Classic Charging Problem, Faulty Alternator???
02 May 2009, 09:41 AM
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Classic Charging Problem, Faulty Alternator???
Hi Guys,
I've got a classic Impreza and the other day I was doing a bit of mileage 150miles or so. I parked up and came back to the car four hours later and the battery was completely flat, not even enough to turn the car over once.
I looked at my voltmeter and it was 9v, I jumped started the car fine and noticed on the way home it was only reading 12-13v, when normally it should be 14.4V.
As a result I was thinking the Alternator was broke, but when I mentioned it to a mate he recons that it might not be as hes not heard of a battery discahrging that quickly.
My thinking it on my journey the car might have been discharging and I hadn't noticed, and I was lucky to get where I was going.
It thre any way for me to check if the alternator is broken for sure? I would have thought the fact it was only charging at 12-13v was enough, but again my mate said the battery might be knackered and not accepting the charge which is why my read is low.
Any ideas?
I've got a classic Impreza and the other day I was doing a bit of mileage 150miles or so. I parked up and came back to the car four hours later and the battery was completely flat, not even enough to turn the car over once.
I looked at my voltmeter and it was 9v, I jumped started the car fine and noticed on the way home it was only reading 12-13v, when normally it should be 14.4V.
As a result I was thinking the Alternator was broke, but when I mentioned it to a mate he recons that it might not be as hes not heard of a battery discahrging that quickly.
My thinking it on my journey the car might have been discharging and I hadn't noticed, and I was lucky to get where I was going.
It thre any way for me to check if the alternator is broken for sure? I would have thought the fact it was only charging at 12-13v was enough, but again my mate said the battery might be knackered and not accepting the charge which is why my read is low.
Any ideas?
02 May 2009, 09:38 PM
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Don't take your voltmeter as a true reading. Connect a seperate voltage tester to the battery, while the car is running, should be in the 14's.
If not then pretty much alternator for sure.
If it is in the 14's, take the battery off and give it a full trickle charge. If you still experience problems, the battery is at fault (9 time out of 10).
You could always pop your car into a local garage once you have charged the battery and get them to test voltage of battery without the car running to see if it drops.
If not then pretty much alternator for sure.
If it is in the 14's, take the battery off and give it a full trickle charge. If you still experience problems, the battery is at fault (9 time out of 10).
You could always pop your car into a local garage once you have charged the battery and get them to test voltage of battery without the car running to see if it drops.
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