World of problems...please help

[kh730]

Ok so I am having quite a few problems I need help with and searching didnt bring anything up except I found out what the house looking warning light is.(Some kind of coolant lite) Anyways here goes see if any of you can figure this out....
First off about 3 weeks ago I started my car and the battery light and the house looking lite were on so I said to myself, "oh crap my battery is going to poop" and I jsut assumed the house light was the alternator light. So I drive to autozone with those lights on and have them check my battery for me. The battery is going to poop he tells me but it still charges up it just wont hold charge as well as it should. Well I am poor so I just decided I would drive it for now until next week when I had money to buy a battery. So everyday I drive the car and sometimes those lights are on for a few miles and then they go off. Also the BRAKE light started coming on with them too but goes off at the same time. I wasnt thinking anything of these lights and I plan on getting a battery soon but it was no biggie cause they go off after a few miles, I assumed that meant the battery was charged after that.
Well now it gets weirder, as of a few days ago there is white smoke in my engine bay sometimes and it smells electrical, almost like mothballs. It is on the drivers side and not very abundant, just from time to time I will see it or smell it it isnt an all the time thing. Well now I am freaking out because I cant PINPOINT the source of the smell and smoke but i want to say its the alternator but I might be stupid. Everything still runs fine and I drove it all week but I dont know if I should be or whatever. Anyone have any ideas of whats going on or what I should replace or how to check or anyhting please let me know. Ask me more questions if you need too I may have left something out. Thansk alot everyone, this silly DSM is very sick and needs diagnosis, thanks again.

 

[92awddsm]

The alternator is bad and needs to be replaced. All of your symtoms are common to a failing alternator. Quit driving it untill it is repaired or you could cause other electrical problems.

And as for the house light:

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[Rahdigga8188]

Like he said, its prob your alternator. Could you have them test that too while your at autozone?

 

[kh730]

So if the alternator is bad why did autozone tell me my battery was bad too, are they both needing to be rplaced then? So is the smoke definately the alternator cause that would be great too know , thanks guys. As for autozone testing the alternator, I am going to heasd up there right now and see, but now that you mention it I think thye can, so hopefully that will shed mroe light on this situation

 

[The_EE]

The reason why they told you the battery was bad was because the alternator recharges the battery while supplying the car with all the power it needs. When the alternator starts to fail, the car will take all the power it can from it and whatever else it needs, it leeches from the battery. If the Alternator is failing, the battery will be drained slowly. When the car was tested, the battery had been drained, which means it was showing lower voltage then it should and the autozone guy decided that the low voltage meant dead battery.

One easy way to tell is to turn on the car and check with a voltmeter. I use my turbotimer to make sure everything is good, it has a battery readout and I leave it on that so I can make sure all is well.

 

[Rahdigga8188]

When I first got my car it had a bad alternator so i had it replaced, and also did the battery. Well i guess they messed up when they rebuilt it, but i didnt wanna think that cause it was a fresh rebuild , so i blamed the battery. The dying alternator ended up taking the battey down with it

 

[kh730]

Well it occurs to me that the crappy battery could have killed the alternator too from making it work its ass off, in either case here is an update of the situation:
Last night on the way home those lights all came on as I was leaving work and they stayed on, BRIGHT this time too. So I was like oh crap im not gonna make it home before this alternator fails. Well my headlights got dimmer and dimmer and so did my dash lights but I made it home, parked the car and drove my friends truck to school today. When I get outta here I am taking a fairly new battery I pulled outta my sisters wrecked saturn and an alternator of my buddys torn apart TSI up to autozone to test them, if they are good I am throwin those bitches both on there and problem solved....i can only hope :grins

 

[kh730]

Alrigths here a complete update on the situation......
I bought a new alternator and Battery and after 3 hours of work that should have only taken 1 hour but I have big hands and things are a pain in the ass on those cars, I got everything in. All 3 of the lights went off and the belt doesnt squeek anymore which is a plus cause i thought it was the powersteering making that noise. Problem solved, yay for me, thanks everyone.