Hi all, had a really bad weekend, which resulted in me buying jumper leads from a service station (twice the normal price of Super Cheap) and a new battery today.
Basically, I have always had battery problems, couldn't leave the engine off and the radio on for more than 10 mins or kaput.
But this week, the battery light on the main dash has come on, and stayed on, which resulted in the car dying 3 times (well, not start, flat battery), and died at an intersection as well. I was charging the battery with a plug in charger at various times, and took it for 2x 30 min drives.
Replaced the battery today with a more powerful one (old one was a 230, new one is 500 I believe). Drove it home, and the needle for the battery dial goes from 10v when sitting at traffic lights, to 14v when flooring it along the motorway. Basically, this new battery is behaving like the old one, and I'm sure will die sometime this week unless I get it sorted.
So, any ideas what could be going on? I've had a mechanic test the alternator during my warrant, and he said there was a good charge coming out of that.
1) What does the red battery light on the dash mean? Something wrong with a battery, car running off the battery? It glows light red to bright red at various times.
2) I've read some other posts about the stepper motor, but don't think thats behind this problem.?
3) Could something like the stereo be draining the battery? Or a short in some other wire? My dad put my stereo in, while I was away overseas as the old one got stolen. Could he have wired the thing up wrong?
Should I tke it off to an auto electrician? I'm worried that without something specific for him to look at, I'll be giving him a free license to print money, by going through the whole car.
Is there anything I can easily test, like the alternator, or taking a volt meter round various bits? (not likely..).
Thanks guys
Battery/electrics - major problem
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NightFire
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Sounds like your alternator is gone,
They die slowly normally, causing flat battery and eventually dead car.
If your battery indicator is not showing around 14w during driving, or the number is continuously dropping over few days or even shorter, definitely your battery needs to be reconditioned.
Basically, your alternator is not charging as much as usual, so the battery is getting drained over time as your car is using more than supplied.
Reconditioning battery is a simple job for an auto electrician.
They need to take of the extractors to get the alternator out, which makes it more labour intensive.
You can easily do this and some money, just take the alternator to the electrician. DIY for this is in the forum, FTO Help section, as a sticky, work log.
Also check that your amps correctly connected.
Amps shouldn’t drain any power when the ignition is off
Check the turn on wire connection,
They die slowly normally, causing flat battery and eventually dead car.
If your battery indicator is not showing around 14w during driving, or the number is continuously dropping over few days or even shorter, definitely your battery needs to be reconditioned.
Basically, your alternator is not charging as much as usual, so the battery is getting drained over time as your car is using more than supplied.
Reconditioning battery is a simple job for an auto electrician.
They need to take of the extractors to get the alternator out, which makes it more labour intensive.
You can easily do this and some money, just take the alternator to the electrician. DIY for this is in the forum, FTO Help section, as a sticky, work log.
Also check that your amps correctly connected.
Amps shouldn’t drain any power when the ignition is off
Check the turn on wire connection,
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mxysxy
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Re: Battery/electrics - major problem
Sounds like your alternator is gone,NightFire wrote:Hi all, had a really bad weekend, which resulted in me buying jumper leads from a service station (twice the normal price of Super Cheap) and a new battery today.
Basically, I have always had battery problems, couldn't leave the engine off and the radio on for more than 10 mins or kaput.
But this week, the battery light on the main dash has come on, and stayed on, which resulted in the car dying 3 times (well, not start, flat battery), and died at an intersection as well. I was charging the battery with a plug in charger at various times, and took it for 2x 30 min drives.
Replaced the battery today with a more powerful one (old one was a 230, new one is 500 I believe). Drove it home, and the needle for the battery dial goes from 10v when sitting at traffic lights, to 14v when flooring it along the motorway. Basically, this new battery is behaving like the old one, and I'm sure will die sometime this week unless I get it sorted.
So, any ideas what could be going on? I've had a mechanic test the alternator during my warrant, and he said there was a good charge coming out of that.
1) What does the red battery light on the dash mean? Something wrong with a battery, car running off the battery? It glows light red to bright red at various times.
2) I've read some other posts about the stepper motor, but don't think thats behind this problem.?
3) Could something like the stereo be draining the battery? Or a short in some other wire? My dad put my stereo in, while I was away overseas as the old one got stolen. Could he have wired the thing up wrong?
Should I tke it off to an auto electrician? I'm worried that without something specific for him to look at, I'll be giving him a free license to print money, by going through the whole car.
Is there anything I can easily test, like the alternator, or taking a volt meter round various bits? (not likely..).
Thanks guys
They die slowly normally, causing flat battery and eventually dead car.
If your battery indicator is not showing around 14w during driving, or the number is continuously dropping over few days or even shorter, definitely your battery needs to be reconditioned.
Basically, your alternator is not charging as much as usual, so the battery is getting drained over time as your car is using more than supplied.
Reconditioning battery is a simple job for an auto electrician.
They need to take of the extractors to get the alternator out, which makes it more labour intensive.
You can easily do this and some money, just take the alternator to the electrician. DIY for this is in the forum, FTO Help section, as a sticky, work log.
Also check that your amps correctly connected.
Amps shouldn’t drain any power when the ignition is off
Check the turn on wire connection,
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mxysxy
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NightFire
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Thanks for the replies guys, appreciate it.
Huh, so by all accounts its the alternator.. When I think about it, the battery dash light did start coming on not long after the mechanic did say the alternator was fine.. (like 2 or 3 days). Maybe in their 'test' they did something.
I'm not running any amps or anything, just a silly JVC headunit and some decent Pioneer 6x9s.
The new battery is now 530 CCA, and I've just had to buy new battery terminal clips, because the old ones were to small. I bent the old ones around the terminal, but couldn't screw them up. I reckon the old battery was to gutless, which most likely wasn't helping.
Any idea what it costs to get an alternator reconditioned? Or buy a new one, or a 2nd hand one?
Huh, so by all accounts its the alternator.. When I think about it, the battery dash light did start coming on not long after the mechanic did say the alternator was fine.. (like 2 or 3 days). Maybe in their 'test' they did something.
I'm not running any amps or anything, just a silly JVC headunit and some decent Pioneer 6x9s.
The new battery is now 530 CCA, and I've just had to buy new battery terminal clips, because the old ones were to small. I bent the old ones around the terminal, but couldn't screw them up. I reckon the old battery was to gutless, which most likely wasn't helping.
Any idea what it costs to get an alternator reconditioned? Or buy a new one, or a 2nd hand one?
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NightFire
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OK, so I got the alternator rebuilt, and so far so good. Apart from my bank account.
Renew rectifier, brushes and bearings = $375NZ
Labour x4 hours, $284.40
GST $82.30
Total $740.70. Ouch.
I would have had a crack at taking the alternator out myself, but didn't have the time, or a place to do it, and leave the car. Oh well, done and dusted, now to wonder what the next thing to break is!
Thanks guys.
Renew rectifier, brushes and bearings = $375NZ
Labour x4 hours, $284.40
GST $82.30
Total $740.70. Ouch.
I would have had a crack at taking the alternator out myself, but didn't have the time, or a place to do it, and leave the car. Oh well, done and dusted, now to wonder what the next thing to break is!
Thanks guys.
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Candydaman
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Battery Problem
Hi, I have had my alternator die, which was killing my battery also, but I also had a faulty (dodgy) alarm in stall, which resulted in the alarm actually drawing too much power out of the battery, which then killed it (quickly), so whilst your getting the alternator fixed, I suggest you get the power to the alarm cable tested to see how much power it is drawing, perhaps someone here can tell you how much it should be taking, and how much is to much.