Alternator problems?

[amybradley]

I have been having intermittent problems with my 99 Rodeo. Sometimes the radio, blinkers, and horn don't work, and the clutch emits a grinding noise for 2 seconds followed by a high pitched whine. The whining stops as soon as I disengage the clutch. This only happens occasionally, and if I turn the car off an restart, most of the time everything is working fine again. Is this some sort of alternator or other electrical problem? Of course EVERY time I take it in to the shop, it isn't doing it, and they can't make it do it no matter how hard they try, so they think I'm nuts. Any help would be appreciated.

[amigo-2k]

4cly or v6?

do you have a trailer harness plugged in? if so unplug it.

[amybradley]

It'sa V6, no trailer harness.

[RPW]

I would say you are about in store for a new clutch. I've been through 3 of them and the whine you are hearing is the throw-out bearing about to ready to give up the ghost.

The grinding is the face of the clutch plate eating up your flywheel because the clutch surface is worn away.

I think, but not sure, that your alternator is going bad or at least the regulator portion of it has a problem. Do you have a gage on the dash? If the gage isn't showing the needle to the right of the center mark then the system isn't charging and you start getting all the lights on the dash doing crazy things.

[amybradley]

I don't have a guage on my dash and the dash lights aren't doing anything screwy. I just find it very odd that the only time the clutch whines is when I have the electrical problem. Otherwise, it seems perfectly fine.