Battery or Alternator Problems?

[MattyH16valver]

Hi, went to start my car up at luch time and it would'nt turn over. Eventually the alarm started wining until it stopped and then when I shut the door the locks went down! :roll: The doors have been de-locked so I had to open the boot and crawl in! :lol: Just a couple of questions.....
How can I find out whether the battery is loosing it's power(flat) or whether the alternator is at fault?
If I need a new battery...wis there any difference between a willy battery or valver as mine is a hybrid?
Any help would be great. Matt

[dan-hipgrave]

Ive had problems for 3 weeks with my hybrid killing batteries, and when i went to the shop they had a larger battery listed for the Williams (was running an 063 and now have an 075), bought that and its solved all problems, even seems to have cured my cold idle/cutting out problem...

If the alternator aint working you will get a light on the dash and also if you put as multimeter across the battery with engine running you should see around 14v assuming its all ok..

[MattyH16valver]

Ok m8...thanks. There was definately no light for the alternator coming on, and the way the alarm died and the locking stopped working I thought it was the battery. The one I have at the mo is a 65...think I'll go for a 75 now. The other thing I noticed is that I have two fuses attatched to a wire for the alarm and immobiliser and one blew the other day and the car would not start until I replaced the fuse. This had not blown this time though. Hope it's not the alternator anyway, as there a bastard to change by the looks of it. Matt

[Chris H]

the engine earths decent?

Dodgy engine earths kill batteries very quickly.

I had a 19 16V that had a dodgy earth, new battery would be drained in 2 hours.

Decent earths and it would sit for 6 weeks and still fire up fine with good charge.

[MattyH16valver]

cheers m8....where are the earths noramally connected too? :?

[dan-hipgrave]

1 gearbox strap going to inner arch, and there are 3 other wires all connected to the gearbox mount from what i can remember..