When your car talks...

[Jason <jason@scirocco.org>]

When your car talks..... listen.

About a week ago, my alternator made a squeek when I started it-- so I
brought it to my mechanic just to have it checked out.  He told me not to
worry about it, that the bearings were making a little bit of noise, but it
was still within the "normal" limits.

This weekend I had plans to drive out to Cincinnati to visit my SO, and to
visit Daun Yeagley on the way.  When I got off at Daun's exit, I noticed
that the alternator had a whine-- which it never did before.  I spoke to
Daun about it, and we decided not to worry about it because many Bosch
alternators whine.  At Daun's, I met Ben Harder.  We had a blast hanging
out together, drilled out our airboxes and talked about our cars.
	
After we drilled my airbox, we took it for a drive in my car.  When I first
started it, I heard some roughness from my alternator at idle, and then it
whined between 1000 and 2000rpm... We took the car for a drive, and all was
well.

About 2 hours later, I left Daun's for the 1-hour drive to my SO's.
Everything was normal... until about 15 miles down the road, my headlights
dimmed slightly and the alternator light started flashing quickly.  Then,
the light would stop flickering, the headlights would get brighter, and
everything was normal.  Instead of risking the 60 mile trip on dark county
roads, I decided to turn back.  

Sure enough, within about 5 miles, a HORRIBLE sound came from the engine
compartment (I didn't know *what* the hell it was- I actually thought I
broke a motor mount or blew a hole in the tranny)... The sound lasted for
about 10 seconds; and then the alternator light came on for good.  Luckily,
I was merging onto an interstate, and followed a truck very closely with
only my parking lights on.

I got back to Daun's, put the car in the garage, and popped the hood.  The
Alt pulley had all kinds of rubbery burn marks on it, and the belt was
hanging; frayed and nasty.  I couldn't figure out what had happened,
because the alternator still turned freely, but I assumed at some point it
must have seized.

So, this morning, first thing, Daun called our buddy Kim who is a service
advisor at Northland VW.  She was my only hope... and she came through,
getting me a rebuilt Bosch alternator at her cost from a local discount VW
parts store... I don't even want to discuss how much it cost, even at Kim's
cost... I am still too upset.

At any rate, Daun and his dad spent over THREE hours trying to replace the
alternator... I am eternally grateful to them.  The alternator swap is
simple, but getting the belt on was a bitch, because the A/C belt is in
front of it-- and there's no easy way to get the A/C belt off-- we wound up
having to remove the main pulley on the crank.  That wound up not being
necessary, which I found out after Daun's dad called one of the mechanics
from the dealership-- but anyways... the new alternator is in, and
everything appears allright.

The whole point of this?  Don't ignore your car when it speaks to you.  So
far, my car has told me before it's broken every single time.  Had I
listened to the car, and not my mechanic, I would have replaced the
alternator last week and avoided this whole mess. 

Oh well. :)

Thanks for listening. :)
		
		Jason



--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send email to scirocco-L-request@scirocco.org,
with your request (subscribe, unsubscribe) in the BODY of the message.