help please...

[dougler]

hey guys thanks for reading..on a recent road trip my car started squeaking a bit and a quick look under the hood showed a loose wobly pully on the engine... the lowest pully on the alternator belt.. this was strange but i drove on. soon enough my battery started dieing and started losing power.....on the way hoe car would not start so we jump started it by pusing and popng out the clutch you know the old trick anyways, i got a new battery in er and it died again so i figure it must be the alternator or someithing with tthat pully witch is still loose.. my exhaust got alot louder on the way there could be a hole somewhere along the line that got bigger or something most likely not connected but thought id thorw that in there if you know whats wrong or any ideas where to start please let me know i need my car and i would greatly appriciate it thanks,,, its a 91 prelude btw

[spiffyguido]

Hi dougler. Nice to see you on here again.

First of all, the pulley. You say it is the lowest pulley on the alternator belt, which if I'm understanding you correctly would mean that you are referring to the main pulley at the bottom of the motor. Is this the pulley you meant?

If that pulley is loose, that's more than a little bad. Don't drive your car until you get that fixed. When you can, pop your driver's side wheel off. Behind the wheel there will be a piece of the fender well that snaps out so that you can see the main pulley from the wheel well. Get under the car as well and check out why the pulley is loose. It's possible that your main pulley bolt has just become loose. If that's the case, it needs to be tightened up properly. If the bolt is tight, then find out the reason why the pulley wobbling.

Once you've sorted out the pulley, fire up the car (boost it if you have to) and see if your battery light (low voltage light) comes on. Your alternator has to push at least 12 volts to run the car, so if you alternator is bad the battery light should come on. If you have a multimeter you can also test the voltage coming from the alternator by testing on the alternator's positive lead. Be very careful of the spinning belts if you choose to do that. Remember, a car belt will take your arm off easy enough if you are unfortunate enough to get caught.

Lastly, while you're under the car checking out the pulley, check out your exhaust system and check for any holes, etc. Write back and let us know your findings. Post pictures if you want.

[dougler]

well it turns out that the pulley is not loose just the outer part surrounding it. that the belt is touching..my dad thinks i will need a new pulley and alternator..although i am not certain that the alternator is bad. a new alternator is 240$ the pulley is 170 from the dealer and i can get my alternator rebuilt for 140.. if you have any advice on what i can do next it would be greatly appreciated as i need my car asap and might have to do a little driving on this bad pully

[spiffyguido]

The outer part of the pulley is loose? I don't understand how that could be. The pulley is one unit isn't it. Is it bent, giving it an uneaven rotation?

If you do need a new pulley, head on down to an auto wrecker and just get one off another car. It's not the type of part that you need to buy new.

As for the alternator, I'd fix the pulley first. You don't want to get a new alternator just because of your pulley problem. Make sure the pulley is working well, and then fix the alternator. Again, try to go to an auto wrecker. You'll spend 40$ at most on an alternator from a wrecker and chances are it'll be fine. The alternator in my 2nd gen was salvaged from a prelude in a wrecker and it's on it's 5th year of service, no problems.

[dougler]

hey thanks again for the help but it almost seems too late .... my parents made me give the car to my moms "car guy" hes getting me a new harmonic balancer im not even positive this will fix my problem..i wanted to bring it honda as i think they might know a bit more about my car but i listened to my parents ...stupid me
anyways hes ordering the part for the same price as honda and he should have it in a few days although i think honda might have even had the part.. i could have gone to the wreckers i guess but its a real mess right now and i cant seem to find the prelude they say they had.. oh well hopefully this fixes the pully or whatever and then i may have to find an alternator
ill let you know how it all turns out .thanks again

[dougler]

update: so turns out the old pully was broken and the new one went on nicly. i got a new alternator and put it in and it works fine.. now just that rattly exhaust and my wipers. new belts also old ones were toast

[spiffyguido]

Glad to hear you got everything fixed, dougler.

[dougler]

thanks.. now for the exhaust leak then i think it will get some paint and body work done then im stripping the interior and redoing that.... should be quite the project

[spiffyguido]

Awesome.

Take some pictures and keep us up to date on progress. Restoration is always fun.

For the exhaust leak, can you tell where it is leaking? I had problems with a flex-pipe before. You may have the same thing.

[dougler]

yeah it was my flex pipe it was completly detached!.. anyways got er all welded up today sounds 1000 x better. ill take some pictures for you guys later.

[spiffyguido]

Thought it might be. Glad to hear that you got it all fixed up. Can't wait to see the pictures. Send them to admin AT preludedriver DOT com if you need them hosted.