Possible alternator issue?

[Pho3niX90]

So on Tuesday I went out for a night of fun, at the end of the night I returned home and dash started lighting up with abs, dsc ect but NO battery light indicating that it's not charging and the lights where going on and off. I made nothing off it and went to bed.

The next day I tried unlocking the car and nothing, it was completely dead and thought I might have left something on and jumped the car. Drove to the petrol station, filled up and returned home when the lights came on again and car started losing power and eventually died. This time jumping the car didn't work as it would die as soon as I removed the jumper cables.

I have to add after jumping it the first time I noticed that the positive terminal was loose and tightened it, so is the a faulty alternator or could this be something else?

Once again the battery light did not come on to indicate it wasn't charging.

 

[Nikhil]

:fencelook: did you jump start the battery directly or did you use the terminals in the engine bay?

 

[Pho3niX90]

First was from the back as the car was in the garage at the time, second time was from the engine bay

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[operator323]

Abs,dsc lights on dash point to faulty alternator,bt first test it if its charging before you can consider to replace it.

 

[Ralf*]

fault finding analysis

1) attempt to recharge the battery via a "trickle charger", should be able to get to about 12.5 volts charge into it via a trickle charger, (thats what mine is capable of doing)
or
2) Borrow a good/healthy battery

once you have a good/healthy battery, either your own one recharged or a borrowed battery, you should have about 12volts

3) Start the car, if no alternator light, then it is normal to expect that the alternator is charging, check the voltage on the terminals, should indicate about 13.0 to 13.8 volts, that means the alternator is charging and topping up the battery......if not, then your alternator is faulty, and it would expected that you should have a battery light on the dash.

4) If you do get 13.0 to 13.8 volts measured at the battery, then the alternator is good, and then it would be reasonable to say that the battery has a dead cell.....and in your case the battery is so flat and possibly a dead-short within the battery, that the alternator cannot keep up with the power usage demanded by the car, such that it cannot recharge the battery as well as supply the electric demand.

So I would start with the most "cost-effective" fault analysis, and suspect the battery....by either attempting to recharge the battery stand-alone via a trickle charger or borrow another battery, in order to measure the volt produced by the alternator

I might have it wrong, but the battery is a damper and storage device in the car, whilst most of the active minute to minute power demands from the cars systems are carried by the alternator, the battery just smoothens out the power demands, should there be a sudden increase in power demand by the car, and otherwise it stores the power, so that it is available for the starting cycle, and in the event of an emergency when the alternator fails completely.

Winter is extremely brutal on batteries, and "rule-of-thumb" every time a battery is allowed to get flat, its life is cut in half, so by the second time it goes flat, the remaining life would be down to 1/4 etc etc

start fault analysis with the battery, if you haven't got an "avo-Meter", and you can get it to my shop, I have one and we can measure the output

 

[Pho3niX90]

So swapped the battery with another one I had that I am not sure of the condition.

No alternator lights or other lights coming on. At battery voltage is 12.09 at front terminals voltage is 12.06. If I remove a terminal the car dies

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When car is started voltage is constant 12.06 to .09. As soon as I switch it off voltage goes up to 12.4

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[Ralf*]

So swapped the battery with another one I had that I am not sure of the condition.

No alternator lights or other lights coming on. At battery voltage is 12.09 at front terminals voltage is 12.06. If I remove a terminal the car dies

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When car is started voltage is constant 12.06 to .09. As soon as I switch it off voltage goes up to 12.4

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That is strange, normally if you measure the voltage when the car is running at the battery terminals, it should show 13volts plus, as high as 13.8volts when lights and defrost is on, and when you switch off the engine, then it should drop to whatever the battery has in stored charge, normally about 12.5volt.

not sure, but it could be "normal" for the car to die when you remove a terminal, as I think the battery is an essential link in the system (completed circuit)...not sure.

It is now beyond my limited electronic knowledge.

 

[Pho3niX90]

So did some extra tests. Lights on and cooling fan on drained the battery. Seems it is alternator. But not sure how to diagnose if getting away with only replacing a voltage regulator will work.

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[Ralf*]

:fencelook:

any resolving this issue yet ?

 

[Peter@AEW]

voltage regulator R1000

 

[Kish2604]

I got a complete e46 330i. alternator for sale...R500 bucks and its yours...

Postage for your own cost...

Ps. Andy is in Durban ATM...

 

[Pho3niX90]

I got a complete e46 330i. alternator for sale...R500 bucks and its yours...

Postage for your own cost...

Ps. Andy is in Durban ATM...

What condition is it in? Is it the bosch 120a?

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[H|TM@N]

So swapped the battery with another one I had that I am not sure of the condition.

No alternator lights or other lights coming on. At battery voltage is 12.09 at front terminals voltage is 12.06. If I remove a terminal the car dies

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When car is started voltage is constant 12.06 to .09. As soon as I switch it off voltage goes up to 12.4

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Voltage should read around 13.6v if the car is idling, if it's below that, the battery is not being charged by the alternator.

 

[flyhid]

Have the same issue with my car and it seems that the alternator needs to be replaced.

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[Yuben]

In my case the battery light came on.

Had the regulator/rectifier replaced and the alternator serviced.

Everything working fine for 6 months now :thumbs:

 

[flyhid]

What make alternator is fitted on your car. I was told that you cant repair these alternators the.

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[netercol]

if the car dies when you remove the terminal from the battery its a faulty altenator for sure..

 

[Iceman007]

Regulator. When I had my e46 it was the same story with the lights going on and the next day all was dead. replaced it first with a pirate regulator but that caused my revs to dip a bit so I got and Bosch regulator from SparXX and it was fine for years after that.

So just one word of advice get an original Bosh regulator and you will be fine. Its also easy DIY if you have the Tools
:thumbs:

 

[flyhid]

Thanks for advise. .....

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[Yuben]

What make alternator is fitted on your car. I was told that you cant repair these alternators the.

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Bosch