Electrical Problem... Please help

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

20-Jul-2004, 04:53 PM

PolskiSi

Registered User

Thread Starter

Join Date: Jul 2002

Location: Mississauga

Posts: 972

Electrical Problem... Please help

The "check battery" light came on when I took the car out today, but it came off shortly after I started driving.

I read up in the manual that it may be that the battery not getting charged by the alternator.

After going to the store and coming back to the car, the light would come on again at any RPM under 3500.
It didn't turn off after a bit of driving like last time.

Is it a ****ty battery or a messed up alternator?

Thanks

20-Jul-2004, 04:55 PM

mattharper

Registered User

Join Date: Apr 2003

Location: dub-town

Posts: 1,086

open the caps on the top of the battery, u probly have dry cells.if u do its new battery time

20-Jul-2004, 04:55 PM

punkindrublic

Senior Member

Join Date: Apr 2002

Posts: 12,906

i think alternator

20-Jul-2004, 05:03 PM

imported_loudsubz

Registered User

Join Date: Apr 2002

Location: Mississauga West Side

Posts: 11,206

check

grab a multimeter and stick it on the termiansl

measure voltage with car off then start car if u dont see a rise in voltage with car on its toast

20-Jul-2004, 10:40 PM

ohmstable

Registered User

Join Date: May 2003

Location: Earth

Posts: 97

^^^^ do what he says..

You should see approx 12v when cars off.. and around 13.5v when car is on.

03-Aug-2004, 04:28 AM

El_LoCo

Registered User

Join Date: Oct 2002

Location: Ontario, T.O

Posts: 264

Yup what ohmstable said.... if a battery is showing anywhere from 13.5 - 14.5 V then ur altenator is doing its job. u can also unplug the power cable and the car should still Run! but i wouldnt recommend it for a long period of time...20 sec to see if it still runs and re-conect. if the battery is lower than 13V but there is No voltage drop, ie.(12.4V) then ur battery can hold a charge above that value or ur altenator is going. Most likely if the battery light came on! its ur alternator acting up, cuz that lite comes on when u are only using the battery to run the electrical stuff. and the alternator is not kicking in. ie.(if the belt snaped and the alternator is not running, the battery lite will come one, but u can still drive around until ur battery V's start to drop bellow 11V and then it stalls.) So check ur grounds, or if u really want go to crappy tire and they check ur altenator and battery for free! but make sure they kno what they are doing! not jus some parts kid who pushes a couple of buttons and then tells u its bad! they told me my Brand new 2 day old altenator had a bad lighting circuit! hahahha WRONG! they jus hooked it up wrong and prob used the wrong settings.