I'm going to second Richard's thoughts here. I've had a few alts go bad
after just a year or so. Go through the alt fault diagnoses in the Bently
book to sort it out, (you can do a quick, but not complete test by checking
(with the car not running) to see if you have 12.5v +/- on the brown wire
that runs to the center of the plug on the back of the alt and with the car
running 13.5v+ on the brown wire running from the alt to the bottom of the
fuse box. I'm sure others, (Paul H.?) will pipe up about a more
comprehensive test).
After that I'd go after connections in the circuit. Start by looking for
corrosion at the battery terminals, work your way up to the alt via the
starter and then start at the lights and work back to the fuse box.
Good luck,
Scott Allen
52 TD
74 1/2 BGT
On 12/5/05, Gosling, Richard B <Richard.Gosling@atkinsglobal.com> wrote:
>
> Jim,
>
> A few thoughts (which others are welcome to add too, contradict, or
> whatever!):
>
> If the battery can still start your car, the problem ain't the battery.
>
> If the bulbs are still bright with the engine running at higher revs, then
> the main problem is unlikely to be down to poor connections in the wiring
> or
> the switch.
>
> Which leaves me with two culprits springing to mind. The first is the
> alternator - it may only be a year or so old, but I've had alternators die
> on me in less time than that (on a car driven daily, so it got plenty of
> use!), so I wouldn't rule it out.
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