Hi all,

Have owned the car for several years now and have not had to do any work on it up until now. Reliable little accordion.



But, now I have an issue.

I came to a stop the other day after having put my foot into it 5 minutes earlier and my car began to let out a squeal like a bat shriek but louder than my horn. I figured it was a wet or old belt that had gone bad, from that VTEC POWA OMGZORZ9000 (sorry). But now, 3 days later, my car's ABS light has come on.

Perhaps my ABS system sprung a leak onto my belts?

Any thoughts?

My car is a 96 automatic with ~130k

 

Hello new member, I moved your post to this correct thread..
Thank you for posting with us..

 

Are you still getting a squeal from your brakes?

As for the abs light, the problem could be from a number of sources, so it is not helpful to guess. The ABS light turning on means the ABS computer detected a problem and saved a code to help fix the problem.

To get the code, do the same procedure as checking engine codes. There is a link to checking engine codes in the common diy thread on top of the gen tech help forum.

 

It is actually not from the brakes, as it occurs at idle. It occurs after having come to a stop, not while stopping. Seems to get worse if I try to use the electric window motors.

I am new to OBDII, I did not realize the ABS unit saved codes as well.

I will check it out, as it is most likely just coincidental, but I did mention it in the off chance there was some sort of common occurance that I was unaware of regarding this particular squeal and the ABS system.

 

A squeal at idle is likely from a belt. Take a close look at your belts for signs of cracking on the grooved side of the belt. In my experience, the serpentine belt causes belt noise, so you may want to remove any slack by adjusting the alternator.

You can download a 94 shop manual from the online manuals link located in the common diy thread on top of the gen tech help forum.

 

Well after a few weeks of deafening the public with my squeal, I decided to finally have a look at the alternator. Working on the Miata is so much easier that I was turned off when I initially looked under the hood of this FWD beast, reluctant to address the issue in any timely fashion.

All of that being said, I did finally manage to tighten the belt and there is no squealing issue now, but not without overcoming a few obstacles:
-1)Adjustment lock nut entirely missing
-2)Adjustment bolt not threaded into anything, but found around correct location.. I guess I got lucky.

So that means the alternator was held on AND tensioned by only 1 bolt, located at the top. This definitely had to be corrected, and luckily I had a nut that ended up working out perfect. Popped the nut on the adjustment bolt, adjusted the bolt, locked up both nuts and good to go.

I am a complete newbie, this was my second alternator belt tightening. Thanks for the help guys, I was almost certain that this problem was only associated with a slipping belt but holy hell was it louder than any belt squeal that I've ever heard!

Thanks again! =D

I will probably be selling the vehicle soon, so my stay here will not likely last much longer. That is unless a manual swap is possible..

 

A manual swap is done all the time on these.