advise on battery alternator.

[bobski1976]

Hi the battery/alternator warning illuminated on my van yesterday and I had to go out. I took it out and didn't make it home. a friend came and jumped me and I was local so i quickly took the van home as there was no electrics/ lights. So i took the battery of and charged it in the house. when I checked it with a multi meter it read 27.1 and I reconnected it and took the van for another run it done ok. but the alternator light kept coming up. I ended up breaking down again and got another jump and got home again. I thought the battery would last longer than it did on a full charge and i never ran any of the accessory's as not to drain it. should my battery have ran out as quickly? is there a fuse maybe. I have two spare vitos sitting there i could maybe change the alternator around and see but there later models. can anyone tell me if this is a common fault. and is it just my alternator.

I have a 113 2012 vito cdi. oh yeah I already searched the posts to see if I could find an answer there. but can anyone offer advice please.

 

[Blobcat]

It should be >12.4 V when charged, not 27.1 V…

When the engine is running it should be charging and ~14V

 

[AMGeed]

If the alternator is faulty, you'll keep running down batteries.
It needs testing to see if its the alternator or battery control module at fault.

 

[mioba]

If your battery reads 20 odd volts whilst being charged then I would say your charger is goosed or the battery.
Both damn easy to test with the mm.

Whats the battery reading with nothing connectioned (and how old is it) - dated on posts.

whats your charger reading when on and not connected to the battery. Try not to touch terminals if on as if its faulty who knows what amps it kicking out.

Then you need to test alty. Battery in car, engine off (battery should read 12.4 odd, engine on battery should read 14 (+-) = good alty.

 

[Taffy7hfa]

When the alternator went on the 270 last year the battery light only came on for maybe 3 or 4 minutes before the engine died.
I remember thinking well that didn't give much warning .
It re-started fine with a jump from the AA (battery was completely drained) the alternator would work ok for about 20 minutes before the light came back on at which point the engine died again very very quickly, I think once the light comes on you are doomed and may as well just pull over. I guess the injectors suck a lot of juice.

 

[DREAMER NO2]

If you have 27 volts in the battery it just might explode . The regulator in the alternatior is faulty or alternator itself . Check the output charging rate,, or get someone that knows how too do it for you .

 

[mioba]

The alternator on my W220 died a few years ago when I was living in the NL. I was driving back from the UK and battery red light came up. The sun was setting any I was with my family and little (at the time kids). I had about 100km (in old money) to go. Turned everything off, bar the ignition (radio, ac, full beams). Made it to the destination OK.
The next day tried to start the car and it was dead as a dodo.
So reading the stories above that people got very few miles out of a dead alty is pretty scary....

 

[Misterdog]

Might be because of the Aux battery being so small, from my understanding the main battery only operates the starter motor.
Maybe if the Aux battery dies then the vehicle cuts out.
(vehicles with stop/start Obvs.)

 

[bobski1976]

Thanks for the replies guys. ok i think my battery is ok. not 100% sure i am a very handy idiot. I can fix things just dont understand the multimeters much. any way the next day i put the battery on and started it. and the fault message came on bat/alt. I used the van once on a short journey and back. both times staring and stopping then I went a proper run and it broke down on the way back. Needed rescued again. anyway I finally got round to going out to it and tackling the job. It was very hard to see the alternator in its entirety and it was obscured by a lot of other things. Any way removed the bottom two bolts from underneath then had to remove the part that connects to the turbo and runs to the intercooler to gain access to the other two bolts. Once I disconnected the alt. there is no way Physically to remove it. I am now just to disconnect the radiator tomorrow as I took the front of today

 

[Frontstep]

Methinks you might have a look at the multimeter again.

Once you get that worked out you can start again.

 

[bobski1976]

yippee its sorted.
I just need to put the bumper together now. fitted the new regulator that arrived today. put everything back together apart from the front end bumper. once I got it running the light didn't come back on. and I tested the battery whilst running with the multimeter. off it was 12.9 and running it was 14.3. I just have one plastic piece I have no idea where it bolts on to for the front end.
I am well chuffed I managed to get it. I will need to re do the coolant as I only filled it with water for the test.

 

[peterws1957]

yippee its sorted.
I just need to put the bumper together now. fitted the new regulator that arrived today. put everything back together apart from the front end bumper. once I got it running the light didn't come back on. and I tested the battery whilst running with the multimeter. off it was 12.9 and running it was 14.3. I just have one plastic piece I have no idea where it bolts on to for the front end.
I am well chuffed I managed to get it. I will need to re do the coolant as I only filled it with water for the test.

Very satisfying when you can sort a problem yourself.

 

[mioba]

Well done!
Great stuff!