my 93 del sol has been sitting out in the parking lot for a bit and when i decided to start it up, the alternator would start smoking. i kept trying to start up the car till eventually the alternator belt broke. went out, grabbed another belt and installed it. same effects still happening with the smoke.

i also had this happen to me before, but after i left the car alone for a couple days, it went away.

may i also add that the car has a dead battery. we try jump starting the car, but it fails to start up, just cranks over slowly. would the dead battery be the reason why the alternator is smoking?

thanks

 

put a new alternator in it. smoking = bad

 

lol then that looks like what i'll be doing

 

make sure you arent tightening the belt too much... it could be putting a lot of stress on the alternator causing it to smoke. dead battery shouldnt make the alternator smoke.

 

after we put the belt on and started up the car, you could hear a loud squeaking sound. sounded like the belt wasn't even on tight at all but the belt and the alternator would budge anymore while tightening it.

 

take your old alt. out and have it tested a autozone that way u know for sure if its bad or not

 

wow just had the same exact problem i guess i need a new alt too

 

If your diode goes bad then your alternator will get back current and start to burn up. When your alternator goes bad, it will drain down your battery, making one think that the problem is the battery. Sounds like thats what happened. The alternator basically burns itself up from the inside out. Replace it and you should have no problems. Charge your battery after replacing and maybe its salvageable, might be too far strained.

 

So it sounded like the belt was squeeling, but the belt was tight. Did you make sure the alternator spun? It could have seized up possibly. Unlikely, but it sounds like it.

If you can afford it, get a good brand of alternator. Order it online if you have to. When I needed a new one for my hatch, there was a pretty big price difference between on eBay and Advance.

 

Never buy ebay parts for something you want a good warranty for. Go to napa if you can (best parts imo). Have you taken the alternator off or just changed the belt?