Pro tip: check your alternator belt before blaming the battery in 5 degree weather

Honestly, last January in Minneapolis my car wouldn't start and I was dead set on replacing the battery. Spent $140 on a new one from AutoZone, put it in, still clicking like crazy. Turns out the alternator belt was so loose it wouldn't spin the alternator properly, so the new battery drained in about 15 minutes of driving. A friend at work told me to just tighten the belt tensioner with a 3/8 ratchet, took maybe ten minutes. That old belt had 87,000 miles on it and I never even thought to check it. Now I do a quick visual and push-test on the belt every oil change. Anyone else had a dead battery actually be a belt issue?

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price.alice17d ago

Same thing happened to me last winter, I was ready to fight my battery guy. I had been dealing with slow starts for like a week and just assumed it was the cold, my battery was five years old so it made sense. Dropped $200 on a nice battery and it started fine that first day, then the next morning it was dead again. I was so mad I almost returned it until I noticed the belt squealing real bad when I turned the heat on full blast. Tensioner was shot, the belt was flapping around like crazy. I replaced the whole tensioner and belt for like $60 in parts and it's been perfect since. Now I always listen for that squeal when it's cold out, it's such a cheap fix compared to guessing at batteries.