My alternator has recently started whining on and off. With the wine comes a smell of burning rubber. My radio also will randomly restart while I’m driving. And I’ve noticed some sort of kick or shudder while the engine is in drive and idling with the breaks applied. All of these symptoms are completely random, especially the engine kicking or shuddering. I’ve had my alternator tested and it checks out with a clean bill of health. Could this be my alternator starting to go bad or is this something else? Any tips ?
Serpentine belt slipping and worned
If this is what is happening then your alternator could be at fault…if your diagnosis was correct… It may also be the A/C compressor cycling on and off with a seized compressor…the burning rubber in either case would be the belt slipping on the pulley…on whichever component seems to be locked up.
You need to open your hood and look at what is occurring…the rubber smell would be enough of a clue for you to tell us what item is locking up and burning the rubber belt.
Let us know what you see…we cant see it from here.
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With the belt removed, each component it drives should be checked. All should turn smoothly. A/C compressor is suspect. Its pulley may turn freely but when the compressor kicks in (which happens kind of randomly), it runs roughly with lots of drag and the belt moves with a jerky motion, affecting all the driven components.