Not charging + no batt light

Hi all,

Have an interesting problem with the charging of my D2, thought someone might have a few ideas to point me forward.

It started the other day when multiple lights started flashing on dash, stereo coming on and off dependent on revs, so course for home was set as quick as the old girl could do.

Got parked & stopped engine. Tried to restart & just a click, thought, hmm as I headed for my test meter & starter battery pack.

Connected up battery pack & started D2. Removed jumper leads and tested across battery and found 11.7v & dropping slowly over a couple of minutes monitoring.
So this led me to think initially that is was an alternator problem.

HOWEVER after a closer look, I noticed that the battery light does not come on even before attempting to start the beast.

I have been digging through the posts on the forum and find many issues with the light coming on and troubleshooting charging for that type of fault.

Could this be an earth fault? As I would have expected to see a battery light being visible at least with the ignition turned on.

Any advice, experiences will be gratefully received!

could be the bulb has gone.
The bulb needs to be in circuit to excite the alternator in order for it to charge.
Check you havent got a connection broke on the alternator then check the bulb is ok

Did the charging light come on before you had problems? If it doesn't work it wont come on
whatever your alternator is doing

Had the same Problem twice. Alternator was on its way out but not enought to show the light.

Changed the Alternator and now everything is fine again

Hi guys,

Thanks for the quick reply.

Not sure if the light was working before this started, tend to turn the key and go providing all lights go out, have been away working for a few weeks & it was my first trip out.

Was under the car and after a little time developing my contortionist skills, I found that all plugs and wires appear to be tightly in place.

I will get hold of a bulb on Monday and see if that does the trick, I hadn't thought that the bulb made up part of the system but it is worth a try.

Cheers!

Hi again,

I did order another alternator, pulleys and belt yesterday as that was my first diagnosis.

Still going to rip the dash out on Monday and see if the bulb is also gone, will have time before the pieces are delivered anyway.

that battery/alternator warning is not a bulb, it's a LED soldered into the circuit, these are usually "bulletproof" they hardly fail, not impossible though.... the alternator must provide the earth path for it to illuminate and if it's interrupted inside or has a short which lets more than 7.6V from the battery to cross throught it to the instrument pack the lamp might not come on at all...if it will not work with the new alternator we'll speak then.

RAVE-INSTRUMENTS - DESCRIPTION AND OPERATION 88-35 said:

The alternator charge warning lamp within the instrument pack utilises a red LED and a clear legend. The LED
illuminates when the alternator output voltage is less than 2 volts. When the alternator output is greater than 7.6 volts
the LED is extinguished, providing the driver with a visible warning that the alternator is charging.
When the ignition is switched on, and the LED illuminates, it will remain illuminated until the engine is started and
voltage is above the predetermined parameter, or the ignition is switched off providing there is no fault.
The power input for the LED is supplied by the instrument pack via fuse 27. The alternator provides a signal to
illuminate the warning lamp by means of a hard wired connection to the instrument pack.
The response to the voltage signal at the instrument pack is as follows:
< 2.0 volts = warning lamp on.
> 7.6 volts = warning lamp off.

Click to expand...

I've (hopefully) just cured a very similar problem. Battery apparently not charging fully but no warning light on. I also suspected the alternator, however I had intermittent power steering failure last weekend - and when the PAS failed the charge warning lamp came on.

So, the link pointed to the fanbelt - checked this at the roadside and found it to be intact but not rotating at engine speed - in fact it was barely moving, but as I watched it, it sped back up and all returned to normal allowing us to get home.

Turns out the crank pulley bolt had come loose! Had a mechanic friend call over today and he helped me torque it back up - it was off the road last week as I was waiting fr a new crank pulley bolt - you can't reuse it as its a stretch bolt.

Just something you might want to check?!

in this particular case the warning lamp doesnt come on at all(nor on ignition)...which can't be generated by mechanical failure...it's like i explained above

had the same problem a few months ago alternator not charging all dash lights pulsating but no warning light on dash it was the alternator the modern alternator will self energize at about 2500 rpm even if the warning bulb is not working

Thanks for the explanation on the dash lights, I had only just started reading the Rave section on it.

I will have a check of fuse 27 on the off chance. I can at least check I have power there.

It must be the alternator. I recently had the chassis shot blasted & tectyl treated. When I was crawling underneath with a torch, I did notice there was some overspray from that visible on the windings of the existing alternator. I dont suppose it will have appreciated that

Thanks to all for sharing your experience and knowledge!

I will post again when I have found the solution or run into the next dead end

F27 if it's blown no warning light would work there cos it feeds them all

Hi All,

Well new alternator is fitted & now the battery light and charging is fixed. Old alternator looks bad & the bearings also feel pretty run. Suppose it has done ok considering she has done 245k km's & here in Norway we run with lights on all the time.

Took the opportunity to remove the EGR & fit a K & N filter at same time and I would say that the old girl spins up a bit quicker now.

Thanks to all for comments & assistance!

Sorry to drag up a old post but I have just ordered a replacement alternator as the dash light has come on and there is no charge going to the battery..............
Thinking about it I have just changed the dash lights for LED bulbs...... could this be the cause of the problem or is the alternator really screwed ??

Thanks Andy

Alternator

sierrafery said:

Alternator

Click to expand...

???