What went wrong?

[AndyHK]

Hi guys, need some help here.

I was in Tesco doing shopping, about 11 miles from home. I started up the engine, then a fault popped up about a minute after, and tell me to "Check Battery"



My car behaved normally as nothing happened, So I kept driving for another 9 miles with a constant speed between 40 - 60 mph.

However, when I slow down to 20 mph, my CD player started to cut off, and all the fault lights were popping up one by one.



I knew that would be the problem of either the alternator, or the 8 months old battery.

Surprisingly my car still acting normally; Headlights, Cruise Control, Heating and Power Steering all worked as usual. Eventually I managed to arrive home without any power cut.

So I switched off the engine, and attempted to start it up but failed, it made the noise of dadadadada..........

Now, I just gave it a 5 minutes charge and it could fire up easily, however, it still tells me to "Check Battery"

Which part exactly went wrong then? I'm confusing now :unsure:

Please help and thanks in advanced

Andy

 

[freddofrog]

Sounds to me like the battery isn't charging from the alternator.

That can mean a duff control circuit for the alternator, a duff pulley on the alternator (it has a clutch), or some duff cabling.

 

[AndyHK]

I hope so, it isn't nice to have problem right before Christmas. Hopefully it is a quick fix

 

[Dibbo2.2ex]

Sounds very like the alternator packing up. Mine dis a similar thing three Christmas ago . I thought at first it was ABS problem as first warning light then the dash became a disco with as you say cd and sat nav screen on and off. Headlights flashing too. Would not restart when turned off. If You do fit a new alternator then fit the shorter belt and remove one of the pulleys, less strain on Alternator.