My cars been developing a serious squeal for some time now. When its cold and you first start it up, theres a squeal along with a sort of light grinding noise, ive traced it down to the alternator.
Now the alternator hasnt stopped working, the car has never failed to start or run out of leccy even after short night journeys with all the lights and wipers on, so i dont think its knackered.
Ive also noticed the power steering has been making a racket and the steering sometimes weights up like the p/s pump cant quite keep up.
Ive come up with the fairly sound theory that the alternator is stiff which is in turn leading to slight slippage of the aux belt which it runs from, this would explain why the power steering pump which i think im right in saying also runs off the aux belt is occasionally noisy and stiff. If the alternator is slowing down the whole belt as its stiff, it would mean the power steering pump was not spinning quite as freely or quickly as it should.
So after that gold medal waffling, my question is, is it possible to simply oil the alternator - the pulley just behind the belt perhaps to ensure its spinning freely.
The screaching and slipping noise completely goes away after the cars been run around properly and warmed up, which i assume is a result of the alternator freeing up a bit, and the aux belt tightening with heat.
Now the alternator hasnt stopped working, the car has never failed to start or run out of leccy even after short night journeys with all the lights and wipers on, so i dont think its knackered.
Ive also noticed the power steering has been making a racket and the steering sometimes weights up like the p/s pump cant quite keep up.
Ive come up with the fairly sound theory that the alternator is stiff which is in turn leading to slight slippage of the aux belt which it runs from, this would explain why the power steering pump which i think im right in saying also runs off the aux belt is occasionally noisy and stiff. If the alternator is slowing down the whole belt as its stiff, it would mean the power steering pump was not spinning quite as freely or quickly as it should.
So after that gold medal waffling, my question is, is it possible to simply oil the alternator - the pulley just behind the belt perhaps to ensure its spinning freely.
The screaching and slipping noise completely goes away after the cars been run around properly and warmed up, which i assume is a result of the alternator freeing up a bit, and the aux belt tightening with heat.
