A Bad Alternator: Pt 1: Loosening the Serpentine Belt

So, funny story...I was driving to work for about 2 weeks and when I'd come to a stop at a light or stop sign, occasionally, but not every time, the car would stall, and then start right up again no problem whatsoever. I couldn't figure it out, and since it wasn't stopping me from getting where I was going, I was just rolling with it. The frequency was increasing, so I figured the problem would sooner or later reveal itself, which it did, when Mr. Battery light turned on.

So when your battery light turns on: it does not mean that your battery is bad, but it means that you are drawing power exclusively from your battery, aka the alternator is not doing it's job. An alternator is a really remarkable device. As you spin a wire, there will be an induced current. So, if you already have something which needs spinning, of which there are no short supply on your car, why not throw a wire into the mix, which will spin, and induce a current into windings which can charge your battery and power your car when it runs! Great idea right! The idea, however, is that the car for the most part is entirely dependent on this alternator as its source of energy. The battery is there for starting up and to kind of help out when the alternator is not spinning so fast, aka when you're idling etc. When you're going full speed, it's actually powering everything and creating energy to spare, which the car uses to recharge everything it's robbed from your battery. When your alternator stops working, you're not going to get very far. So, there is a snakelike belt which wraps around a great many things in your engine, known as the serpentine belt, or drive belt. This is what spins the alternator around. Since my alternator was dead as a doornail, and I happened to have one that worked just fine in my other car, let's swap it out and see how much more milage I can get! Step 1: Get the pesky belt off of that alternator. You're not going to get very far with this attached. So, under the hood, where the front shock is mounted, there is a lovely diagram which shows how the belt should be wound. The key is the tensioner, which is there to keep everything nice and tight, i.e. provide tension. If you turn this counter to the tension, you'll relieve all of the tension in the belt, and then slide it off at the easiest possible point. This is the first step in freeing the good and bad alternators from the shackles of their cars.