i have a weird one, i got home from driving today and had to go back to the store, started the car and heard ticking noise, sounded like a sparking. I popped the hood peeked around and saw sparks randomly on the Altenator belt, yes thats Altenator belt. What could be the cause of this?

 

sparks are traveling along the altenator belt and sparking at random spots and at random times (no pattern) anyone have any ideas?

 

alternator bearing is toast

 

is the bearing something inside the altenator?

 

yes

 

time for a new alternator

 

that is what i was thinking, but i have had many altenators go bad throughout the years on different vehicles, and have never seen an alt do something like that. So what is happening exactly? is the alt sending electricity through its own pully and discharging on the belt as it rotates? could driving like this cause problems untill i can cough up $100 to get a new one?