battery light comes on very intermittently
battery light comes on very intermittently
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FunkyGibbon

Original Poster:

3,863 posts

294 months

Thursday 2nd November 2006
quotequote all
On 2 occasions now in the last 3 weeks the battery light has come on for a minute or so whilst driving and then goes off.

Today, when the light came on I turned the heater off (just to see if it would make a difference) and the battery light went out.

Also, a few times recently the radio has lost it's station memory?

So, any ideas?

Bad earth somewhere
100AMP fuse thingumybob
dodgy alternator connection

TIA

FG

jonathant

880 posts

314 months

Thursday 2nd November 2006
quotequote all
FunkyGibbon said:

100AMP fuse thingumybob

Cider Andy

1,889 posts

255 months

Thursday 2nd November 2006
quotequote all
Battery light on means it is not charging intermittently. Does this coincide with the radio presets being lost? Does the engine keep running smoothly?

It sounds like an intermittent connection. I'd start at the battery itself. Next I'd check the ignition switch and its connector to the wiring loom.

The 100A fuse could give you this symptom, but it's not responsible for the radio memory becoming lost. Also, there's always the possibility that there are two separate faults.

andy-w

1,987 posts

256 months

Thursday 2nd November 2006
quotequote all
i had the same thing....turned out to be the alternator.

If i put all the electrics on, lights, heater, wipers then the light would comne on...once i changed the alternator it has been 100% all the time. I took the old one apart and might have got away with replacing the bushes...they were worn right down to nothing!!!!

Might be worth checking them...the only problem is i couldnt find anywhere that would replace just the bushes so i ended up with a like for like recon alternator for £60!!!

GreenV8S

31,024 posts

314 months

Thursday 2nd November 2006
quotequote all
The no-charge warning light indicates that there is a voltage difference between the ignition circuit and the alternator. This could be because the alternator output was too low (or too high) due to an electronic or mechanical failure inside the alternator, or it could be because the voltage on the ignition circuit circuit is dipping due to a poor connection (the connector between the switch and the main loom is my favorite) or because the battery is running down (that pesky fusible link would be the prime suspect for this).

If the problem clears when you remove load from the ignition circuit that would tend to suggest it is caused by the ignition voltage dipping. A few minutes with a volt meter would confirm that.

FunkyGibbon

Original Poster:

3,863 posts

294 months

Thursday 2nd November 2006
quotequote all
cheers for all the suggestions - off to but myself a multimeter!

FG