Power issues at idle in cold weather, HELP! Options

[GriffGirl]

Okay so it's cold - unseasonably cold here this week. This morning my car kind of turned over "sluggishly" when I came out to start it this morning, but it did start on the first try. 25 minutes later when I arrived to pick up my friend to go to work, as I sat idling the battery light came on so I gassed it because I know that means alternator. Well probably a minute or two later it did it again but the radio and accessories shut off, but went back on again when I gassed it. This continued a few more times for the next 5 minutes, and when I went to drive away it did it one more time while I was driving to the end of the block but hasn't done it again since.

Is this just a cold weather thing wreaking havoc on my battery, or is my alternator going out? I've lived where it's cold before and don't remember this ever happening. I think my battery might be on the older side, although when I had the clutch replaced the battery died so I had it tested and it tested real strong on cold cranking amps. Anyone have any ideas? Should I worry?

This post has been edited by GriffGirl: Dec 17, 2008 - 6:54 PM

[Cutrara]

Right, only she has an ST, still easy enough.
Ok, let me see if I can describe this well enough... bear with me please


Standing in front of the car looking at the alternator
- undo the 10mm nut holding the power wire on and tape it up or something, make sure that does not touch anything
- unplug the big harness plug going into the right side of the alternator
- underneath the alternator there should be one of those plastic things that hold the wire harness in place, try to get that out now otherwise you'll go to pull the alternator out and pull on it. it's harder to get out when you're worried about your dangling alternator.
- loosen the big top bolt but don't take it out yet
- underneath the alternator there's a big curved bracket that's bolted to the block with a slot in it. on the right side of that curved bracket you'll feel a small block that's threaded in 2 places for the 2 bolts that adjust the belt tension and hold that adjustment.
this is the best picture I could find to describe what I'm talking about

- first, to loosen the adjustment block you need to loosen the 12mm (or 14mm maybe) bolt that goes into that adjustment block from the left side
- once that's loose you can loosen the bolt that goes straight down into the adjustment block and that should loosen your belt
- now you can take the big top bolt out and you should be able to get the alternator out

Getting it back in, mainly lining up the bolt in the little block with the spot on the alternator it goes into without being able to see anything, is a whole other adventure. I developed a technique but I can't really describe it (I was switching alternators between mine and Dustin's ST and got a new one and had to put Dustin's back, I ended up doing it like 8 times in the dark within 2 or 3 days so i got pretty good at it) but I'm sure you'll figure it out on your own. Good luck, I hope that helps some.

just disconnect the battery ground first and you dont have to worry about it!