Alternator Issues HELP lol

[tn_accord]

alright so yesterday i go to start my car and it's whinin at idle and my lights are flashin and i can hear a whine at idle and my seatbelt light comes on randomly. so i think my alternator is about to take a shit. So i go and scoop one up from a buddy for $10 and i put it on. Well the battery light is staying was stayin on then the alternator starts smoking like hell? One of my friends said that i coulda tightened the belt to tight and caused the bearing in it to seize up?

also after i looked around the engine bay i noticed my ground from the valve cover to motor mount was broke in half..could this of been my first issue? Im going to go back out with the old alternator later and take some 4 gauge wire and redo some grounds.?

[MR.PHIL]

both alternators are bad,get you a good one.

that little ground that goes to your valve cover barely does anything.

[nine_deuce]

It could very well be that the belt was too tight. I've read that they're supposed to have some slack, just not enough to flop around

[accordztech]

get a new one. go have ur old one tested if ur not sure, its free.

new ones come with warrenty.

[Stoner51]

I had to tighten my ALT/AC belt pretty tight to keep it from squealing. Prob a bad alt. Upgrading the grounds will prob help out the prob too.
steve

[ibr_adam09]

the belt should have a slack of at least half an inc. if you'd twist it.

[Losiracer2]

yeah if your alt. starts smoking....its a bad sign. That one you got is no good. Autozone sells some for about 110 bucks w/ lifetime warranty. Get the Prelude Vtec one not the accord one. The VTEC one is remanufactured in Malaysia, compared to Mexico for the Accord ones, plus it cranks out 95amps vs 80 for the accord. All you'd have to do is swap pulleys since the rib count on the prelude is 1 too many and is offset by like half a rib.