RobL

my car is not charging when running also the battery light on the dash isnt coming on,ive checked the bulb and its fine
ive also ran a wire from the alternator to the bulb and it still doesnt come on
fucked allternator? i thought the battery light would come on if the alternator was naffed not vice versa
any ideas before i buy another alternator?

SafeChav

Theres a thin blue wire going to the alternator, should be a bullet connector on it close to the alternator, turn the ignition on and short the side coming from the main loom to earth, the bulb should illuminate then, if not theres a wiring fault.

trevCOSS

iTrader: (6)

is there any power going to the battery light? If not it will not come on and the altenator will not charge, Does the light come on at all?

RobL

cheers mate never thought of that,will give it a try tommorow

RobL

no mate ,thats what the problem is
i took a wire from were the blue wire plugs on the alternator direct to the bulb turned the ingnition on and still no battery light and no charge going into my battery

trevCOSS

iTrader: (6)

you need to take the dash out find out which wire gives power to the light, (not the blue one) and then test that that wire gives ing live.

rutts

rob i put a new alternator on it when i had it

SafeChav

You might find the pbc on the instruments is damaged in that case then.

RobL

i had the starter and alternator off a few weeks ago all was fine before that. ive checked the wires a dozen times and everything seems fine
cant get my head round it at the min lol but im shit electrics

RobL

ive tried 2 sets of clocks still no joy

SafeChav

are the other warning lights and gauges working then??

Seems a bit coincidental you had them both off and now you have a fault though.

Are you 100% the buld isnt getting a feed from the instruments, like checking with a multimeter or test lamp?

RobL

yeah the other warning lights are working ok
it is coincidental i know ,thats whats doing my nut in lol
wouldnt the other warning lights not work if it wasnt getting a feed from the instruments? whats best way to check with my multimeter?

SafeChav

Well........they all share the same ignition feed, so if they are working i cant see it being a lack of power.

You need to try shorting that blue wire to earth (ignition on but NOT with the engine running)

I have a nasty feeling you may well have popped the diode pack in the alternator.......

RobL

yeah mate gonna try it first thing tommorow,will let you know how i get on
cheers for the help

mercury xr

I had this problem, after my mate checked a few things we found the wire to be broken somewhere, instead of searching for it we just put a new wire in, taped to the loom and was fixed in about 15min!

SafeChav

LOL @ mercury_xr's siggy

RobL

update, starting to piss me off now
earthed the blue wire and turned the ignition on and my battery light comes on.
so i take the alternator to a place that specialises in that shit and they said theyll test it and ring me back.
couple hours later they ring and say theyve managed to fix it theyve put a new regulator on for £30 and its working fine.
so i go get it wire it up to the car and no fucking battery still
wtf!!

just took it back to them to test again because i cant think wtf else i can try

bortaf

You havn't painted the alt bracket or owt have you?
If you have the alt won't earth through the block

RobL

thats exactly what ive done
i had the bracket and other bits powered coated a bit ago and never grinded the powdercoat off the alternator bracket before i put it back on
what a dumb fuck

SafeChav

Who's a dumb ass then?

I wpould be ringing the alternator place and kicking the fuck off! daylight robbery!

DcFordBoiiz

he is rite

RobL

i know yeah ,another £30 out of pocket for fuck all
mind you he did say the bushes were completey worn out ,so maybe saved me a bit in the long run though

Turbo-Beal

Iv got all my brakets powdercoated up so could this be why i have a battery light on all the time?
I tell you what ill swap my fault with yours and we will be both happy lol

RobL

well thats that problem sorted. battery light comes on now but the fuckers staying on and still my batterys not being charged

im hoping its down to the fact ive only got one bottom bolt on because the other cross threaded, belt feels tight though still

happy days

SafeChav

your making a pigs ear of this

I wouldnt ever entertain running the alternator one bolt, thats asking for trouble although it shouldnt affect the light staying on?

RobL

i know mate i suck

it was only on one bolt to test to see if it worked ,the other one cross threaded but ive got a replacement now

i think its a bad earth still giving me problems ive taken the bracket off again and grinded more of the powdercoat off .will find out tommorow

SafeChav

If it was a bad earth you wouldnt be seeing the battery light, seeing as the bulb cant illuminate without the alternator having a connection to earth.

RobL

it stayed on and went off ,i checked the battery with my multimeter and it wasnt charging so i turned the car off then tried the ingnition again and no battery light again

JesseT

It's surprising how common the bad alternator earth problems are. It's easy to measure with a multimeter. With engine running measure the voltage between the alternator casing and battery negative. It should obviously be close to zero. Over 0.5V and you're having serious problems.