Damn, had to call the AA!!!

[jonny116]

Battery died on me sunday morning, called the AA out and he said something on the alternator is not charging when iv got any electrics on.  Charges fine when nothing electrical is on...  

Left it running for 20mins to get some charge in it but the battery light stayed on (fades off as you put foot down). I need to give it a full charge yet mind!


But then on my way home tonight at the last set of lights the engine suddenly drops to 4-500 rpm, sounded n felt really shakey... is this related??    

It turned off and then back on fine but still dropped back down to those really low revs, normally sits on 900 - 1k.

[steven_c]

yeh something is draining the battery quite badley by the sounds of it, just check the battery itself and do a check on the alternator. either going to be one or the other car\'nt see it been anything else..

[shaunwil]

Sounds like you could have lost part of the alternator, may only be charging a little bit into the system.

Shaun

[ash]

Get hold of a voltmeter, run the car leave it to idle, then with the voltmeter set to .20 read across both terminals. The reading should be 14v or near. This will indicate if the alternator is charging.

[jonny116]

strange, is 14v when idle but if anything electrical is on i.e. lights, heater or sterio it drops to 12v.  
 
Am thinking new alternator?  Or new battery?

[Will66]

Sounds like the alternator might be dead.  It\'s not producing enough volts to supply the lights or anything else and keep the battery charged.  If you\'ve discharged the battery you might as well replace both.

[ash]

14 v can be with stereo on, lights on dipped, small electrical etc. Try it and u will know for sure if the alt. has gone. also just check the connections are tight.

[m1tch]

Are there any short circuits behind the stereo? I know I had this issue I while back on my other car, there was a short circuit behind the stereo meaning that it was draining the battery.

[neil_jdmr]

Yup ill second this, Its either a short on one particular circuit pulling the voltage down or your alternator is goosed.

[neil97rs]

alternator most definataly needs to be putting in around 14v with everything on
Had the same thing a couple of weeks ago llight kept going out with higher revs but it died completly after a couple of weeks

[Bobbit]

Jonny\'s had it fixed, was the alternator.

[jonny116]

Yep had it fixed, is still giving me really low revs but think it may be the spark plugs?  
 
Splutters on and hovers around the 600 mark, feels like it almost misfires upto 1400 revs n then is fine.  
 
haha, Rob how did you know i had it fixed?

[Bobbit]

I popped in to see Jurgen on sat bud, was gonna get him to lift me car up on the ramp to check the exhaust but ran out of time from chatting too much, lol.
When did you last change the sparks bud?

[jonny116]

ahh right, i was in there just after 2.00, must have just missed me!  
 
Don\'t know when the spark plugs have been changed and it only happened after i\'d floored it.
 
Am thinking one of them has totally gone with the way the engine is sounding.  Chugging like a diesel and running rich so sounds definetly the plugs... I think?!?!