I recently purchased a 2005 gmc envoy xl. Everything seemed fine with the car. A few days in the check engine light came on. I figured it just needed an oil change. I was wrong. On Thursday it completely died while off. I tried to start the car and nothing. A jump would get it started but as soon as you disconnect the cables it died. Got it towed and got a new battery the next day. It started right up and took a minute to get to the 14 mark. It ran ok but the brakes feel soft now. Brakes were fine before it died…on my way home from work yesterday the battery light came on and it ended up dying. Got a jump and it went back up to 14 and drove home. Went to start it this morning and it started but the battery was at halfway between 9 and 14 and the battery light was on. Drove it to autozone to see if they can test alternator. Battery was too low to test (mind you its a new battery) and it started making a loud grinding noise and almost sounded like something was stuck in the engine. Smelt burning rubber. Somehow made it back home with the battery completely dead before the car just shut off. Can a failing alternator mess with the brakes and make incredibly loud crazy noises? I am going to have it towed to a repair shop but I am trying to figure out how my car was completely fine one day and now not driveable at all. I have had it less than two weeks.
Maybe it’s the alternator, the serpentine belt, or a tensioner. Any of those could be the cause of the burning rubber smell and the battery discharging. The grinding sound would lead me to think alternator or belt tensioner (or idler pulley). Something that had bearings that have failed. Just a guess, though. I’m not sure about the brakes. That may be a seperate thing…
Could the tow truck guy possibly messed up my brakes when putting it on thr flatbed? Because my brakes were completely fine and the crazy thing is the brake light does not come on on my dashboard. And is it possible my car was running off of the new battery instead of the alternator?
Entirely possible that the car ran off the new battery. And a bad alternator killed it. As far as the tow truck driver messing up the brakes, I doubt it.
I did a little searching and found out this vehicle may have an electronic brake control module. I believe it’s incorporated into the antilock brake system. But I suppose since it’s electronic, there’s a possibility if the vehicle was driven with a failed alternator, possibly that module could affect braking if it wasn’t getting the required voltage. So maybe all of this is due to just a bad alternator or something in the belt that drives the alternator (belt tensioner, idler pulley). Hopefully. Would be nice if it was a simple fix!
I hope thats what it is! Will find out soon