Battery Light + High Temp = Need Help
 

Post number one on this forum, a favor for the GF.
The Car:
93 Protege - 5 spd - Std options - 160Kish
The Problem:
So tonight i get a concerned call from my girl. She informs me that her car has the Battery light on, and the Thermostat was above "H." The reason she noticed was because of lack of heat coming through the vents. Not much description past that. She continued driving once she saw the light on, put on about 10-15 highway miles. The temp remained high. Once she pulled onto surface roads, she noted that the temp dropped closer to "H" but did not fall below it. There were no smell associations with the situation. After she got out of the car she smelled a "fishy" smell only by the rear driver side of the car. She is not familar with the smell of coolant. If any of these symptoms are familar please point me in the right direction. I am four hrs away otherwise I would go over and try to diagnose the problem. She will be checking the oil, and coolant levels in the morning. She is atleast 500 miles over due for an oil change.
My Thought:
Semi-similar to the water pump going on a 94 Taurus. I had the pump go, which dumped coolant onto the main belt, which caused the alternater to slip, and not put out enough current resulting in the battery light illumination. I don'tknow anything about this car, or this engine. If someone has had this problem, please also post the part prices, and time it took to work on, as I may be able to drive home this weekend to put in wrench time.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP :D (She appreciates it also, and promisses to keep up on maint.)

She checked the oil, and it is fine. Not sure from her message if she checked the coolant correctly or not. Still looking for help.

the battery light is ALWAYS related to charging problems. MOST car shops will perform a "charging system check" FREE,... like Advance Auto, & those kinda stores. I've had 2 different problems, the 1st time it happened the alternator died,... the 2nd time it was because the 1yr-old rebuilt alternator I replaced it with, the governor messed up & was delivering like almost 18-volts to the car,.. it was a mess,..lol,... but I got it fixed.

The temperature thing can be related to a few problems,... BUT, if the water pump itself isn't leaking from the hole under the pulley, it's most likely good,... change the thermostat & flush the system.

Well, after actually getting to look under the hood, my original suspision was verified. There are two "fan" belts. One belt controls the water pump, and alternator. The other controls PS pump and AC pump. Guess what was wrong ... K, time's up. It is the water pump and alternator pump belt that went out. Replaced the belt. Pow. problem fixed. Hope this post helps someone in the future. ~K