Battery light and voltage regulator query - wee UPDATE

[Rossco 0]

Just as i was firing home i looked at the dash and noticed the battery light was very dimly on, really dim. I accelerated and it went out but when i went back to a slower speed it appeared again. Car drove fine all the way home and everything was working, any ideas. Read some previous threads about brushes and voltage regulators anyone rekon ill need to order some of these. Its a 90' G60 by the way

[Supercharged 2]

Yep, £10 from any autoelectrician or GSF

[Rossco 0]

Sweet cheers mate

[Rossco 0]

Is the voltage regulator the bit on the back of it that screws out with 2 phillips head screws??

[G60Jet 1]

thats sound right should be white with a black bit in the middle

[Supercharged 2]

See the pic I put up on here...

 

http://www.the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21469

[Henny 0]

also check that the wires and contacts from the alternator to the starter and the thin blue wire are OK... If these are dodgy they'll put the light on too... ;)

[Rossco 0]

Pretty sure its the regulator, when i just poodle around the lights dimly comes on and last night the dash lights got a bit dull but when i gave it serious licks (im lovin my new G60) the light went off and the dash lights went uber bright again.

 

This sound right peeps??

[Henny 0]

yup, but it could also be the wires I mentioned... ;)

 

Check the wires first (it won't cost you anything! ;) ) then change the regulator/brushes if you think the wiring's in good condition.... 8)

[Rossco 0]

Wiring was fine, 13.52 + VAT = a happy G60. Yeh the regulator appears to have done the required job, cheers guys

[Rossco 0]

Right problem appeared today again after my work, but it only appeared when i nailed the car and when i do that the car bounces around (torque and 9x16's ace!) then the lights came on, the dash lights went dim and the windows slowed down, so i nailed it again and it flickered and went off and everything was restored, dash was back to full brightness and the windows back to normal speed so in thinking theres a dodgy connection but my question is with which wires ( henny- looks like you may have been right) would it be the big thick one or the wee blue one??

 

Cheers Guys

[biggrim 0]

Alternator is fooked?

[MikeVR6 0]

Maybe the dodgy regulator has fooked the battery?

Or the battery caused the regulator to die.

Either way, get the battery checked.

 

This happened on mine, dead cell in the battery put too much strain on the alternator and it burnt out.

Didn't realise this was the cause until I replaced the alternator and the fault was still there just not as pronounced.

Fitted a new Bosch Silver battery and everything worked again.

[Rossco 0]

might be worth a go loon, cheers. I fired it up today and it was putting a solid 14 volts accross the battery, went for a wee burl and then the light came on again and the voltage accross had gone down to about 9.8. Battery has been the same one since i bought the car 2 years ago and seeing as ive just changed the voltage regulator im guessing the alternator is back to full steam again, there no plat or weird noises coming from it.

 

Rekon a new battery then guys yeh??

[davidwort 0]

might be worth a go loon, cheers. I fired it up today and it was putting a solid 14 volts accross the battery, went for a wee burl and then the light came on again and the voltage accross had gone down to about 9.8. Battery has been the same one since i bought the car 2 years ago and seeing as ive just changed the voltage regulator im guessing the alternator is back to full steam again, there no plat or weird noises coming from it.

 

Rekon a new battery then guys yeh??

 

What output do you get across the battery with lights, HRW, fan etc all running?, is it a lot lower than with them off? (engine running of course),

I've changed my brush pack but it looks like either the windings or the diodes/rectifier in the base of the alternator(not changeable) are rubber ducked as the brush pack makes no difference, so a new alternator is needed. I'm basically not getting full charging from the alternator even though it's enough to prevent the red dash light coming on, I have a voltmeter fitted and you can see the problem from there as it wobbles around depending on load and drops below 12V if I haven't had the battery on trickle charge over night, the battery is a whopping great Diesel Hella one and less than 12 months old.

David.

[biggrim 0]

Is it the same battery for the G60 as it is for the 2.0 16v?

[Rossco 0]

might be worth a go loon, cheers. I fired it up today and it was putting a solid 14 volts accross the battery, went for a wee burl and then the light came on again and the voltage accross had gone down to about 9.8. Battery has been the same one since i bought the car 2 years ago and seeing as ive just changed the voltage regulator im guessing the alternator is back to full steam again, there no plat or weird noises coming from it.

 

Rekon a new battery then guys yeh??

 

What output do you get across the battery with lights, HRW, fan etc all running?, is it a lot lower than with them off? (engine running of course),

I've changed my brush pack but it looks like either the windings or the diodes/rectifier in the base of the alternator(not changeable) are rubber ducked as the brush pack makes no difference, so a new alternator is needed. I'm basically not getting full charging from the alternator even though it's enough to prevent the red dash light coming on, I have a voltmeter fitted and you can see the problem from there as it wobbles around depending on load and drops below 12V if I haven't had the battery on trickle charge over night, the battery is a whopping great Diesel Hella one and less than 12 months old.

David.

 

I havent checked this mate, but im assuming the alternator is charging fine as when i fire the car up the voltage accross is a steady 13.8 volts and it doesnt move, its only when i take thecar for a burl that it starts getting silly, would it make sense that way and saying that the battery is on its way??

[davidwort 0]

Is it the same battery for the G60 as it is for the 2.0 16v?

 

I'd stick a bigger Amp/Hour one in than spec for either, think my Hella one is 72Ah and certainly higher than my previous Bosch Silver (63Ah which GSF list for all corrados I think) and the spec for diesel cars, helps when you have things like aftermarket ICE and alarms that take a small but contant drain when the ignition is off.

 

David.

[davidwort 0]

might be worth a go loon, cheers. I fired it up today and it was putting a solid 14 volts accross the battery, went for a wee burl and then the light came on again and the voltage accross had gone down to about 9.8. Battery has been the same one since i bought the car 2 years ago and seeing as ive just changed the voltage regulator im guessing the alternator is back to full steam again, there no plat or weird noises coming from it.

 

Rekon a new battery then guys yeh??

 

What output do you get across the battery with lights, HRW, fan etc all running?, is it a lot lower than with them off? (engine running of course),

I've changed my brush pack but it looks like either the windings or the diodes/rectifier in the base of the alternator(not changeable) are rubber ducked as the brush pack makes no difference, so a new alternator is needed. I'm basically not getting full charging from the alternator even though it's enough to prevent the red dash light coming on, I have a voltmeter fitted and you can see the problem from there as it wobbles around depending on load and drops below 12V if I haven't had the battery on trickle charge over night, the battery is a whopping great Diesel Hella one and less than 12 months old.

David.

 

I havent checked this mate, but im assuming the alternator is charging fine as when i fire the car up the voltage accross is a steady 13.8 volts and it doesnt move, its only when i take thecar for a burl that it starts getting silly, would it make sense that way and saying that the battery is on its way??

 

your situation does sound different, especially seing as your battery is a few years old, they can die after only a couple of years, depending on how the car has been used.

 

David.

[Rossco 0]

Right just back from uni and i put the battery on charge this morning so its fully charged up, checked all the wires and there all ok. Put the battery back in and she fired up fine but i checked the voltage accross it and it had lost 0.5 volts already. Also no light came up on the dash when i fired her up does this sound like a dead battery??

[Rossco 0]

Turns out the alternator is guffed, piss, 70 notes plus VAT for me then

[MikeVR6 0]

The way I look at it is "one less thing to worry about" :)

[Riley 0]

could still be the battery,there never the same once they have run down a couple a times.

 

maybe the old v regulater knackered it too,putting fluctuating amounts of voltage/amps into it?

 

13.8 volts sounds right charging wise for when the cars running,have you monitored the voltage of just the battery over a longer period?

 

also see what sort of steady voltage your getting through the little blue wire to the battery.

 

as said though :lol: new alternater eliminates a possability,so does a battery.

 

why not go for a good battery and at worst you may need an alternater too?

 

neil,with closed eyes :?

[Rossco 0]

Before posting up saying im gonna get a new alternator i bought a bosch silver top battery and it made no difference the alternator is dead, also the battery light doesnt come on on start up so im pretty convinced its see numerous better days

[davidwort 0]

Before posting up saying im gonna get a new alternator i bought a bosch silver top battery and it made no difference the alternator is dead, also the battery light doesnt come on on start up so im pretty convinced its see numerous better days

 

I got a second hand alternator for 10 quid at the weekend, took my old one apart and put the outer winding with the diodes wired into it into the casing of my old 16v alternator (the new one was an 8v unit and the casing is different), hey presto, proper charging again!, not bad for a tenner I thought, I've also got a spare brush pack too now, all that was involved was undoing about 6 phillips screws and 20 mins work including re-fitting it :-)

 

David.