E36 318i Alternator change - Idiot Filter?
Discussion
Hi,
I need a bit of help.
On saturday the battery light came on, on the dash. after limping the car home and running out of juice a few hundred yards from home i had to grab my jump starter pack to get the car the rest of the way home.
looked over the car and i was and still am adement the alternator is not working. the battery is certainly taking power from the jump pack when attached and i can fire up the car with it attached.
I picked up a replacement alternator from unipart yesterday and fitted it, oddly there was still no output from it. measuring the voltage directly from the back of the alternator it shows -0.800 volts, which seems odd? if i reverse the multimeter terminals it shows 0.040 volts and when revved to the redline and released it will spike to 2 volts max.
i assumed the replacement alternator was faulty so today returned it and collected a new one but thias ia doing exactly the same?!!??!
i've worked on cars since i passed my test some 6 years ago and i've done many projects and never encountered such an odd problem before...
does anyone have any idea if i'm doing something stupid or have i been supplied the wrong part?
i'm leaning towards it being the wrong alternator as the voltage reading negative to me suggests its spinning the wrong way, anyone else?
any help appreciated as i'm getting pretty annoyed at having to take my track car 50 miles a day to/from work.
Cheers,
Ry
I need a bit of help.
On saturday the battery light came on, on the dash. after limping the car home and running out of juice a few hundred yards from home i had to grab my jump starter pack to get the car the rest of the way home.
looked over the car and i was and still am adement the alternator is not working. the battery is certainly taking power from the jump pack when attached and i can fire up the car with it attached.
I picked up a replacement alternator from unipart yesterday and fitted it, oddly there was still no output from it. measuring the voltage directly from the back of the alternator it shows -0.800 volts, which seems odd? if i reverse the multimeter terminals it shows 0.040 volts and when revved to the redline and released it will spike to 2 volts max.
i assumed the replacement alternator was faulty so today returned it and collected a new one but thias ia doing exactly the same?!!??!
i've worked on cars since i passed my test some 6 years ago and i've done many projects and never encountered such an odd problem before...
does anyone have any idea if i'm doing something stupid or have i been supplied the wrong part?
i'm leaning towards it being the wrong alternator as the voltage reading negative to me suggests its spinning the wrong way, anyone else?
any help appreciated as i'm getting pretty annoyed at having to take my track car 50 miles a day to/from work.
Cheers,
Ry
yes, no voltage change at the battery.
checked the fuses and only 1 was blow, number 26 which is for the instrument cluster, tried changing but it blew straigh away. odd but i dont believe this can be the problem.
i dont have access to autodata anymore, if anyone does could they let me know the fuses/relays and locations for the charging circuit?
Cheers,
checked the fuses and only 1 was blow, number 26 which is for the instrument cluster, tried changing but it blew straigh away. odd but i dont believe this can be the problem.
i dont have access to autodata anymore, if anyone does could they let me know the fuses/relays and locations for the charging circuit?
Cheers,
Thanks for the link, yeah it was helpful.
i've finally found the cause and i'm really annoyed with myself.
i changed the starter last week as that failed and i was sure there were 2 positive cables but i couldnt for the life of me find it when putting it back together so convinced myself i must of imagened it. Turns out there are indeed 2 and 1 links to the alternator which is what lead to my battery light and impression it had failed!
my own stupid mistake at the end of the day and has cost me £150 for an alternator i didnt even need.
well, atleast now i can crack on with the track car.
i've finally found the cause and i'm really annoyed with myself.
i changed the starter last week as that failed and i was sure there were 2 positive cables but i couldnt for the life of me find it when putting it back together so convinced myself i must of imagened it. Turns out there are indeed 2 and 1 links to the alternator which is what lead to my battery light and impression it had failed!
my own stupid mistake at the end of the day and has cost me £150 for an alternator i didnt even need.
well, atleast now i can crack on with the track car.
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