[Alicia]

I have a 2014 Honda Odyssey. As I was turning in a shopping center, my battery light came on all the power was gone and the power steering, thank God I was OK. About 10 minutes later, it started right up and drove home. My husband said the alternator bolts, one was loose and the other one is stripped. He tightened them up. It’s driven OK for several months, except some of the belts make noise. Today when I started it the battery light came on and power steering was hard to turn, so I shut it off and took a different vehicle. Not sure what’s going on. Would take it to a mechanic but don’t have the money as I spent over $5,000 last year for crappy work. My husband took it for a test drive, and it’s perfectly fine. I don’t know what is going on…

[Louis]

With the steering and battery light coming on at the same time, it has something to do with the serpentine belt system. Belt is either loose, tensioner is bad, a pulley is starting to seize up, belt is bad as in stretched or glazed.

When the belt slips or gets stuck, it allows the power steering and alternator to not turn.

This causes the alternator to not charge and the power steering to get tight.

[Alexis]

Get the battery and alternator tested for free at AutoZone to start. If it was hard to steer because it stalled out when the battery light came on, that’s normal. The noisy belt: if there hasn’t been any work in that area recently, I would inspect the belts and pulleys with the car off. That means looking for cracks, streaks, or abnormal wear and seeing if the pulley is loose wiggling when you manually manipulate it. It’s possible that if the belt is slipping the alternator is not properly or adequately charging the battery while driving if these two things are in fact connected. That’s where I would start. Have you checked the power steering fluid reservoir?

[Melanie]

If you have belt noise, that is where you need to start. Check the condition of the belt and inspect pulleys.

[Harry]

Despite the parts ‘being only a year old’ it would be good to do a careful visual inspection while it’s running AND exhibiting the symptoms you describe. Maybe post a good clear steady video of the area of the belt tensioner and alternator.

[Kurt]

You could have bad connection with those being stripped your belts could be worn and loose or your alternator could be failing and if I can remember on the negative cable where it connects to the battery there’s a sensor there called a like a charging sensor those can go bad have loose connections also. If it’s CRA KED at all, it’s no good. You need someone with a good scanner to plug into the obd and do a battery and alternator test. Don’t let the parts guys do it at the part store, or you’ll be buying more than need.

[David]

I’d start by testing the battery and checking all battery cable connections. And then same with the alternator. But you need special equipment to do some of that properly.

[Author]

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