[psychade]

I have a mad belt squeal when its cold in the morning. I figured ideler pulley, and I'd get around to it.

Today I'm driving, the squeal is going per normal. All of a sudden battery power pegs to 0 and the check gauges light comes on. I pull over, assume the alternator blew up or something, but nothing changed. I drove it to work, turned it off, back on, and the voltage went back to normal.

Now I'm not sure they correlate or not. I guess it just could be coincidence and the 2 have no bearing on each other.

I have done some searching and it seems it could be the voltmeter. Is this actually on the alternator? I saw someone else mention something about the computer. I'm wondering what I'm going to have to replace here.

Maybe I should start by just testing the battery. But it just seems odd that the gauge would go crazy, then go back to normal.

98 ZJ 4.0


Found this thread, which gives me plenty of ideas I suppose:
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-122722.html

I'll start by cleaning the terminals. Replacing the serp belt and seeing if I can't diagnose the squeal. Maybe its the alt pulley and I just need to replace it too. Glad I worked on Thanksgiving for that triple time...

[driabyor]

check the battery cable that goes to the power center. The double cable from the battery can corrode to a point that it will lose contact with battery.
I fixed mine with a lawn mower cable ,one with a lug on both ends. Just remove cable form power center then clip the other end as short as possible. Take the new cable connect to battery bolt and power center. Quick cheap fix. Less than 10 bucks.
as for the belt. if it glazed it may squeal... get a new belt. maybe even a 1/2" smaller in length... if you think the tensioner isn't doing it's job correctly

[cyberbrain]

I ahd a similar problem where in the morning the alt was not charging the battery and it was the belt squeeling also. once I tightened down the tensioner (dont forget the bolt that locks it in place) I have not had the same problem since.

[ArloGuthroJeep]

I suspect the squel to be the belt - replace it.
The power dropping to 0 volts doesn't sound like the alternator to me. If it were, it would only drop to 12v (which is what the battery runs as).

[Texas ZJ1]

The belt tensioner pulley is a mother to replace. Especially by the side of the road.

Hunter

[FPKites]

H, you know you love it - be honest

[98ZJBlack]

Watch out is all i have to say. I have been having a similiar squeeling problem that only occurs once winter comes. I always figured it was either the idler pulley or the belt tensioner, turns out that i found out the hard way today. So, im driving along and all the sudden i hear a pop and lose power steering. So, i get it off the road as safely as possible and then it overheats spewing coolant all over the place. I checked under the hood and sure enough the belt was completely off the pulleys, but it did not snap so i dont know if that is a good thing or not. Anyways, hope this helps.

[ZillaTorker]

Originally Posted by 98ZJBlack

Watch out is all i have to say. I have been having a similiar squeeling problem that only occurs once winter comes. I always figured it was either the idler pulley or the belt tensioner, turns out that i found out the hard way today. So, im driving along and all the sudden i hear a pop and lose power steering. So, i get it off the road as safely as possible and then it overheats spewing coolant all over the place. I checked under the hood and sure enough the belt was completely off the pulleys, but it did not snap so i dont know if that is a good thing or not. Anyways, hope this helps.

Bad tensioners will do that -my caravan use to do that everytime it rained -sucks-replace it if the bearing is shot or it seems to stick!

[kentman]

I had the exact same volts go to zero with check gauges light coming on issue, but I had no problem with the belt squeal. Mine happened a couple minutes after takeoff at lunch.

It freaked me out for a second while driving. I immediately turned on the map light to see if it was getting dimmer or flickering. It was bright with no flicker. I decided to not stop the vehicle just in case the battery had died. The condition remained until I got it home. I turned it off and on again at home, and everything was back to normal.

This issue has not reoccurred again, and it has been a couple months now. I think that the battery reaches some low threshold, and electrical gremlins kick in. Once the code is thrown in a transient, a recycle of the ignition is required to make it go away. I expect that my battery could be getting old. It has at least five years on the clock.

I recommend doing nothing unless it repeats again.

[Katesdad]

Originally Posted by Texas ZJ1

The belt tensioner pulley is a mother to replace. Especially by the side of the road.

Hunter

Really? lmao

Be safe have a good one.

[alivenkickin28]

yup and the idler pulley always goes while ur on the side of the road.....even at 3am after you're done partying....