So I've had 3 batteries in there over 6 months and they have all gone flat the car dose not get driven often as it's not on the road and only gets started to be moved short distance, is this the alternator and do the 5L alternators die often as my mates been through 2 alternators on his vt ss Ls1 and both ecotecs we have owned at home have died after a degreasing ?
Check the charge rate of the alternator with engine running. Should be between 13.5 to 14.5 volts. Also check if the battery is fully charged and the battery terminals are clean and tight and check the alternator belt too. My bet though is that you have a short to earth somewhere, thus discharging the battery when left off. Does the charge indicator light come on after the car is started?
Is that the little red battery on the dash on start up I'll check tommorrow and yeah old man said it's probably shorting somewhere causing it to go flat
Not in my experience. I've had my car for 14 yrs now (and it's 17 yrs old) and I've not had to fix / replace the alternator (touch wood).
Yeap that's the one. Your two new best friends are a test light and a multimeter. Check everything electrical that it works correctly to narrow the search down. And check all wires for continuity. Good luck!
Given the cost of new batteries it might be worth buying a multimeter (...^). ~$25 will get you a suitable one - the very cheapest have a low internal impedance which can affect ECU sensor values when connected but will be OK to read battery/alternator Voltage. With the mm you can check the current being drawn from the battery. Use the "Amps" function on the mm and connect it (in series) between the earth terminal and earth terminal clamp (with the clamp disconnected from the battery). With all electrical loads and the ignition switched off you should see only the 100-200 mA drawn by the clock in the radio and ECM. Open the boot or glovebox (to switch the boot or glovebox light on) and watch the reading rise as a check if you want to see what a battery draining current draw looks like. There may not be a problem with the car though as batteries don't much like being left without charging and they take a few minutes of driving after a start to recharge. Just idling may not fully charge them either as the Voltage from the alternator can be too low at idle to do more than provide the electricity to run the car. It may just be that (the battery not recharging after the starts).
I'll have to get one of these multiple meters and check it out lucky for me it killed it's original battery my brothers from his written off car and the one out of my daily which I quickly recharged after it would not kick over but first I'll see if it stays charged after it's on road which hopefully is over the next few weeks
After u start it disconnect the battery and see if it still runs. If it dies, it's the alternator. Don't think it will hurt it?
I had to do that on my daily vr once the ignition barrel broke whilst on couldn't turn it off disconected the battery like this and it's alternator worked fine
People do it (disconnect the alternator with the engine running) and get away with it but it's not something I will do. There's likely to be a Voltage spike when the resistance of the battery is removed from the circuit. That high Voltage can potentially damage electronic components.
