Alternator Problems??

[TrixNFlix]

Ok im getting the battery light flickering. This only happens on part throttle, when its idling its fine and when your at wot its fine. Belt is tight, no squealing. Sometimes idle moves from just under 1000 revs to 700 when you come to a stop after a blast. Speedo is a bit lazy sometimes when the revs drop too. Do you reckon its an alternator problem or an earth problem, or something else? Cheers Chaps

[Kris M]

http://www.rtoc.org/boards/showthread.php?t=4799

Have a quick read of this...Will help you eliminate the if its the alternator or not :)

[TrixNFlix]

http://www.rtoc.org/boards/showthread.php?t=4799

Have a quick read of this...Will help you eliminate the if its the alternator or not :)

Thanks Kris, forgot to say i left my voltmeter is 25 miles away, i left it at my girlfriends mum and dads.:cry:
Just trying to see if anyone has experienced the same problems, caus im lazy and its cold outside. Its done 30 miles since last night in this state, so its gonna fail soon i reckon. Might just carry a spare batttery and alternator round with me untill i can get hold of a voltmeter. :laugh:

[Os8472]

Ok 1 simple test, do your headlights dim when you put the indicators on?

[TrixNFlix]

Ok 1 simple test, do your headlights dim when you put the indicators on?

No. :D

[Os8472]

In that case I would suguest jacking the car up and taking drivers side front wheel off and taking a look at the back of the starter motor, there should 2 big wires connected together on the back, one these could be damaged or worse getting hit by the downpipe or heat shield

[TrixNFlix]

These were in good nick and out of the way of the downpipe last week when I changed the downpipe and turbo. Even cable tied them away from the exhaust. I see were your coming from with the movement of the engine.

[Os8472]

I'd double check mate, the downpipe on mine moved once thanks to someone who shall not be named;) and just tapped the connection, unfortunatly for me it did this on a dual carriageway in the dark and killed everything, mmmm freewheeling on a busy dual carriageway with no lights, no engine and a steering lock on great:eek:

Look on the heat shield, if it has touched there will be a burn mark.

if in dowt get some heat wrap and put that over the starter connections, no way anything will touch it then

[TrixNFlix]

Ok dude, I'll try and have a gander at work tomorrow. :agree:

[Os8472]

Ok dude, I'll try and have a gander at work tomorrow. :agree:

But your best bet is still to get hold of an volt meter and check the alt's output, from what you've said I don't think thats the problem but its worth double checking

[TrixNFlix]

But your best bet is still to get hold of an volt meter and check the alt's output, from what you've said I don't think thats the problem but its worth double checking

:agree:

[THE MASTER]

simple fix .. clean the terminals of the small wires that plug into to the alt . brown plug one wire is purple the other is yellow .

eather replace the terminals/ conectors or pinch them up with a pair of plyers (after cleaning)

ps the conectors are different sizes. the yellow wire is the smaller one (same size as on a speacker). purple is std size..;)

[TrixNFlix]

simple fix .. clean the terminals of the small wires that plug into to the alt . brown plug one wire is purple the other is yellow .

eather replace the terminals/ conectors or pinch them up with a pair of plyers (after cleaning)

ps the conectors are different sizes. the yellow wire is the smaller one (same size as on a speacker). purple is std size..;)

Thanks master I shall have a look at this later. This morning I managed to borrow a multimeter from someone at work.Battery is showing 13.88 on idle, but am getting 0.33 between battery negative and Alt body.Also getting 0.44 between battery positive and alternator positive, so looks like my earths aren't doing their job. Were is a good place in introduce a new earth, that's easy to get to? Andy

[Os8472]

I start by replacing the main earth off the battery to the body, I did this on mine with a 2ft negative cable bought from halfrauds, cut in half and both pieces taken from the battery to the main earth point, after that I'd add some small gauged wire from the main earth point to the top of the gearbox, the front of the block and the rear of the block, remember when ever you connect an earth clean up the surface with some sandpaper first so as to get a clean connection

[TrixNFlix]

I start by replacing the main earth off the battery to the body, I did this on mine with a 2ft negative cable bought from halfrauds, cut in half and both pieces taken from the battery to the main earth point, after that I'd add some small gauged wire from the main earth point to the top of the gearbox, the front of the block and the rear of the block, remember when ever you connect an earth clean up the surface with some sandpaper first so as to get a clean connection

Thanks oliver.:agree:
Cleaned all the old earths up with sandpaper, added a new one to the battery, tightened up the alt belt, possibly a bit to much tension now, cleaned the alt plug terminals. The idle seems to be very smooth now, so i shall see how it goes tomorrow morning on the way to work.


:burnrubber:

[Os8472]

Thanks oliver.:agree:
Cleaned all the old earths up with sandpaper, added a new one to the battery, tightened up the alt belt, possibly a bit to much tension now, cleaned the alt plug terminals. The idle seems to be very smooth now, so i shall see how it goes tomorrow morning on the way to work.


:burnrubber:


Simple way of checking the tension on the alt belt is take it between your thumb and forefinger and you should be able to turn it on its side, anymore and its not tight enough, anyless and its too tight

[TrixNFlix]

Ill check tomorrow morning, i checked the area with the furthest travel and it moved about 1cm which is supposed to be about right, im just paranoid as i have a habit of over tightening everything. :D

[TrixNFlix]

Tension in the belt is perfect, and so far so good, no battery light problems. :D