a "whirrring" coming from the engine that seems to get louder in volume the faster i go. i figure theres probably some piece of trash stuck in the wheelwell or something and ignore it for a few miles.

i get to a red light 10 minutes later and notice TINY AMOUNTS OF SMOKE COMING FROM MY ENGINE. WTF

i pull the car over, pop the hood and notice that the belt area is slightly smoking and REEKS of burning rubber. but both belts look like they are sitting snug on the tensioners.

what is this? what could have caused it? and how do i fix it?

has anyone else had this sudden belt smoking issue?




i havent done anything to the car related to the belts since about 8 months ago when i replaced the serpentine belt.

last weekend i changed the oil sender unit and the weekend before that i ripped off the whole manifold to remove the excess RTV causing me to run rich, and install a new polished valve cover.
but i havent had any problems with those things until this morning.....

 

Total shot in the dark (and not even sure this would apply to our cars), but maybe the clutch on your AC compressor took a dump and is locked up; therefore not allowing the pulley to spin freely. Belt is now getting dragged across the pulley, rather than spinning it?

Are the sides of the belt frayed/damaged? If so, that is a big clue something is misaligned now.

 

ya check to see if all the pulleys are spinning freely and the belt is aligned first. also check to see how tight the belt is. You could try loosening the tnesioner pulley a bit.

 

that is my thought as well.

 

the belts all look good and they seem the appropriate tightness.

its hard to get my hand down in there, but everything seems normal.


im also curious how this "all of a sudden" happened. i havent been tinkering with my car since this weekend, and it surely wasnt there sunday/monday/tuesday.

i popped the hood again just now right after i got home and it seemed like smoke was coming from the ALTERNATOR, but it could just be an illusion.


im taking it to my buddy at the dearlship tomorrow so well see.
im so broke right now its pathetic.

 

if your alternator was smoking, was the battery light on in your car?
I have heard of bearings seizing on alternators which also burns belts, but usually there is a screeching sound first that doesn't go away for a while.

 

Take both belts off and inspect all the accessory pullies and the tensioner pully.
One of them is toast, you simply need to find which one it is.

 

you think one of the pulleys is bad?

from the fact that i cant see any damage to the belt, that was my first thought too.

how much should that run me?

both DIY or shop

 

Shud be a DIY based on your car experience now.

 

Like wizard said I would check the ac compressor..this happened to my cousin started smoking and screaming ....the compressor had locked up...went around the corner my boy had a spare compressor got a belt cause the one he had one snapped after not being able to spin freely and walaaaaa...back in business!!

 

Man Rockart, you have a low mileage max too. How many miles are on her now? If it's just a tensioner pulley I think you would be able to do that yourself if you had a Haynes Manual with instructions in it. Good luck man, I wish you the best.

 

100% true and has happend to me like twice

 

shes at like 55,000 now

 

or if ur harmonic balancer broke in half itll happen too. the smaller inside pulley will sink inside the bigger outside one and the rubber?? stuff that held the pulley togetherwill burn and melt. thats what happened to me. new harmonic balancer was $199.32 with taxes at NAPA.

 

Frank, does/did you AC work when this was occuring?

 

havent checked yet

 

alright the AC works great.


i just got back from the dealership and he took a quick look at it. he said its most likely the alternator bearings wearing out.

is that something that can just be regreased? or am i going to have to replace the alternator entirely?

money is very much a mitigating factor here.

 

Just replace the alty, unless you have other means of tranportation until you find/buy/install the bearings..Then Hope that was the problem.

Best thing to do atm is stick an volt/multimeter across the battery connections while the car running to check for proper alty voltage, should be in the neighborhood of 13.8-14.3 or something like that. chances are the entire alternator has been damaged by the overheated bearings, i had one reman alty do thew same thing on me while i was 80 miles away from home, by the time i made it home, she was toast

 

im looking at like ~$200 for a new alt right?

 

Damn man. Your car has some sweet issues.

But hey...look at it this way. Instead of paying for an auto class...you're paying in another way...but learning the same amount.

I'd just get a new alternator...and yeah it'll run you about that much.

 

thinking like that is what keeps me sane.

 

depends on where you go.

I can get you a brand new one for about $150 if you want.

 

Frank, you plan on doing the install yourself?

 

The alternator is not fun or easy to replace on these cars....

 

3rd gen alty= 10 minute job

 

Let tallkid helpz you out.

 

im goin back to my buddy over at maroone nissan tomorrow and hes gonna see if theres anyway to extend the life of the current one.

if, worse comes to worse, i do have to swap in a new one he said he would do it for free.

i might take you up on that $150 alty internetautomar. is that an nsisan OEM alt?

 

no, it's an 100% brand new aftermarket unit. it's not a reman/rebuild/repaint either.

 

the verdict is in: its the bearings on the alternator

he said its going to get a lot louder before it actually fails, but he didnt give me a timeframe

how long do i have driving on this? id rather not replace it right now because im broke.

is there any way to prolong its life? anything i should or should not be doing?

 

Well you probably shouldn't be driving the car for starters. The bad alf berings can cause fires ruin belts and cause voltage damage to electrical parts. If I were you I wouldn't drive the car but if I had no choise (like if all the busses blew up or something) I would go to a junk yard and see if I could find a good one. Spin the alt at the junk yard to make sure there is no unhealthy scraping or squeaking and that the pullie turns and stays level (good berings) and if you find a good one and it's cheap but they won't test it 4 u take it to autozone and have them test it. You could probably get a decent one for about 30-60$.

 

you can keep packing the bearing with grease in the short term.
but i can not recommend it highly enough to get it replaced ASAFP!!!!
winter is coming which means increased electrical loads on the alternator.

 

You should definately replace it sooner than later. These are one of those problems that if you let it go for too long, it could cost you more down the road.

S

 

How can you pack a sealed bearing? Replace that altenator it's not that hard , just jack it up take off the pass wheel and splashsheild and get busy! 30- 45 min.

 

alright well reading your responses about this potentially causing more damage, immona drop the $300 for a new OEM one and get it swapped out sometime this week.

thanks.

 

Unless you wanna re-learn the bus route.

 

not funny.