It's raining out there and I need to take care of other things in the next couple of hours so I though I'd run this by you guys while I have time to get back to the problem.

I just went to start my Fiero to do some errands and it was basically dead. An hour earlier I had driven it around for a few miles and things were fine. Symptoms:
- Not the slightless attempt to crank
- Almost no voltage indicated on the guage
- No headlights (they are up)
- However, Dome lights, are BRIGHT plus the warning chimes sound stronger than what the voltimeter suggests.
- A quick check of the battery connectors yielded no obvious issues.

My initial fears are:
- the battery lost current storage capacity in a sudden death act -- a bit unusual, there's usually some warning and/or
- my alternator is gone, the battery had just enough juice to start and take me around earlier

Ahhhh, just remembered...while driving last night there was a lot more than the usual belt squealing noise...it has been raing hard here in South Florida because of the storm that just hit us. Just one belt (alt & water pump) in this 86 2.5L engine. I should have checked belt tension! (just thinking out loud )

This should be easy to diagnose when I come back but any thoughts will be appreciated.

Beno

Check your cables, and if you can, measure the votage on the actual battery terminals (not the cable ends). If the battery was dead then the chimes and dome lights would be dead also. When you attempt to crank does the dome light dim any?

JazzMan

Batteries only die all of a sudden when there is an internal short normally caused by the battery bouncing. Sounds more like electrical connections including grounds are marginal. Check the belt, check the alternator to make it spins freely, check the tensioner to make sure it moves easy.

The battery was bad. A new battery seems to have solved the problem. I'll watch things closely in case there's more to it but it all looks good now. Well...not all.

The battery tray is much more corroded than I expected. I'll start a new thread to ask for advice in reinforcing it while I get a new one.

Thanks, gang.

Beno

quote Originally posted by Jdlog: The battery was bad. A new battery seems to have solved the problem. I'll watch things closely in case there's more to it but it all looks good now. Well...not all. The battery tray is much more corroded than I expected. I'll start a new thread to ask for advice in reinforcing it while I get a new one. Thanks, gang. Beno

I can tell you right now what happened cause it happened to my a few weeks back. Your battery box allowed the battery to slide over and come in contact with the pulley, causing your belt noise. It ate through the battery and all the fluid drained out. Check for white stains (battery acid) to see if this was the case.

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i replaced the alternator on my 85 gt and it solved the belt squeek problem for me...the alternator was replaced for the squeek and bad bearings.....