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Battery - low charge?

M-Leach

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Hello,

I have some issues with the electrics in my '94 Calais. At what seems like random times while driving the battery warning light will come on, closely followed by the ABS warning light. If it happens when the headlights are on then they will go brighter, and once when the wipers were on they sped up.

The warning lights usually stay on for less than a minute, and the ABS light goes off first.

There is a marker on the battery that indicates it needs charging (black ring), but it doesn't go flat.

The engine idles roughly when hot and recently started stalling (no error codes), so I want to eliminate the battery as a problem.

Could the battery be faulty (the indicator is supposed to turn white when it needs replacing), or maybe the alternator supplying a trickle of charge? Or something else?

Cheers
 

ashbox

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something black
how old is the battery?
could be the alternator or a loose wire?
 

kopper69

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Start by going over all the connections. Connections onto the battery. Grab them and give them a pull. There should be no movement at all. Check the large charging cable on the back of the alternator. The bolt that holds this on has a habit of working loose, which could be causing the problem you are describing. Thats free and solves the majority of the problems.

Dont rely on that little status indicator on the battery to tell you anything meaningful. Its not an in depth battery analysis. It will usually only tell you when its completly failed - which you can probably work out for yourself. If the battery is over 2 years old I would replace it. That way you dont have to worry about it. Otherwise its going to be a bad connection or the alternator.
 

hako

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As kopper69 says check the wiring to the alternator as it can also fail internally....if you bend the cable next to the connector on the back of the alternator it may start to crumble internally...the copper strands can crystalise inside the outer insulation making the cable appear OK on the outside but starting to crumble on the inside.
 

Rufus®

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The fact that the lights go brighter and wipers speed up could also point to a faulty regulator on the alternator. something else to test.
 

M-Leach

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Thanks for the responses. I've tried forcing the fault by turning on everything electrical, but without success; so it'll be tricky to narrow down.

I bought it from an auction a few months ago, and a few other things needed changing, so it might be the batteries turn.

Cheers
 
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