Guys a little help would be appreciated . Driving along and there is a squeal -like a loose serpentine belt.Stop, inspect belt --seems tight but gave it another tweak and the noise stopped. Start driving and the temp gauge is rising rapidly --much above its normal gauge position. I stop and have another under hood look. No water anywhere BUT I notice the battery -3months old has expanded and is leaking acid . Well I headed straight toward home and as it was raining a little I used the wipers --well they speeded up heaps --like maybe twice normal speed--turned them off n drove home 1/2 blind.
Alternator is running at 17.8 volts ?
Is my alternator buggered and causing all these misdemeanours --including destroying my thermostat .
Help required before I can go to far
cheers
mike

 

Probably a bad alt. Thermostat is most likley not damaged, but guage is reading high due to over voltage. Was it really overheating, or was it just the guage reading high? change the bat. it has been damaged. if you don't even after repair or replacement of alt it may continue to overcharge and damage replacement alt. What car is this?

 

X2

Take your alt in for testing.
If good, the regulator might have failed, especially if it is mechanical.
Even if the alt was bad, I might change the reg also in case it was weakened somehow.

X2 above on the temp gauge. Your gas gauge may have acted similarly.

The squealling may have been the belt slipping, as alt was loaded excessively. If it stopped your water pump, overheating could have occured.

Glad you got home okay!

 

[ What car is this?[/quote]

I didn`t mention purposely as it is not an OLDS but you guys are soooo helpful here I guess you wouldn`t mind --after all it COULD happen on an olds --ok I fess to it being one of my work vans --a f^&d transit --2.5l diesel -I don`t even know whether these horrible metallic pieces grace your roadside--sorta vehicle you get into ,load the water n oil bottles, throw in the tool kit and wonder if you will get to your destination unhindered.

 

Well, I guess we will just have to take back all the advice.
Those type of vans do not have alternators, so who knows what happened to it...

Just kidding...
The good news is that I am glad this did not happen to an Olds!
Hope you get it fixed... Put an Olds 350 in that van and run trouble free, unless the wheels fall off.

 

Damned inciteful of you--I thought when I touched the radiator that it wasn`t overheated. And the water wasn`t boiling . The smell in the cab which I thought was an oil smell I now think was the sulphury battery acid smell. yes maybe (probably) it was only the gauge reading erroneously.

thanks
mike

 

yeah ,kinda a flintstone type wagon --holes in the floor to get foot traction on the seal
Yes not a bad idea to fire a 350 at it ---no actually that is a terrible idea as it becomes project 26 or so !!!
thanks very much
mike

 

You were busted at "Serpentine" belt, buddy.

 

bugger