Alternator, battery or other??

[Rossco2010]

Any ideas for the cause of this:

Driving home last night and all my gauges dimmed right down and radio went off. Car coughed to a stop. No warning lights at all.

Tried to restart it and battery was clearly totally flat; even fuel pump primed slowly and then didn't bother at all.

Left it 20 minutes, it just about fired up and got me about a mile home, albeit with battery light on now.

Car is a daily driver and had done 150 odd miles day before.

Alternator, battery or other??

As always thoughts welcome. Cheers

[slinky]

Clues for a title?

[chelseawiggie1]

They all do that sir....

[phillpot]

100 amp fuse

Given a "rest" could battery have recovered a little to manage that last mile?

[Jonny cobra]

100 Amp fuse !!!!!

JC.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

I had the 100A fuse

..

and another time this happened to me the battery connector terminal had sheared off

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

....although I reckon the battery light came on on both occasions?

[MADMAX2]

TVR POWER recommend you replace your 100amp fuse for a 125amp fuse to cope with modern day load

[phillpot]

MADMAX2 said:

TVR POWER recommend you replace your 100amp fuse for a 125amp fuse to cope with modern day load

Maybe not a bad idea but problem with mine (and I believe many others) was it didn't "blow" it just fractured. Looked fine at first glance but was actually in two bits.

[Rossco2010]

Thanks to the mods for the title. iPhone really hates the "new" website.

Sounds like I need to look at my 100amp then, though it's supposed to have been replaced on first service after I bought it.

If it is fuse how did it manage to start after resting battery? Giving it the chance to recover to push enough juice through a fractured fuse?

Cheers gents.

[JonathanT]

Rossco2010 said:

If it is fuse how did it manage to start after resting battery? Giving it the chance to recover to push enough juice through a fractured fuse?

The fuse sits between the alternator and the battery, so stops the battery charging when broken. Found this to my cost whilst tanking along a french autoroute. I have mine replaced every service now.

[nawarne]

JonathanT said:

Rossco2010 said:

If it is fuse how did it manage to start after resting battery? Giving it the chance to recover to push enough juice through a fractured fuse?

The fuse sits between the alternator and the battery, so stops the battery charging when broken. Found this to my cost whilst tanking along a french autoroute. I have mine replaced every service now.

Firstly, I'd definitely go for the 125 or 100A MIDI type fuse replacement...they are suppose to be better at withstanding mechanical stress than the "strip" type fuses...and they are a direct substitution.

I've had 2 "instances" with the strip fuse. First on my Chim - replaced alternator!! charge light remained 'ON' - on investigation, hairline crack all the way through, only apparent when I undid nuts in fuse holder and fuse literally fell apart. Second, on my current (no pun) Tuscan, wondered why charging volts dipped to <12V with lights/heater/everything on. Found 100A strip fuse cracked to about 80% of its width. Replaced with MIDI type and charging volts up around 14 to 14.2V - hapiness!

Could be yours has not 'gone' completely?
Nick

[Rossco2010]

[quote]
Could be yours has not 'gone' completely?

[/quote]

Ah, that makes a bit more sense; so a part knackered fuse just creates a shed load of resistance. That would make sense as I was at the end of a short trip with all the electrics going...

If they're that much bother I might just trim down a screwdriver!

Really appreciate the help all, that's hopefully just saved me at least the price of a battery.