Electrical glitch - help needed

[badjelly]

Hi all,

I'm in France at the mo at a stop over on the way back from Le
Mans. Have got a new problem with the Esprit and need a spot of
advice from anyone who recognises the issue.

I was charging my laptop from the cigarette lighter and the battery
light came on. The car was running and it will still turn over when
starting so the battery clearly has juice in it.

The intensity of the light varies proportionally to the engine revs,
being very dim at tickover and very bright at say 3000rpm +. Also,
the ABS light comes on and flickers at the same time once the revs
go above about 3000, but this light goes off and stays off as long
as the revs are below this point.

Apart from the lights on the dash there are no other obvious
symptoms. I've re-started the car having turned off the engine and
as I said, it behaves totally normally.

This may of course be something easily explained and nothing to
worry about, but being on the wrong side of the channel, some way
from both home and services I'd like to be sure.

Any thoughts?

Cheers
Andy
S350 #19

P.S. Le Mans was fab. Saw one other Esprit, a black V8 (plate V8
S**) but didn't manage to get to the main entrance to meet the other
Lotus people (I got totally the wrong entrance if I was being
honest - doh!

[dr.hess]

Alternator gone bad. Do this: Buy an inexpensive digital multimeter (volt-ohm-amp meter). A $3 one will work as well as a $200 for this purpose. They should be available even in France. Hook up to the battery set to measure voltage. Note voltage with everything off. Start car. Note voltage. Should be around 13.8V, give or take. Should be noticeably greater than the motor off reading. Turn on headlights. Should not change much. If the voltage is the same as motor off reading or say around 12.5 volts or so, your alternatorand/or voltage regulator are shot. Replace with the Bosch unit as detailed at other sites for a better alternator at a lower cost.

I seriously doubt you will make it out of France as it is. The alternator lights are wired up to come on when the battery is discharging.

Dr.Hess