Battery Light Issues

[mikey-t]

Hey all. Getting what seems to be an intermittent charging issue with my 2006 1.4vvti. Occasionally i will get the Battery warning light coming on plus sometimes others as well, even had the electric power steering die on me a couple of times too. Checked the Battery and alternator with a multimeter but both seem fine.The Battery is showing 12 volts with the engine off and over 14 with the engine running. Had the alternator off and cant see any bad connections or anything else wrong. Any suggestions welcome. Cheers.

[oldcodger]

Hi,

Hmmm.. a lot of things could cause warnings like that, however if the Battery is the original do not discount it.

The original batteries were rather small , around 40ah , and now 8 years old they can give loads of odd problems.

Have you checked around the steering column / steering motor for signs of any wires with worn insulation etc.

[mikey-t]

Quick update, The car started playing up today, abs light on, Handbrake light on??? and Battery light flickering. I quickly jumped out with the multimeter and with the engine running the voltage was only hovering around 12 volts. Now this to me points to a dodgy alternator. Is there something i could check before i go and order a new alternator?

[oldcodger]

Hi,

Few basics, first to test the batterys true voltage you have to switch everything off and leave it for 30mins to settle.

You should be measuring to one decimal place not single volts.

A well charged Battery should read 12.7v

Between 12.2 and 12.4 means partially charged.

12.1 and below means nearly flat.

If you read well below 11.5 then there is a chance the Battery may be damaged or unable to hold a charge properly.

Have you removed and cleaned the Battery terminals ?

To test the alternator it should produce around 13 to 14 v but not over 14.4 volts which can be damaging.

You have to have the revs up to about 1500 -2000 to get those voltages, at tickover its only around 12v.

Assume the 'fan' aux belt is good and tensioned correctly.

Can you try another battery from another car ? be easier to isolate that before paying for an alternator.

Recently, has the battery been going nearly flat overnight ?

When you are driving at night, are the headlamps and dashboard lights noticabley dimmer ?

Any works be done on the electrics or car generally recently ?

Battery about £50, alternators about £100 - £200 at ECP

[cmia]

The problem you describe is an alternator fault.

Their is a circuit / controller which can go faulty.

this stops the alternator from sending a charge to the Battery.