Woe is me. Amigos and more

This bloomin' Hippo is going to send me to an early grave!! It's a 2003 TD4

The car has been insanely fogged up (and icy on occasion) inside for a while now. There is some water ingress from the sunroof which apparently my attempt at sealing failed. However, until recently, the heater on full whack nice and warm with the A/C on and recirculating has done the trick (eventually). I wonder if maybe the pollen filter is partly to blame, but it will be serviced next week so hopefully that will fix that problem.

In the last week though, the car has not enjoyed having the heater on past number two, or indeed with the temp beyond about midway. If I do either of those things, then the battery light comes on. When driving, the heater pulses as do the headlights. This is worrying me.

Once on Friday evening, and then again this morning, the parking light, HDC and T/C flickered on briefly twice whilst driving and then carried on OK. Brake lights appear to be working so I am not sure if it is the switch.

Any ideas on a cause as I understand the alternator is a bugger to get to (and hardly cheap to purchase) and with a newborn in the house it's an expense I could do without!

Thanks in advance

to check your alternator here is one tip in the dark, have your engine running put some drain on the battery like head light on full and then put your foot on the brake pedal and if your ignition light glows then it is on the way out but check your belt first ,do you get any squeal from it .and the alternator is not that a bad job to do ,also in Lidl they have a battery tester come alternator tester for a few pounds

Stick a meter across the battery, at 2K rpm you should see 14.2 volts or a bit more, try it again on load (lights etc on) and see waht you get.
It sounds like the alternator is fecked but check earth points.
You can get overhaul kits comprising diode pack, regulator and brushes if you can DIY.

Definitely need to get me a tester of some description!!

Interestingly when i fired up the wagon this evening to come home I had to wait a while for the blowers to clear my screen and when I put the rear glass heater on the battery light appeared.

No evidence of the amigos on my run home (I took a longer route than usual to try and charge stuff up). There was a moment when lights and heater pulsed but otherwise worry free.

There is no squeal @teddywood, and nothing lit up on the dash when I pressed the brake.

When I got home I tried the heater and rear element again - no flickering of headlights and no battery light on the dash.

Could it be that my battery is simply a bit tired and lots of short journeys are draining it quicker than it can charge?

@Datatek, I am definitely not confident of DIY on car electricals! :-(

If your passing halfords at all pop in and ask for a free battery check. You don't have to buy a battery from them there usually pretty good and will just do a quick simple check.

OK. So the car had MOT today - failed on brake pads, CV joint and something else (paperwork in car, so I can't remember it off top of my head). I asked him to look into the battery issue and he found two belts were very worn so replaced these. No more flickery battery lights!! Woohoo

Driving back to work - almost there - all three amigos are on and not going out! :-( boo hiss, boo!!!

Back to the garage in the morning!

:clap2:

cmmercer said:

OK. So the car had MOT today - failed on brake pads, CV joint and something else (paperwork in car, so I can't remember it off top of my head). I asked him to look into the battery issue and he found two belts were very worn so replaced these. No more flickery battery lights!! Woohoo

Driving back to work - almost there - all three amigos are on and not going out! :-( boo hiss, boo!!!

Back to the garage in the morning!

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my Car passed the mot today I had checked all the lights yesterday but can you believe it the 2 brake lights failed but the mot man just put 2 new ones in and that was all.

teddywood1 said:

:clap2:

my Car passed the mot today I had checked all the lights yesterday but can you believe it the 2 brake lights failed but the mot man just put 2 new ones in and that was all.

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Lucky you!!!

I don't know that fiddling with brake-related stuff has ensured the three amigos rear their ugly heads.

Driving with the warning lights on will cause no significant damage to the car, right?!? So long as I make sure my brake lights are actually working!

The plot thickens....

I've just driven home from work. When I started the car the three lights were still on. I tried to drive away the condensation by cranking the heat up - the battery light came on and headlights dimmed. So instead I sat and waited in the mildly cool air to clear the car. At the time I also tested the brake lights which appeared to work - the three amigos were still there!

As I had pulled out of the office car park the three amigos disappeared. It's only a short journey home, but no sign of any further lights.

I wonder if the battery lighting up on warm up is just a hangover from the wobbly alternator belts and a few good drives will charge the battery now?!?

Fingers crossed no more lights on my dashboard for a while! Next job - the injectors next week. :-(