Squealing, knocking, now will not start

MICHELLE0992

MEMBER
2000 SATURN SL2
V6
2WD
AUTOMATIC
120,000 MILES

My car was making a squealing noise when I started the car and as it would warm up it would go away except when I stopped at a red light or stop sign and went to start going again it would make the noise then go away again. This happened for a couple of days then when I was driving it made a weird kind of clunk noise and started making like a knocking sound. It was very loud then would get quieter as the car warmed up, it did not go away it just was not like the car was ready to take off flying in the sky. Now yesterday when I was coming home the car started putting like it was gonna stall out, I slowed down to turn into my driveway and the car shut off and will not start back up. Now the battery light is on and was not on before, I just got a new battery in March.

1 Reply

HARRY P

MECHANIC
2,293 POSTS

Well to me it sounds like your alternator belt broke, or the alternator pulley itself broke. The squealing sound would be either the belt had stretched due to age and started slipping, or a pulley was seizing up. The knocking sound might be that pieces of the belt were getting loose and slapping around on various other parts. And then the belt broke, which meant the alternator stopped running, which caused the car to drain the battery completely. If you can, raise the hood and take some pictures of the engine where the pulleys are and post them below. We will see what we can see from there.

And please, in the future, get on here or get the car checked as soon as possible when it is making noises. Sometimes those noises can become serious problems at highway speeds.