Corolla d4d burning smell and whine

[Ben93]

Hello everyone my d4d out of the blue when I've started it the last few times is making a whine sort of noise and smells like a burnt hairdryer sort of like electrical heat/burning. 

It whines when you drive and when you rev up the engine and I can smell burnijg through vents and in wngine Bay around the belts towards the back of the engine nearest to windscreen. Any ideas I think it's the alternator going wrong but I may be incorrect. If it is the alternator is there anyway to get a cheaper one as new ones are like 300 at euros and I cannot spend that as its just cost me a fortune the last few months. 

[Notoyboy]

Firstly, I'd not want to use the car until problem identified.

Have you stuck your head under the bonnet?  First off, have a look at the auxillary belt with engine off.  Is it slack or disintegrating?  Otherwise, with engine running, see if you can establish  by ear as to where noise is coming from.

Any work been done in the engine bay recently?

[Ben93]

No water pump timing belt and tensioners pulleys were changed 6 months ago but this noise is from near the alternator and the smell 

[oldcodger]

If it was the alternator would expect you could see, feel, hear and smell  it going wrong, same with the belt; easy enough to check its charging with a meter.

What about the start motor, it might be stuck and being forced around by the flywheel.

Could also be the timing belt if your model has one,  or chain ?

And then the clutch ?

 

[Notoyboy]

If you can smell burning, then something is getting too hot.  Has anything become loose and now touching the exhaust?  Is it a rubbery burning smell?  I had initially wondered if a too loose auxillary belt was slipping and getting hot, but you've presumably now checked tension seems reasonable.

Regarding the whine, could the auxillary belt be overtight - not sure if this is possible on your car, but I had a whine on another car when I'd set the auxillary belt tension too tight.

Might be worth removing the auxillary belt to see if whine disappears.  Of course, the whine might be nothing to do with the smell, and is a separate issue.

My 1.4 petrol has a chain driven camshaft, but just consulted my Haynes which suggests your diesel is belt driven.  Haynes also says you have 2 auxillary belts, 1 for the aircon (if you have it), and 1 for the alternator & water pump (not sure about the power steering - mine's electric).

[Ben93]

It's alternator batteries standing at 12v which is low running is still 12v not, 14 that it should be. Problem solved now to find a recon and work out how to get to it to get it off looks hard