Kirk Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 (edited) I swapped over an engine and removed the air con for one of the lads yesterday, had it running and idling fine, drove it around for an hour afterwards not one issue. So I come to the car this morning to check that nothing has gone wrong over night, turn the key in which is struggled a bit but it did turn over. I let it idle up for 5 mins again all is fine, jumped in and took it out for a spin then all of a sudden 3 warning lights popped up. These were the bulb failure light, cat temp and the battery warning. I decided to try and drive it back home at which point the remaining lights suddenly lit up, speedo and rev counter died but the car was still running, power steering cut in and out at will, same with the engine. Finally pulled over at my mates house round the corner and turned it off then tried to fire it again, as suspected the car told me to eff off so I left it for 20 minutes. Went out and tried it again then suddenly the engine springs into life and idles fine but as soon as I moved the car off in gear there was those lights again so once again I parked it back up. Tried to give it a rev as the speedo cut in and out, would rev so far and then sounded like a TT on 2 step but wouldnt rev any further . Turned it off and decided this was as good time as ever to go get my tools and start checking the obvious. Anyway before I started poking around I tried to turn it over once again, no joy so pulled out the multimeter and power probe and had a prod about. Checked all the earth's, fine, no issues there. Checked the battery, was reading just over 11v, ok this maybe the issue but as I wanted to check the alternator output I would have to of got the thing going again. So hooked up the jump leads and got it going. It sprung into life again, but just before I starting checking the voltage the idle dropped to the point where it could just keep it self going but nothing else, wouldn't rev or do much at all. This time the voltage read 8 and was plumiting at a fast rate, no wonder the car couldn't rev. Finally turned it off again, voltage read 5 and was slowly going back up but stopped at just 9.10V. The question is now am I being stupid and the obvious problem is just the battery or could this potentially be the alternator at fault. As I cant get hold of a good enough battery to swap over until tomorrow I can really blame one thing or the other. Thoughts? Edited January 28, 2012 by Kirk (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 The battery is definitely on it's rear, the alternator is most likely the cause. I had exactly the same issue with a redtop. Genearlly the lights issue is the "you have stalled" warning as the revs are so low and the power output is virtually nil. The only difference is that the lights went out for me when the revs were up a bit. I'm thinking that whilst my issue was the battery yours might be the alternator (christmas tree always points to it) and possibly the battery. It sounds like the lack of output from the alternator has killed the battery, whether it can be brought to life or not remains to be seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 See this is what I thought it may of been. The engine that's gone in the car is my old one. Its been sat in a cold garage for a few months and finally gone in. Now I never had issues with that engine but perhaps the alternator has decided to conk it. To be honest battery wasn't the best to begin with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Car batteries don't like being deep-cycled, and once they are dead, they can't hold a charge with both hands. Stick a new battery on and it'll probably spring into life like it's had a can of redbull Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil-NA Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 As I said the car didn't move for 3 months, I didn't even start it, the battery was so flat it wouldnt even work after a jump off the Rav. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 I've been back round to mates to secure it and curiously the voltage of the battery as climbed back to 11.4V but non the less it isn't enough to start. Only enough to feed one set of warning lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absz Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 check the wiring loom plugs under the passenger footwell were the ecu loom is to make sure that you have clipped them in all the way. the alternator charging circuit is either the white or grey plug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 Problem solved! Alternator at fault much to my surprise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Is my gold star in the post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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