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car started making whining noising then engulfed in smoke? help!

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Old 06-17-2013, 11:19 PM
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car started making whining noising then engulfed in smoke? help!

I started my car at my friends house who lives literally a mile from me. I heard a faint whining noise, that kind of sounded like getting a piece of rug stuck in a vacuum cleaner. then I pulled into my driveway and my car was engulfed in smoke! I waited a bit for the smoke to clear and popped the hood and I smelt like a burning electric smell. I started it back up and heard whining coming from the alternator section and smoke coming from there as well. (it was hard to see it was dark out and I was using an almost dead flashlight) I immediately shut the car off when I saw the smoke return.

Based on searches I think it's my alternator, any other possible thing though?

its a 99, I don't know if that matters for the alternator.
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Old 06-18-2013, 01:18 AM
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If I'm not mistaken there was a recall on alternators for that exact reason. Not sure if 99 was part of that though.
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Old 06-18-2013, 05:22 AM
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If it wines like a failing alty, smokes like a failing alty, and smells like a failing alty, then it's a good chance it's a failing alty. 99's were not part of the recall.
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Old 06-18-2013, 12:01 PM
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^ thanks for confirming.
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Old 06-19-2013, 06:41 AM
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Remove the belt and see if you can spin it freely by hand. It may be the tensioner.
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Old 06-19-2013, 08:58 PM
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it was the alt, it fried it's self I guess haha. thanks everyone for their input!
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