I put up a message before regarding my squeal....Tonight when i was outside starting my car, it would squeal really loudly for about 10 seconds or so then stop...After a minute or so it would do the same thing. Everytime it made the squeal the lights would dim. I am guessing that its the alternator or the belts. Does anyone have any ideas? If you have any ideas please let me know how and how much etc. The belts were changed 3k miles ago and theere is 63k miles on the car. TIA
-JZA69

its probably the alternaotr belt. you can tighten the belt from the bracket on the alternator. pick up a haynes/chiltons manual and see where exactly what i'm talking about.

does the alternator go on a regular basis on these cars or is it an extreme rarity? I will look at the belts, but its weird becuase it only squeals for a few seconds on then a few seconds off etc etc. the car definitly dims.

bump

just sounds like a slipping alternator belt, adjust the tensioner to eliminate some slack. hope this helps

i looked at the alternator tonight with the car running....The pulley is definitly spinning. Is there a clutch on the alternator? Every few seconds with the headlights off, it seems as if it tries to engage the thing and makes a really really loud squeal. With the headlights off, it takes over a minute between squeals, but the pulley is always turning. Any other ideas?

unfortunatly, the naked eye can not acuratly determine the speed in RPM of the alternator pully, so it might appear that everything is fine but i assure you its not. alternators do not generally display the sypmtoms you describe when going bad, however a slipping belt will cuase it exactly. your belt is loose, and although it might only squeel occasionally, it is probably slipping constantly, causing a slow-down of the alternator pully, and resulting in less amperage being delivered, which causes the headlights to dim. the belt need to be tightened, as mentioned above.

the tensioner system on the belt consists of two bolts. one runs perpendicular with the lenght of the car and holds the tensioner in place. once this bolt is loosened, another bolt that runs parallel with the length of the car can be tightened in order to add more tension the to the belt. once this is done, the first bolt can be snugged back down to lock the system back into place.

its hard to describe, so i suggest getting a manual of some sort to help you out. good luck. ;)

thanks for the help...The belts were done only 3k miles ago so i dont see how they can be loose. Also, the squeal only happens when the car draws alot of amperage ie with the headlights. If i step on the gas, the squeal goes away and the lights come undim. Also, when it starts to squeal, the motor sounds like it labores as if there is a pretty good load on it. Are you sure its the belts? the reason why i ask is because it is then im going to bring it back to the dealer, ive been there a few times because they screwed up the bracket on the power steering pump when replacing all the belts and i dont want to go back and bitch them out if the alternator is bad or there is a bearing on the alternator thats screwed up or something. Thanks for your time man.

^^^ everything youve said conferms a loose belt. new belts need to be "worn in" a little, as they strech a bit after being broken in. the engine sounds like its struggling because its not getting the correct amperage from the alt. to run the ignition system, and revving the engine fixes the problem because although it may still be slipping, it still brings the energy output of the alt. up enough to stabalize things. in addition, the cold weather doesnt help much, because as we all know, cold causies things to expand, and thats just whats happened on your belt.

if it was replaced 3k ago by someone, take it back in and ask to have it tightened. if they put up a fight, remind them that it will take 5 minutes at MOST to do it.

I checked the belts for the alternator and they are as tight as they should be....Any ideas on why there would be a really loud squeal coming from that area during large current draw?