On my 97 850 R my wife was driving and she called and said can you hear that noise (through the phone)? I could not hear it at all of course. Well she said there was a very high pitch noise that sounded like it was coming from the left front speaker, even when the stereo was off. Then she got to the shopping parking lot and the car stalled. She called me before trying to start it and I said don't even try to start it, thinking that maybe it was the pulley on the timing belt and trying to start it might do more damage than anything.

Well my son in law, who is a mechanic, got there before me and took the cover off the timing belt to make sure it was not broke. It's less than 3 years old and around 50K, but I wanted to be safe rather than sorry. He put the multimeter on it and the battery was fine. He started it up and the alternator was throwing a charge. I drove it home and only heard the noise for a very short time.

We are thinking the alternator is going bad. What do you think?

 

Remove the belt and spin the Alt. pulley and also the A/C comp. Maybe the compressor is locking up.

 

Both spin freely. She said the high pitched noise did not go away when she turned off the AC.

 

Well, there are two things on the left side of the car, the transmission and the ABS (Brake) system. Which one it could be, I am not sure. Does it make the noise if you have it in park?

 

Not sure I heard the same noise my wife heard, but the noise I heard could still be heard when it was in park.

 

Tensioner and idler pulleys free as well?
I was going to suggest the headlight wiper motor but that will not make the car stall.

 

Like I said it would not make the noise much at all for me. I got the alternator off last night. I can get a used one for $65 at Erie Volvo. Going to get that and put it on. Nick was pretty certain it was the alternator. All the pulleys would spin freely and the wiper motor is disconnected. You know I hate those headlight wipers anyway.

 

Ok I hope it goes well.

 

Well I got the alternator off on Monday and got the new one today. Took me about 1.5 hours to get it off. Got the new on on in about 3 hours. Spent most of my time dropping friggin bolts and looking for them and screwing with that one bolt that is way on the bottom and deep inside. If you have ever done it you know which one I mean. Damn thing!

I got it all back together and could not get the serpentine belt on. I know how it goes, but can not get my hands down there to do it. By now it was 9:00 and sweat was running off my forehead onto my glasses and dripping of my nose. I will put the damn belt on in the morning.

Had a real hard time figuring out the plate that goes behind the alternator and up under the thermostat. All the rest came fairly intuitive. Luckily I keep another car just like it right next to me so I can open the hood on it to see how that plate fits. Had to take the Power Steering back off to get that plate on. Then just kept dropping the bolts that go through the pulley on the PS.

 

Yes it can be a major pain at times.

 

Got the belt on. Got a low coolant light, but the alternator is charging.

 

Play with the float a little with a screwdriver.

 

I lost quite a bit of coolant when I removed hose to move the power steering out of the way. I filled it with coolant and it's fine.

 

Glad it is all good now!

 

Well it's not quite that good. Wife took it for a drive and the oil light came on. It has plenty of oil, but I can see oil leaking and dripping down right to the right (facing the car) of where the dipstick tube enters the block. Wonder if I knocked something loose or something? If I have to take the intake manifold off, I will just do the PCV system. I have not done it on this car.

 

Hopefully it is simple.