Car playing silly buggers charge issue or something

[Pub247]

So last few days the wagon has been playing up. A while back the battery light was coming on intermittantely so i pulled the alternator out and gave it a check over regulator looked ok and bushes were like 10mm+ long and seem to make contact. Alternator has a reco sticker on it too

So i went had a look at terminals positive looked horrible pulled it off cleaned it up and saw that one of the wires (white with brown trace) just fell apart at the terminal (i assumed this was the charge wire for alternator and the fact it was corroded and making poor contact to be the cayse of light coming on) ok fixed that and all seemed good for a while.

on the weekend it left me stranded wouldnt start and sounded like battery was flat(didnt notice light but it could have been on). So rang a mate got a jumpstart and away i go light came on again on that and headlights were real dim it just started on sunday morning after 3 attempts sound like a flat battery but in the end it started.

(NOTE i did not have a multimeter at this point otherwise i would have checked)

Anyway after that till today everything seemed fine light came on breifly a couple times but it seemded to start ok as per normal.
Then this morning it did it again there was no light it just wouldnt start sounded like a flat battery... tried a few times gave up and went inside came out later tried again and just managed to get it started.

So i get to work and whip out the mulitmeter. car off voltage is 11.46v car running 14.27v
all seems good car turned over fine and started as per normal.
Now end of day i go to leave work car wont start (once again turning over slowly sounds like a flat battery)??? multimeter out 11.4v on battery WTF??? no battery light seems to have charge. after a few attempt i get it going hmmm turn it off and on starts perfect. done that 3 more times and it seems fine.

Now i'm confused, I've the multimeter handy incase light comes on again but I'm now thinking it might be starter motor related instead of holding charge or dodgey alternator.
MAybe like theres a huge voltage drop between battery and starter as starter works perfect sometimes than other times not.

Anyway long Post i know but if anyone has any ideas thatd be great

Cheers Pub

[vq rat]

Id more say ya battery is faulty man if ya alt is putting in 14+ volts its fine, is the battery full of water, if its not a sealed battery are the cap's black on the bottom side this normally means that the cell has been boiling cos of the lead plates are touching and the battery is f#cked

[Pub247]

Id more say ya battery is faulty man if ya alt is putting in 14+ volts its fine, is the battery full of water, if its not a sealed battery are the cap's black on the bottom side this normally means that the cell has been boiling cos of the lead plates are touching and the battery is f#cked

lol yeah should check that damn i miss some obviously things sometimes.
it seems to hold charge fine though .

[rob drag racer]

now i have this problem on my new project vn the battery is brand new ive had it tested to make sure its no faulty its fine when its running but leave it over night its dead im sure my issue stems from a short leaching the battery i noticed the terminals where covered in build up 2 days after i put new ones in let me know how you go pub it might help my issue !!

[centy]

check battery first then wire from alternator to battery then look at the bushes in the alternator and look for the little line accrosss the bush.
that is the wear indicator, if you can't see it then you need new bushes.

[centy]

o yeah voltage and amps are different.
you need the high amps to charge up the battery quickly.
if the voltage is ok but amps low then it will not charge fast enough.
check resistance in the charge wire.

[Pub247]

the white with brown trace the charge wire ??
ill check these things out tommorrow when theres light

[Bz Kn33z]

i had a problem like this, turned out to be the earth loose from battery to block you should check it.

Same thing would happen voltage drop, then it would be ok or high revs it would get loose and the car would die. so i put 4gauge wire to it and havnt had a problem since.

[Vt-Brrrlina]

sounds like a dead cell or 2 on your battery, can still show 12 volts but wont crank out bugger all amps

[MasterOfReality]

I have the exact same problem.

Battery light comes on, battery then dies.

I actually got stranded and the RACQ checked the voltage after he started the car and it was reading below 14V so we both concluded the alternator was stuffed. The regulator in it is only 2 years old.

Charged the battery last weekend. I got it up to around 11.5V yet the charger didn't indicate a charged battery? Also the battery indicator didn't turn green (its a Bosch battery with the little round indicator window). The car started and the voltage across the battery was over 14V which meant the alternator is now working. No battery light either

I think I might get busy checking the earths and connection points. Battery terminals are fine.

[immortality]

sounds like a battery problem to me. if the alternator is putting out 14volts then it's most likely fine. a good battery should show 12.6-12.7volts with the engine switched off. when cranking the starter the battey voltage shouldn't really drop bellow 12volts. if the battery is showing less then 12volts after the engine has been turned off the battery is stuffed. i did have a case of a battery that was still showing 12+volts (engine off) but lacked the ability to turn the engine over properly, time for a new battery it was.

when you first switch the engine off the battery will show a slightly higher voltage then it's true condition, if the battery is tired (but not yet totally dead) it will restart the engine if you crank it straight after you shut it down

[MasterOfReality]

Hmm looks like I'll be returning my battery to Not-So-Supercheap for a refund. Its 6 months old.

It was reading 10V before I tried to charge it.

Edit - I just looked at my receipt and warranty card - they have put down that its a Century battery instead of a Bosch one. If they refuse to replace the battery I'm not going to be happy. I'm hoping that Bosch and Century are made by the same mob and it defaults to Century on the receipt.

[Dan355]

I had this problem, so i replaced the complete wire from the alternator regulator to the positive terminal on the battery. Along with all my power cables to and from the battery, alternator and starter. Still kept happening! Went to the local auto parts store got a battery test which showed the battery was failing the load test as described by immortality

[Pub247]

hmm well... weird i caught it with the light one today checked with multimeter obviously when car is running and it read 12.1v once again light went off and car was ok till it got dark i drove home no headlight problems or battery light issue stopped to get some milk came out starts fine and then light is on real dim haedlights and wipers moving slow as.
So i got home and jiggled the battery and the alternator plug car almost died when it did this but battery light went out.
So im leaning towards alternator is rooted and possibly maybe battery is rooted. I will check some more stuff out on weekend during week i dont have time or the light to check these things during the week.
I will also check other things people have mentioned. In regards to alternator if it needs replacing or repair should i get a whole new one or just replace the regulator? Money is a bit tight but i think i might stop by and ask cherry auto electrics what they think

[immortality]

this is one of the reasons all cars should be fitted with a voltage gauge from the factory. so cheap but they all just fit a bloody warning light

if you "jiggled" a wire and things almost died then i suggest that "that" wire needs to be checked (including fastenings/fittings) and quiet probably need replacement. my old VK had a bad alternator, or so i thought. replaced it and still had the same problem. low battery voltage but readingsomething like 18volts at the back of the alternator. the main cable from the alternator-battery was stuffed. replaced the cable and it was fixed

[red truck]

Have a look at the thick wire at the back of the alternator.
If the plastic coating is all hard and burnt close to the where the terminal is crimped to the end of the wire, that could be the problem.
The terminals were only crimped on, and develop a resistance which makes the wire get hot close to the alternator. Took Holden til VX to realize.

[Pub247]

well ill have a look at those things tommorow almost positive its alternator related. light came on toda\y and i gave it a good whack with a metal bar almost died but came to life and light went out

[vn calais manual]

load test the battery to atleast half of its CCA rating and hold it there for 10 seconds and see how it handles it, most auto places do this for you. takes 5 minutes.

if thats fine id lean towards the voltage regulator, these can play funny buggers like this, they are relatively cheap and easy to change to! any good auto elec place should sell you one, just make sure your wires are all tight and corrosion free, no point buying a whole new alternator if your brushes are still good 10mm still has a little bit of life left in them, regulator is easy to change and cheap change that and see how you go .

if you were real keen you could change both the reg and the brushes

[vq rat]

the reg and the brushes are in one they are about $50 for repco, easy as to change take the alt off, the reg its the small black box on the back with two star screws take it out check the slip rings for wear and fit the new one easy as

[Lost_Pete]

Same issue with mine. New regulator fixed it. $50.

[omaz78]

I had same problem few months back i got new regulater (the bushes were fine in my other one and looked ok) and changed the fusible link (brown wire on battery) and havnt had a problem since, my light use to come on it was driving me crazy and at night driving with the lights on when battery light came on lights would either dim or they would go brighter ? dont know why but all fixed now.

[Pub247]

ok bit the bullet and bought a new regulator. As omaz78 stated i've already had the old regulator out and it looked ok but you never know so i'll chuck this new one in and we'll report on how it turns out

[Pub247]

Ok I've done the regulator I think the original was little worse than i expected it looked under torch light when i pulled it out the first time and had nothing to compare it too. Against a new one its looks quite rooted bushes are approximately half the lengtrh of the new ones and the other terminals and shit looks quite dirty and old.
Alternator has atag saying it was reco'd in september 2001 so hopefully with a new regulator itll be fine

[Pub247]

So far so good havent had any cases of the light coming on yet drove it with headlights on might be just just a placebo effect but to me they seem brighter than before too. Will update later in the week to see if it has gone for good.

Well it brings total cost of things fixed on the wagon to about $85 which is good for a $300 car with 350,000+ on the clock done about 5000k's myself since ive owned which im very happy about

[hj to vs]

Hello. Well proud owner of 96 C'dore Berlina with just 40000ks on it . MINT cond!!. The car has obsoleted all self taught mechanical knowledge. (upgraded from HJ that had for 19 years). Car has twice shown all warning lights and let me drive home on battery. But then won't start. Can jump-start from booster, and no lights come on on dashboard, runs perfect. Then it happened again today, with 3 kids in the rain!. have checked battery all good, checked charge circuit ; all good. WHY is this happening: hoping fo a simple answer!!??