[steveo67]

Came out of work tonight and the battery warning light on my car stayed on for a while. After driving a couple of hundred yards it went off but it was not long before it came back on. The 13 mile journey it was lit most of the way but did go off a couple of times. As you can expect I am home now and my battery is dead.

I am thinking alternator .... anyone with any technical knowledge can confirm or advise otherwise ??

Thanks,
Steve

Forgot to say also that the tickover is also right down and i had to keep my revs up at junctions etc to stop the car stalling.

Forgot also the I have an 05 plate 1.8 8Ghia petrol engineEdited by: steveo67

 

[Richard G]

If you can get the battery charged have you then any way of measuring voltage across the battery

Normally with headlights on and at around 3000 rpm you ought to have around full alternator output voltage of around 14.5V

 

[steveo67]

Thanks Rich,

I will try starting it with Jump leads in the morning ... I think I have a meter to test the voltage.

Steve.

 

[MetalMicky08]

It does sound like the alt.As Richard says if you can charge it you can check the battery,but,if is the alt,the battery will loose it`s charge very quickly.If you do need an alt,don`t do to ford,go to a spares shop (not halfords).You should get one for about £80 & if you can get a moblie mechanic to fit it,you should have it done for under £160.

 

[steveo67]

Problem has been confirmed by the garage as an alternator failure.

Thanks for your comments guys

SteveEdited by: steveo67

 

[steveo67]

Forgot to mention that Alternators are on backorder

How on earth can Ford not have any alternators knocking about ???? .... cant they just take one off one of the thousands of unsold cars until they can manage their supply chain to have stock of what seems like a pretty standard part ??

 

[Richard G]

called "joined up thinking"

 

[MetalMicky08]

Did you order your alt from ford? If so how much? As I said I got mine from an independant spares shop.Ordered it at 10am,got it at 1.30pm.

 

[steveo67]

Myalternator arrived today after 1 week was fitted today byFord Dealer:


Alternator £109.70
Battery Check £7.25
Charging System Check £7.25
Remove & Install £43.50
VAT @ 15% £25.15

Total £192.85

Regards,
Steve

 

[opalmines]

Hi see my post re another alternator failure.
my local ford dealer has 50 on order. My car in garage since 19th Dec.
Cant find one at any of the autospare shops either