Help needed before Dragonball - possible battery or alternator problem

[Guest Budz86]

Just thought I'd chuck this up to get a few opinions...

 

Car has died a couple of times in the last 2 days while running. Not sure if it's the alternator or the battery that's had it. Battery was new about 2 months ago, but only got a 420amp one. Car was at Audi for about 3 hours and I think they might have left the sidelights on while doing the geo setup and when I left, after about 3 or 4 mins it started to stutter, red warning triangle on the dash then nothing. Managed to bump start it and took it for a short drive, no more than 10 mins. Got it home, turned it off then tried to start it again and it worked. Went inside thinking it was sorted but this morning it didn't start (guessing alarm drained what little power it had). Jump started it this evening, left it idling for about 30 mins, turned it off and then it wouldn't start again. Jumped it, went for a drive and noticed the volts were 14.3 ish on the Toucan. 5 mins later it had dropped to about 12. 5 mins later, it died again. I noticed the higher the load on the engine, the higher the volts readout, and just before it died I was barely doing 30mph.

 

When I got it jumped again, took it for a 20-25 min drive, including stopping for petrol and it started ok afterwards but voltage is reading about 12ish at idle rising to a max of 13.6, but it has dropped to 11.5 at times while driving. I'm not sure, but I think this was roughly when the twin electric fans kicked in - I just read they draw about 48 amps! I've also read that the alternators for TT, auto and NA are all different ratings - when upgrading, what do people usually go for?

 

Any help appreciated! Will probably drop it at the garage in the morning for them to test the battery and hopefully stick it on charge for the day! If anyone has a spare alternator though, please bring it to DB as I suspect it's this! James is already bringing me one but the more the merrier!

[Ian C]

That'll be your alternator, the symptoms fit it perfectly

[Guest Budz86]

Thanks Ian, thought it would be. Any idea how much I'm looking at for a new one? Unless there is a way of me refurbing this one?

 

Edit - how come I can still drive it sometimes, but other times it dies? Do you think removing the electric fan fuses would help if I was doing a 40 mile journey? Or do you not think it wouldn't make it?

Edited May 16, 2013 by Budz86 (see edit history)

[Lee P]

You need to get the battery checked first

 

If the battery is dead and your trying to drive the car on just the alternator then this isn't good

 

Then look at the alternator once you know the battery is good

 

Give me a bell today if you want

[JamieP]

You need to get the battery checked first

 

If the battery is dead and your trying to drive the car on just the alternator then this isn't good

 

Then look at the alternator once you know the battery is good

 

Give me a bell today if you want

 

Lol, can tell you have recently had a nipper, up at 5:30.

[Havard]

Sounds like the alternator but nothing you are really doing when driving would help the battery much even if it was working correctly.

 

I may be wrong but I was told that starting the car uses about 4% of the batteries power and normal driving for 11 minutes will replace this power with a working alternator. If you have twin electric fans that come on whilst idling then you have a bigger problem from a consumption point of view.

 

I will bring the trickle charger to DB but I am not sure where or how we are going to plug it in.

 

H.

[Benjy]

You need to check the voltage at the chunky wire coming off the back of the altenator. If it doesn't read 14-14.4v, it's battery AND altenator time. Driving the car with a faulty altenator will destroy the battery anyway. It's probably intermittant with heat. Once the internals warm up, connections are expanding further apart and causing it to drop voltage the warmer it gets.

[Guest Budz86]

Cheers for the responses guys, just dropped it off at a local garage to get the battery tested and maybe stuck on a charger. If it's the battery I can get it replaced as it's under warranty. If it's the alt I will have to try and get to either Lee's or Ashford, both of which are about 40 miles away, so fingers crossed it's the battery! Knowing my luck though it won't be

 

Will keep you all posted.

[Guest Budz86]

Just an update, battery and alt are both fine apparently! Both charging at 14.36v so probably just didn't give things enough time to charge and the car drained the juice with lights, fans etc. Fingers crossed she lasts the weekend! If anyone has a spare alt though it would me much appreciated if you could bring it - I get paranoid easily!

[Abz]

Just an update, battery and alt are both fine apparently! Both charging at 14.36v so probably just didn't give things enough time to charge and the car drained the juice with lights, fans etc. Fingers crossed she lasts the weekend! If anyone has a spare alt though it would me much appreciated if you could bring it - I get paranoid easily!

 

You just need to go on a nice decent long drive... So something like Dragonball would be ideal