okay, when the weather is cold outside, my alternator belt will make the worse noise ive ever heard and my voltage drops as soon as the rpms drop below 2000. i throw it in neutral and have to rev the NUTS out of it to charge my battery back up, i know this cuz of the voltage gauge on my dash, it'll always drop way down then when i rev the engine it goes back up. say i start my car, it will be fine, but as soon as i drop it in drive, or turn on the head lights, or anything that requires power will make my voltage so through the floor, but hte thing is, it only does it when its COLD.. what the hell is wrong wiht my damn car, it did this last winter and it was fine all summer. i hear other cars on the road do this the odd time too, but it does it EVERYTIME i drive my car. it's so annoying.. someone help me here, i dont think its a bad alternator, cuz it only does it when its cold and when the engine is running at low rpms
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Tighten or get a new alternator belt..
but what causes it to do that, explain to me why a loose belt will mess up my electrical system... i know abotu stereos, not engines!!
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lol...you need to know about electricity to know about stereos...when your belt is loose, it is not running the alternator fast enough because it slips on the pulley...there is not enough friction on the pulley to turn the alternator fast enough to charge the car...thus, it makes noise as the belt slips on the pulley and you get no power out of your alternator...
thank you! god i'm so useless when it comes to logic, i went out yesterday and tightend my belt and the problem seems to have gone away, but i swear to god if it does it again im gonna run outside with a hunting knife and cut that damn belt off, you have no idea what it's like in the morning when i start my car from inside and have to run like hell out the door to rev up my engine so i dont wake up the whole block
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