My car's dying!

[Kev316]

I have a p reg vw polo 1.0l
Since yesterday the car has randomly started showing the warning light of the battery on the dashboard and the car just loses all power. I don't know why, no electronics are left on when im not using the car and it happened about 4 times today in the space of 10 minutes, so i just drove home and waiting to see a mechanic to fix it. I've never had this problem with the car and have been driving it for around 8 months, what's causing this and what can be done to fix it? I don't really know much about cars, so help pls :$

[OnTheOverrun]

Sounds like a dying alternator or battery. When was it last serviced and when was the battery last tested?

[freecar]

Sounds like a duff cell in the battery, I had this on an old escort (ptooie!) no power at all, the wipers would slow to nothing and it eventually died at a roundaout. The guy behind helped me bump it and the jolt got the battery going again, back to full power!!

A duff battery is like literally disconnecting the battery. A duff alternator wouldn't really have any symptoms if the light only came on momentarily as that would be the moment that charging ceased, there would still be plenty of charge in the battery to run the car's systems.

[Kev316]

I don't know if it's any help, but i just turn the ignition off and on again and it works for a bit, it was serviced towards the end of last year also.

Edited by Kev316 on Friday 18th June 21:24

[dan19evans]

pretty sure the alternator is cream crackered

[Pigeon]

Kev316 said:

I don't know if it's any help, but i just turn the ignition off and on again and it works for a bit, it was serviced towards the end of last year also.

Suggests to me that the ignition switch is tatered if that's all you need to do to (temporarily) sort it.

[Salad]

Pigeon said:

Kev316 said:

I don't know if it's any help, but i just turn the ignition off and on again and it works for a bit, it was serviced towards the end of last year also.

Suggests to me that the ignition switch is tatered if that's all you need to do to (temporarily) sort it.

If memory is right from when I had one of those Polo's the ignitions switches on them are a known bit to cause problems so it is a possability.

[Kev316]

Are the ignition switches expensive to repair? how much should i be looking at to repair it? I was planning on replacing the car by october so don't really wanna pay too much.

[Fire99]

My 50p is on the Alternator. I've had the odd one go from time to time and they showed similar symptoms.

[GingerWizard]

make a funeral pyre, get dressed in black and prepair to hold a vigil as the light slowly fades from the instrument panel, its terminal i'm afraid i'm positive.....

[ymwoods]

On an old P reg Polo your better off buying from a scrap yard so it won't be too expensive to be honest.

[dan19evans]

ymwoods said:

On an old P reg Polo your better off buying from a scrap yard so it won't be too expensive to be honest.

this

should be able to find a polo at a scrappy somewhere.. you'll get an alternator cheap as chips so it doesnt matter so much if thats not the problem

[WestYorkie]

GingerWizard said:

make a funeral pyre, get dressed in black and prepair to hold a vigil as the light slowly fades from the instrument panel, its terminal i'm afraid i'm positive.....

Oh thats a Negative good buddy! Those older Polos were made in Ohmage to the VWs of old and will run forever.

Check the Battery

[GingerWizard]

WestYorkie said:

GingerWizard said:

make a funeral pyre, get dressed in black and prepair to hold a vigil as the light slowly fades from the instrument panel, its terminal i'm afraid i'm positive.....

Oh thats a Negative good buddy! Those older Polos were made in Ohmage to the VWs of old and will run forever.

Check the Battery

we could light up the world....

(sorry for thread hi jack, new battery and alternator sounds like best bet)

[Kev316]

Got it checked, apparantly the battery and alternator are fine and the problem has stopped for now, hopefully forever.

[Zad]

Alternator belt might be slipping.

[dan19evans]

good to hear

maybe it was just a loose connection or something