98 corolla battery light was on, pop squeel?

[ziggy]

Hello all98 corolla VE 4 door model, 87,000 miles. Other night, i noticed my battery light came on then went away, few seconds later flashed on then dispappeared. did it again, but not at all last night. I noted thier was a pop noise, n slight squeel from serpintine wheel area. This was in the car driving. Checked battery voltage using an ohmeter on volts, its good, bought the battery last year. its showing 12.67 volts. I had replaced the belt, 3 years ago, an autozone one i think, and has about 30,000 miles on it. Still the original factory alternator, that is working just fine.
What gives? im thinking its just the belt needs too be replaced.

 

[Trav]

Most likely its the belt, use a Gates from NAPA or Dayco W belt from AA.

 

[razel]

Did you replace all belts? If the same one failed within 3 years then something attached to it is stressing or is about to fail. From you say it's probably the belts that run along with the alternator. Also with Toyotas of that era, if it has a tensioner pulley on the belt, that should be replaced as well. My 2002 Toyota's belts were replaced. Car began making odd noises. Took it to a Toyota only mechanic who straight out just asked if the tensioner was replaced. All was well afterward. Best of luck.

By the way, since you're under the hood. If the battery has vent caps, top it off (to the bottom of the plastic tube) with distiller water.

 

[ziggy]

oh the tensioner pulley! i had suspected. IS that a big job?
the pulley system, is just one long belt, that runs along all the wheels. its something like nearly 70 inches long all one really big belt.

 

[Drew99GT]

Corolla's of that vintage have a serpentine with auto tensioner setup that is very easy to remove; no need to remove engine mounts or brackets. I'd take the belt off, inspect it, and most important, inspect all the pullies. You may have a pulley going bad or an accessory on the fritz like a tight power steering pump or alternator.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: ziggy
oh the tensioner pulley! i had suspected. IS that a big job?
the pulley system, is just one long belt, that runs along all the wheels. its something like nearly 70 inches long all one really big belt.


It's super easy on that year Corolla. Do you know how to remove a serpentine belt? If not, look for a vid on Youtube. You basically stick a ratchet in the tensioner and rotate it to get the belt off the pullies. Then check the tensioner pulley by spinning it. If you feel any grit or resistance or it makes noise, it's bad.

 

[barkingspider]

It's an older car. I would replace the pulleys and tensioner. Shouldn't be expensive or difficult. That car should last a lifetime

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: ziggy
oh the tensioner pulley! i had suspected. IS that a big job?
the pulley system, is just one long belt, that runs along all the wheels. its something like nearly 70 inches long all one really big belt.

You could just throw a tensioner and belt at it but if you want check it before..
For hydraulic types, check the cylinder for excess wetness, if its hard to compress there is still oil in the cylinder and its okay (compress these slowly), spin the pulley if its smooth with no noise or binding it too is okay. If it spins real easy and rattles its done in that case replace the pulley.
You can check a spring type tensioner by looking at it in operation if its not bouncing like mad and it feels firm to compress its probably okay.

 

[mk378]

With the belt off, spin all the accessory pulleys not just the tensioner, they should all be able to turn easily with little or no noise.