I'm somewhat new to these cars and having trouble diagnosing this problem, so I would appreciate any help. I just recently had all my belts replaced along with some related stuff. The car has been running well since without incident, however yesterday after a few hours of highway driving I noticed a strange noise coming from the engine bay. I am having a really difficult time describing the noise, but it is essentially a kind of empty, throaty, raspy and at times almost aquatic buzz which seems to match the engine's tone as it revs, though is clearly distinct from the engine. It was quite loud and disconcerting, but since I was almost home I parked and figured I would look into it later. A few hours thereafter I had to move my car and upon starting and turning on the headlights the car immediately died. I tried again and while the car seemed to struggle, it was running. I quickly noticed a ton of white smoke pouring out from the engine bay, however and turned off the engine. When I went to check, it seemed to be coming from behind the right headlight, though I could not notice anything out of the ordinary. At this point I wasn't sure what to do, but I had to move my car and it was only a few blocks, so after some time I tried again and only turned on my parking lights and didn't have a problem with the car dying or smoke. The aforementioned noise was worst than ever. Additionally I could now notice a squeel upon acceleration. I managed to park without further incident however. Today, with the help of some sunlight I tried to see what the status was. The only thing I noticed was that the belts looked to be in very poor condition. I don't really know what normal wear is supposed to look like, but they have only been on for about a thousand miles and definitely look quite deteriorated. I've attached some pictures below.

I did some searching on the forum, and while simlar problems had been discussed, I could find nothing which mentioned all the above problems. Perhaps they are unrelated, but since they all happened at once, I am suspicious that they are related. At this point I am mostly just want to know if I can drive the car to have it checked out since I don't have a place here in Baltimore to really open up the car.

 

You got problems...and should immediately park your car and not even crank it up until you get the belt issue resolved. Something bad's wrong...and could lose your engine when (not if) the belt breaks. I hope you're not too late.

Harvey

 

It sounds like your alternator seized up or something. I was driving around minding my own business in my '87 9000 turbo and a loud squeeling noise followed by a snap (which the the point i realized the acc built had bit it) occured which led to a soaring temp gauge (some manufacturers actually put water pumps on a belt that makes sense).

I went to check out the pulleys and the alternator was completely seized.