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Car playing silly buggers charge issue or something

Pub247

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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

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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

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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

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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 !! :thumbsup:
 

centy

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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

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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

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

Bz Kn33z

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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

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

MasterOfReality

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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 :confused:

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