Weaker startup after repairs?

[fedisrico]

Hey guys, so it turned out my car needed a new alternator, I did the repair this past weekend, (which was horrible in the chicago snow) the battery light went away and my car seems to be holding a charge now but when it turns over it does not feel nearly as powerful as before. Usually the car would move a bit on startups bc of how strong it was, now it's a quieter normal start.

I should mention that the serpentine belt seemed a bit looser than it was before I took it off, and I lost a c clip for the radiator hose, causing the upper hose to come off and pour coolant all over my engine bay which I did my best to clean up, and replaced the clip.

Am I going to have to go back in there to retension the belt?

[edjack]

What is the overnight battery voltage? At 1000 RPM?

[djb2]

Batteries degrade quickly when below 20% charge, and the effect is worse with an older battery. You might be seeing the effect of higher internal resistance. Or you might just not have put the battery terminal clamp back on properly.

[fedisrico]

The battery is brand new, a month old. The belt was in pretty bad shape but there were none in the area and I couldn't wait for it to ship so I didn't replace it. The temp gauge would shoot straight to the max when I would turn the key to position 2 at first after the repair, but I fixed this by disconnecting the battery for a bit. It's still running a bit hot and just an hour ago the coolant temp was at 120, I'm definitely going to add more coolant but should I replace the belt right away?

[adm750]

fedisrico -

You mentioned a couple things....

1) "...holding a charge now..." - does this just mean that the BATT light is off ? def check the things edjack and djb2 said 'cause holding a charge, and charging properly are two relatively diff things.

2) "...the belt seems more loose than before..." - Tension on that belt should not change unless something is amiss. Have you verified that it's routed around the pulleys properly ?? There are a million schools of thought on this but if it was coolant-soaked, you could try to take it off and clean it up with straight water till you get your new one.....(or just pour clean water on it while it is running). Since it is a bit jacked as you noted, definitely get a replacement on order asap.

The 540 guys can chime in on how to bleed the cooling system properly on that engine if you are unsure...

Good luck...

tony

[fedisrico]

Thanks for the advice guys, I manged to successfully bleed the system and it's staying in the mid 90's now. I do still sometimes get a squeal from the belt I assume, it's loose bc I didn't have a torque wrench when I retensioned it. The battery voltage has been good, the power is still off but maybe it's all in my head

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

There is only one way for the belt to go on, change the belt if it is still loose, you need to address the tensioners one for the main belt, one for the accessories, might as well change both, as a matter of fact, change both belts, if that is too much for you, sell that thing and get a cheaper to maintain vehicle, otherwise, the failures will end up ganging up on you. Bleeding an M62 is much simpler than the I6's. Good luck.

[geargrinder]

Check your battery connections. You say taking them off and on helped, are you sure both are solid and clean?