alero died on me yesterday....

[kraziqtashes]

My car broke down on me yesterday. I had been telling my mother for about three weeks now that my "Service Engine Soon" light was on. My mother didn't take too much concern in knowing that.

I had been having problems with my Alero ever since we bought it in February of 2005. A week later it started overheating. It no longer overheats, but it has been stalling out alot for the past few months. It only stalls when I start it up sometimes. It'll start, stall, and then start, stall. Sometimes it does this five or six times before the car actually starts up.

Well yesterday I was going to pick up my boyfriend. There was a traffic jam up ahead due to road work so I decided to take a detour. I was waiting at a traffic light when I noticed my air conditioner went from ice cold air to warm. Then my radio/cd player started crackling and eventually went off and the cd popped out. The radio came back on but was still crackling like crazy. Finally it went out and stayed out. The air was still blowing warm so I tried to open my sunroof and it wouldn't open. Then my "BRAKE" light came on along with a couple other lights but I was too frantic to register what they were in my head. I squeezed out of traffic and into a lot on the other side of the road. The car had hardly any power to it. I turned the car off and walked to my aunts lugging around my dog who was with me. Luckily this happened near my aunt's house which is only a 2 minute walk from where I broke down. I was getting ready to get interstate and I'm so thankful it didn't happen there.

Well today my mom's friend took my battery to Advanced Auto Parts. They do free battery and alternator testing. Well, they said my battery had no juice. My mom's friend a new battery. He bought the cheapest one that is compatible with my Alero. The one that was in the car now was only 10.00 more and they said its the one that should be in the Alero, but of course everyone is trying to save a couple bucks so he got the cheaper one. My mom's friend put the battery in my car and drove it to Advanced and they checked my alternator and said it was bad. So right now the Alero is in the shop getting a new alternator put in it.

My question is, was the alternator the cause of the stalling at startup as well as the "Service Engine Soon" light? Or is this another problem?

This is a 1999 Alero and I paid 6000 for it and took out a Great Lakes Warranty which boosted the price up, but I'm thankful I took that warranty out on it because we've used it so much. This car is a piece of JUNK. It's one thing going wrong after another. Pure junk. I'll never buy another Alero. They're nice to look at it, but looks can truly be deceiving.

Another issue I've been having is my "Trac Off" and "Anti Lock" lights come on at the same time quite frequently. I don't know if it's because my tires are basically bald and have no tread. My mom won't buy me new tires at the moment. She says these ones will last.

Well, thanks for listening to me blab. I hope someone can answer my question.

[GTP Dad]

The bald tires can cause the abs and trac light to come on if you loose traction which is easy without tread on the tires. It is also possible that the lights came on due to low voltage output from the alternator. These lights come on when the voltage drops below 14 volts so that may be what caused that issue. I suggest that if your tires are bald that you get new ones as soon as mom can afford them. A blow out can occur or you could hydroplane in a rainstorm causing you to wreck.