Alternator and starter replacement at home in Kansas City, KS

The battery, the starter and the alternator work as a team. When one of them fails, the car can act like one of the others did. That is why so many people end up buying the wrong part first.

• The battery stores the power to crank the engine and runs things while the engine is off.
• The starter is an electric motor that spins the engine over when you turn the key or push the button.
• The alternator is turned by the engine's serpentine belt once it is running. It powers the car and charges the battery back up.

Fast clicking when you turn the key, with dim dash lights, usually means the battery doesn't have enough charge to turn the starter. A loose or corroded battery cable can do the same thing.

One solid click and then nothing, with bright dash lights, points more toward the starter or the wiring to it. So does a car that starts some days and not others.

A slow, dragging crank can be a tired battery, a bad connection, or a starter that is wearing out. A grinding noise while it cranks can mean the starter gear isn't meeting the engine the way it should.

A car that starts fine and then fades out on the road is a different pattern. The battery light comes on, the headlights and dash dim, the radio cuts out, and then the engine quits. That is usually the alternator. The car runs off the battery until the battery is drained, and then it stops.

If the battery light comes on while you are driving, shut off what you can, like the air and the radio, and get somewhere safe to park. Dying on the shoulder of I-435 or the Kansas Turnpike is the version of this nobody wants. A whine that rises with engine speed, or a hot wiring smell near the front of the engine, can also come from an alternator on its way out.

Plenty of people buy a new battery, drive for a few days, and end up stuck again. If the alternator isn't charging, a fresh battery just gets drained like the old one. And a bad battery can make a good alternator look weak.

So Josh figures out which part failed before he replaces anything. The battery's charge, what the alternator puts out with the engine running, and the cables, grounds and connections in between all play a part. Corrosion on a terminal or a loose ground can act like a dead part. If it is the alternator or the starter, that is the part he quotes. Batteries aren't on his list, so if it turns out to be the battery itself, he tells you straight and you don't pay for a starter you never needed.

An alternator can only charge if the belt turning it grips. On most cars that is the serpentine belt, the long ribbed belt that snakes around the front of the engine. A glazed or stretched belt, a weak tensioner, or a pulley with a worn bearing can let it slip. The alternator turns slower than it should, the battery runs low, and a good alternator gets the blame.

A squeal on a cold morning, a chirp at idle, or a belt that looks shiny and cracked are all clues. Serpentine belts, pulleys and tensioners are on Josh's list as well, so if the trouble is there instead of in the alternator, he can fix it in the same visit after you okay the quote.

Summer here is hard on the whole starting and charging system. Heat under the hood wears batteries down from the inside, and the damage tends to show on the first cold morning in the fall, when the engine is harder to turn over. Cold weather asks more of the starter and the battery at the same time.

Alternators get worked in winter too. The heater fan, the rear defroster, the wipers and the headlights all run at once on a dark drive home up K-7 or out I-70.

Alternators and starters bolt on, so they are a good fit for mobile repair. On some cars they sit right up front and come out easily. On others the starter is tucked under the intake or behind other parts, and the job takes more work. The year, make and model tell Josh which kind you have, and the quote reflects it.

If the car won't start at all, that is fine. It stays where it is. Josh comes to it, tests it there and replaces the part in your driveway.