Hi everybody. I've had my GP GT for a little over a month now, and I'm loving it. However, a friend and I noticed something the other day that sort of..worries me.
We were cleaned my car in and out - under the hood compartment, ever crack and crevice, everything. We fired the engine up and it started like it does when you tap the key over. (This is an '04 GP GT). It then suddenly died..I was freaked out. He tried it again and no problem, it started up right away. It had never done this to me before, and it hasn't happened since. So, I figured it was a freak thing. We then noticed something else. When you fire the car up once in a while, it'll seem like it's about to die before it revs back up to life. I don't know if that's normal or not, but it'll only happen while the engine isn't very hot. Whatever. But here's the freaky thing - whenever you kill the car, you'll hear a sort of 'rubbing' noise, as if something is spinning. My friend thinks my alternator is going bad.
He's thinking the spinning is the bearing spinning inside the alternator, and thinks I'll probably be replacing it soon. (The fact that you can hear it spinning probably means the bearing's going bad, right?)
Now, here's where I really need your guys' - the expert on GPs - help. Do you think it's an alternator problem?
Remember:
1) It didn't start up when the key was tapped - but it only happened once.
2) It'll sometimes sort of 'die down' then rev back up to live, but not every time. Maybe this is normal, I don't know.
3) I'm hearing a sort of rubbing, spinning sound when I kill the car. We've pinpointed it to the area of/around the alternator.
I'm thinking I'm going to hook up a DMM to find out what the battery is reading at idle. If it's an alternator problem, would it show up there? What are some other ways to find out if your alternator might be going out?
My dad wants to get it profesionally checked out, but I don't want to spend $50 on a diagnosis when it could possibly be a cheap fix. What do you guys think it could be? How much would it cost to replace an alternator? Might it be a smaller problem, not even the alternator at all? I can try to upload a video of the sound sometime, maybe tonight or tomorrow.
Any and all input is appreciated!
EDIT: Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvCF2...ature=youtu.be
It seems like it's coming from the alternator's area, but I'm not 100% sure. Any of you recognize the sound? My bud thinks it's the bearing inside the alternator.
