Car dies, screeching sound on cold startup, etc.. help!

[lucid15]

So for awhile now my car has been making a screeching sound for like 2 seconds on the point of startup, my dash lights seemed to be getting dim sometimes when at a stoplight, occasional CEL coming on while driving and the shutting off etc...

Well finally tonight i went to go start it and "click" there goes power, had someone jump me all seemed well and i took off in first gear then i momentarily lost power both lights and engine power but regained it, felt almost like a surge. On my drive home i noticed my electronics surging at times tripping everything up including my gauges, stereo, etc, headlights flickering all of that.

Note - I had English Racing put my gauges (wideband, boost, oil pressure) in a week ago. I did have some of the electronic symptoms prior but no the check engine or surging.

I sort of just rambled all of the symptoms but can anyone help me diagnose what this could. My guess would be the alternator, but not sure.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Lou98GSX]

sounds like a lose alternator belt

 

[lucid15]

sounds like a lose alternator belt

Hmmm any way to visually tell if it is loose while i am at home and not taking it to a mechanic?

 

[DJ Raydiate]

+1 on the alt belt. The screeching is the belt slipping on the pulley. I could tell you on a GSX how to adjust because mine is the 420a. To see if it is lose, put your hand on the belt to and move it up and down to see how much play is in it.

 

[lucid15]

Just checked the belt, seems pretty damn tight and in good shape barely any play at all if any. Just had the battery on the charger for a good 4 hours and went to turn it over and just "clicked" again dead and had to jump it. Im thinking it is just a battery.

 

[born2race]

Get the battery charged up to 12.6, then leave it unconnected for overnight and come back and see what voltage it's at, if it's significantly low than it's your battery. For the alternator, the belt should be pretty tight, you should be able to turn it around 90 degrees I've heard is the rule of thumb, someone correct me if I'm wrong. I'd also check the harmonic balancer (crank pulley) since u described a squeaking noise on start up which happened to my car.

 

[fisher83]

Check your ground wires, voltage regulator for the no charge/dimming and flickering.....screeching noise could be an alternator bearing too.....

 

[dcbaker1313]

your alternator belt should have no more than half in of play also what you can do to check your alternator is unhook your battery and see if the car runs from the alternator. If you just had electronics installed you may have a dead short somewhere

it def sounds like a charging problem

 

[DJ Raydiate]

your alternator belt should have no more than half in of play also what you can do to check your alternator is unhook your battery and see if the car runs from the alternator. If you just had electronics installed you may have a dead short somewhere

it def sounds like a charging problem

This may have been the case back before computer driven vehicles, however it is a big no no on any car with a computer. Upon disconnecting/reconnecting you could fry the computer.

 

[B1ackout]

my friend had the same problem in a 1st gen, we put a new alternator in and it helped but there was still something wrong with it. come to find out it was a blown fuse

 

[stephen_gst]

+1 on the alternator, i had those same exact problems about a month ago, picked up a new alternator for $140 and it was fixed

 

[tay97gst]

Check your ground terminal at the battery. Tighten that sucker down tight after giving it a good cleaning. That's an easy thing to check for the "click - die" and fixed my issue a while back