360 here to stay but weird battery problem

[hatch360]

Hej hej

the good news is that the 360 will remain in the family

now for the bad.....

a couple of weeks ago the car would not start, it acted like it had a flat battery but it was showing 12 volts & when cranking it it dropped really low...even when turning on the headlights it would do the same. Strange enough a jump start fixed the problem and all was fine.

Now today i decided to give the c70 a break and use the 360 for work...BAD IDEA!...i was driving listening to some music when i noticed the sound started crackling, i thought it was busted speakers but it got worse until the radio cut out... thats when the idle begun to become rough when i parked the car my volt gauge was only on 9 volts i kept revving it but nothing changed and sure enough when i turned it off it wouldnt start again..not good when its not your final destination!!!!

i managed to get hold of some jumper cables and luckily it worked but not for long as i had to run inside to get the kid i babysit ( i left the car running and came back to it off....another attempt at jump starting failed completley..i couldnt even get a crank that time.

what could this be? the car wasnt charging at the correct voltage (is it 14.4v?) since last year after the battry got flattened by stereo abuse the day before ( yet it drove me home but didnt start the next morning) so could this be the alternator at fault??

Thanks for reading the longest of my posts

[nomead]

My 340 had some weird electrical problems a couple weeks back. Voltage would be OK when nothing was on, but it would drop a lot as soon as I tried to start. Replaced the battery with a known good unit, no help there, although when I tested the old battery it seemed to be dead - wouldn't hold a charge. The charging voltage seemed to be OK, even a bit on the high side (14.0 to 14.5 depending on electrical load). But what finally fixed it was when I replaced the earth lead. The whole thing, from battery to body to engine. A generic replacement was fine enough but I insisted on buying a flat tinned copper braid wire for the bit between the battery and the body, because that looked closest to the original wire. No other reason, really.

If you're sure that the cable is in very good condition, at least try checking all the earth connections for corrosion.

[MCHUDD]

Hi mate.
I had this problem once.A wire had come of the back of the altonater.
I put the wire back in its proper place and the battery started charging again.
Cheers Mark.

[pettaw]

Jay, it really could be either the alternator, battery or both. Is there any way you can put the battery on a bench charger to see if it'll hold a charge and then you can try it back in the car again, really though, if the charging voltage is only 9V with the engine running, the alternator has probably had it, although a completely duff battery with shorted or dead cells could be dragging the alternator down because it simply can't provide enough current. Does the idiot light show on the dashboard? It should shine brightly when the ignition is on, but engine off, and then go out completely when the engine is started. Always worth checking all the connections at the back.

I recently had the alternator brushes wear out on mine, and the symptoms of that were the idiot light constantly on but dimmed whenever the ignition was on, engine running or not, made no difference. Volts were also just 12V the whole time. Luckily I was only 40 minutes from home and I had a strong battery, so I made it home in the dark with the headlights on, with todays electronic everything, fuel pump, injection system etc etc etc doesn't take long for a battery to go flat if the alternator isn't working. Didn't take a chance, charged the battery overnight on the bench, and luckily had a spare alternator. When I stripped the old one, found one brush so worn it wasn't touching the commutator anymore.

[Tero Huikko]

Oh how very familiar. This happened to me once even with the radio crackling first just like this.
What did I do?
- Replaced the battery
- Replaced the alternator with brand new
- Put new main wires from alternator to starter

After a few days the same happened again.

The cause was the alternators ground wire. That little black stump that goes to the engine block. It was totally wasted. More yucky blue and green stuff inside than metal. The wire's end point up and then it goes downwards to the block. This means that every drop of water is doomed to slide by the uninsulated original crimp shoe.

Replaced the ground wire and problem never reappeared in almost two years...then I sold the car.

[Hell Driver]

I had a similar problem a few years ago with worn carbon brushes. Not long after buying my 340 GL 1.7 I had lots of strange electrical problems like the poor lights, engine cutting out and backfiring when I used the electric windows! Finally it cut out (on the newly constructed, coned off, as yet unopened bridge into Doncaster) and I couldn't get it started again. The wire which operated the charging warning light had come off and I'd only found it loose a couple of days before. I'd reconnected and for several days ignored the occasional flashing of the warning light! The AA arrived and pronounced the alternator defunct. I was towed at midnight across the new St Georges bridge, the first car to cross (if you don't count the tow truck!)

[foggyjames]

Andy has got it spot-on, I'd say. All I would add is that while it's theoretically possible that the battery is at fault, I'd say it's 99% certain that it will be your alternator which needs the attention.

cheers

James

[hatch360]

thanks all

The problem was the rectifier on the alternator... a 20 pound fix

[volvosneverdie]

thanks all

The problem was the rectifier on the alternator... a 20 pound fix

Got to love those cheap fixes dude.

Big win"!