Alternator Problem

[simonr85]

Battery light had been flickering on for a day or 2, then last nite stayed on constant. my lights were dimming, wipers and windows were going really slow, was driving down the road and it cut out, bump started it as it wouldnt turn over and kept cutting out unless i kept the revs really high, and if i put the pedal all the way to the floor then the revs would fall again like it was flooded. Managed to get it home and tried to start on the key and just a few clicks.

A couple of days ago i tried wriggling battery wires around while the engine was running to see if i could get the batt light to flicker off and on but no joy.

Does this sound like the alternator??? would low battery power cause the car to hesitate and stall??? (maybe due to the fuel pump having no power??)

[bass_direct]

sounds like alternator..

[fasterthanjesus]

sounds just like what happened to mine. 1 year ago.

i noticed the light flick on and off then after a week it came on and wouldnt go off.

[simonr85]

thanks, id say so too just werent sure why it would be bogging down, but obv the fuel pump needs power to run it so it must be the alternator.

[simonr85]

sounds just like what happened to mine. 1 year ago.

i noticed the light flick on and off then after a week it came on and wouldnt go off.

and was it your radio or your alternator??? was this when you used the guy from lytham???

[white16valver]

The alternator isn't charging the battery I reckon, hence you've been running off battery power that's been getting less and less as it gets drained.

New / recharged battery should get you somewhere local if you want to get the alternator done by someone, but tbh I'd do it myself. Even I can do it! :)

Have a look/search in the For Sale forum to see if anyone's selling, and if not then trip to halfrauds / GSF for a new/recon one. It'll cost about £100 after you've taken your old one back to them to reclaim the £30 surcharge thing.

[simonr85]

The alternator isn't charging the battery I reckon, hence you've been running off battery power that's been getting less and less as it gets drained.

New / recharged battery should get you somewhere local if you want to get the alternator done by someone, but tbh I'd do it myself. Even I can do it! :)

Have a look/search in the For Sale forum to see if anyone's selling, and if not then trip to halfrauds / GSF for a new/recon one. It'll cost about £100 after you've taken your old one back to them to reclaim the £30 surcharge thing.

got a quote of £110 - 135 for mine reconned and upto £156 for upto 4 hours labour, is that too dear???

[Wobba]

4 hours lol...

...1 hour max

[simonr85]

he did say upto 4hours, he has done a member of heres 16valver, are they any different, as it was quite cheap for them???

[Wobba]

£156 inc. replacement alternator seems ok. It's just I would always do it myself hehe.

[fasterthanjesus]

simon

ice were used over a year ago to recognise that the radio was taking all the juice out of the battery when the car was parked.

alternator was the "knighrider" battery light.

try autostart (near the old moorland motors)

andy is spot on, and he charges 1980s prices!

[simonr85]

autostart??? where are they based???? im only young so dont know any old moorland motors places???

[fasterthanjesus]

moorland road. near the bloomfield pub.

theres a massive flats development on the old moorland road vauxhall motors site.

autostart is in the book..

give andy a ring. he did my clutch for 425 all in.

top bloke.

[simonr85]

will have a look when i get home and see what he says, nice 1 :)

[Smudger]

you checked the wires on the alternator itself?

i had the same problem last year and the earth wire has broken off so was running off the battery.

Re-wired this up charged the batter and away she went and has been fine for a year now

[simonr85]

no not had chance for a proper look, its too dark when i get home and cant find a torch, am i best looking from underneath or down the front of the radiator???

[MatrixGuy]

I had this problem this time last year.... it was my alternator.... got a new one and then it kept happening again.... it was a faulty alternator! lol. just my luck. :roll:

[simonr85]

oh no dont say that, i seem to buy every part 3 times anyway so it will probably be my luck

[white16valver]

I'd have a go yourself - when I did it I had the bonnet off and the rad out as I was doing the power steering pipe that runs round the back of it, but apparently if you get the headlight out it's a fairly easy job :)

Still tight though - bloody french engineering :x lol

[MatrixGuy]

I'd have a go yourself - when I did it I had the bonnet off and the rad out as I was doing the power steering pipe that runs round the back of it, but apparently if you get the headlight out it's a fairly easy job :)

Still tight though - bloody french engineering :x lol

lol, yes, my mechanic hates my car now!

It's funny because he was actually going to buy one, then after working on my car, it's completely changed his mind!! lol

[Wobba]

You dont need bonnet off for it. it's a case of loosening aux belt, jacking up engine maybe for better access and offside light cluster out. Then it' simply a case of undoing the bolts and wiring (discon battery first!), taking it out, putting in new one and refitting it all, retensioning the belt etc.

It could be a bit tricky learning the methods if you've not done any work like that before but once you've done it once it's easy forever more!

Haynes manual shows you how.

[simonr85]

ive got a haynes manual but would rather pay for a job like this to be done correct first time, might even put my morettes in while the headlights are coming out :lol:

[Allan]

get a multimeter £6 quid from like machine mart charge the battery with a charger like £10 for a cheapo trickle charger, just take it out of the car and leave it over night, start up the car and check the voltage, then use the throttle cable rev it up and bit and see if the voltage goes upto 14.8+ if it does then its charging if it doesnt its not charging.

[1995clio16v]

ive got a haynes manual but would rather pay for a job like this to be done correct first time, might even put my morettes in while the headlights are coming out :lol:

Simon, go to ribblesdale , theres one up near fletcher road (you know where the prostitutes hang out!), and theres one on marsh lane.

They had one off the shelf for me a year ago, refurb with warranty, was about £80 with trade in of mine iirc.

Easy job to do mate.

One thing I noticed with lights and battery, even when I had a new alternator, the lights still dimmed when you touched the throttle when stationary, wipers on go slows, amongst other leccy gremlins.

Since ive had my Hid kit on, which connects directly onto the battery terminals no problems at all.

Think there some issues with lights/battery and the way its all connected up..something along those lines anyway..

[simonr85]

yeh its going in to ribblesdale today mate, think there prices have changed tho, they dont have any spares in stock so they said they will have to refurb mine £110 - 135 for mine reconned and upto £156 for upto 4 hours labour

[bass_direct]

£110-£135 is expensive to have it reconned! Brand new from eurocarparts it's about £100..

also, should take 30mins-1hour max!

[Wobba]

ive got a haynes manual but would rather pay for a job like this to be done correct first time, might even put my morettes in while the headlights are coming out :lol:

It is very hard to **** it up tbh.

It would take a lot longer if you've never even taken the light out etc, but till the other week I had never touched an alternator before, but it was easy as I knew it would be (had to remove it for waterpump replacement).

[simonr85]

its fixed................. £260.76

[Coops]

:shock:

new alternator 65 quid hour or so to swap :wink:

[white16valver]

Once you've done work yourself you really do resent paying someone £50+ an hour to undo some bolts lol

[Wobba]

Once you've done work yourself you really do resent paying someone £50+ an hour to undo some bolts lol

Yea, especially paying for them to **** it up and pretend it wasn't them.

Ah well, at least it's fixed eh!?

[foshizzle]

I would have ran a a multimeter across the battery first, shouldbe around 14.7 volts when idling. it could have been your battery after that, and would have ruled it all out.

Lot of money for an alternator IMO, i would have had one off a broken clio and slapped it on, £20 max and an hours work.

[white16valver]

Once you've done work yourself you really do resent paying someone £50+ an hour to undo some bolts lol

Yea, especially paying for them to f**k it up and pretend it wasn't them.

Ah well, at least it's fixed eh!?
I'm sensing a touchy subject ;) LOL :lol: