I was coming home from work a few weeks ago and the voltmeter went in the red and the light came on. Got home ok. Went to start it when I got up and it was dead. Today I was able to jump start it and it stayed running but the voltmeter was kind of bouncing down and the belt was squeeling. I drove the car for a few min, ran fine and as I was pulling into a parking spot it died. Lost all power. It would not start back up. Any ideas?

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Chuck
86 GT
98 Trans AM
06 Solstice

Sounds like the alternator died but just to be safe check that squealing belt also. Could just be a loose belt that's not turning the pulley.

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Project Silver Bullet has commenced. Project Silver Bullet

It could be a couple of things. One, the belt could be loose. This would cause the squealing noise, and it's possible that it's slipping enough that the alternator can't keep up charging the battery. If you run the battery down, the car won't run. The other thing could be that the alternator bearings went bad...this could also cause a squealing noise. The bad bearings took out the alternator, and it's not charging your battery anymore. The thing to do is crawl underneath and check the tension on the alternator belt. If it's loose, maybe all you need to do is tighten it up. If it's tight....then you can almost bet your alternator is toast.

I'll check the belt, hope thats it. Thanks.

Just some info on alts/current and how to check them for different things .
http://www.calgaryfieros.com/OSGdocs/diag.charging-system.html
Also (if desired) good time to get one of www.rodneydickman.com idle pulley kits.

Before you replace the alternator, I'd check the electrical connection at the alt and at the battery to make sure they're clean and making a good connection.