Mazda 3 2012 weird noice and then battery icon

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

I was just driving on a city road, suddenly I hear a weird noise as if you were to hit some snow on a high speed but the road was dry. Then battery icon turns on, I googled and saw this:

saying:

If the car’s dashboard battery light comes on, you might be able to make it home or to a service facility for a repair. The car will continue running as long as some juice is left in the battery…

Exactly what happened to me. I decided to drive home - 2 miles drive as as I was approaching home power steering died. Then check engine light came up and I turned off the car by my house.

Have you ever had a similar scenario with a noise and then battery icon coming up? What would it be?

2

Either alternator failed or the belt driving it broke.

3

how much would it be to fix something like this? What belt is it by the way?

4

I have no idea of the cost. It would vary by location. Go to repairpal.com to get a better idea. It would be the serpentine belt.

5

Since the actual problem is unknown a cost is impossible to know . Look under the hood and see if there is a pulley that does not have a belt on it.

1 Like
6

makes sense. Appreciate it guys!

7

Yes. The something similar happened both times the alternator failed in my Corolla. In my case the noise was a high pitched sound from the radio but the car had the other symptoms. Yours appears to be a broken serpentine belt though because your Mazda has conventional power steering instead of the electric variety and a failed alternator wouldn’t affect it.

8

Looks like a serpentine belt broke…

belt
belt1366×1268 552 KB

1 Like
9

Yup. Make sure to check or have a mechanic check the pulleys and tensioner before replacing the belt.

10

The repair/replacement of this belt is about $50. No big deal. It cost $42.50 om my Corolla.