Summery: Is this broken wire causing all my electrics turn off?



So I have a Ford KA 1.3 dura tech engine with a 2003 plate. A little while back my battery warning light came on and stayed. It would sometimes turn off but only for a short amount of time and I couldn’t figure out what was causing it. The most consistent way I would was under high rev driving. So climbing steep hills in lower gears and fast acceleration. Getting the engine into high revs whist in neutral did nothing, it has to be pulling the car forward. I messed around with some testing and ended up deciding I needed the alternator replacing. I was wrong… I’ve got a new alternator fitted and battery just for peace of mind. Still having issues, and my battery light warning light is still on, but now it doesn’t disappear ever. Although my dashboard lights and headlights no longer seem constantly dim and become brighter, which they did before.

I was driving home on the motorway in the rain. So lights, heating, radio, and windscreen wipers were all on. I noticed that both front and rear wipers were stuttering a little. Ten minutes later my radio turns itself off rapidly followed by my airbag light coming on. Within the next minute my speedometer turns off along with my wipers, fuel gage, and I lose power to the engine. Within 30 seconds everything is back to normal (minus battery warning light) and I can drive again.

I’ve done some testing with a millimetre in various situations Just the battery gave me an output of 12.14 V.

Engine on 11.72 V and revving the engine decreased it to 11.67 V. Turning on a lot of the electrics gave out 12.91. I also put a connector on the negative battery terminal and the alternator casing and got 16.7 V.

I also noticed the one of the connectors to the alternator has a broken grey wire. Could this be the problem?
Grey wire broken

 

Yeah, that needs repaired, probably is causing your issues,
Colin

 

Try unplugging that wiring plug and see what happens. It should start charging the battery ok at around 14.5v but the battery light will still be on on the dash.