Hi All, Well i will start at the beginning, i bought this mistsi 99 reg galant 2.0 gls on friday, the bloke had informed me that he had had another alternater fitted after he had used the air con to demist the windows with the car ticking over and it had killed the alternater.

saturday started it and it seemed slow to turn over but got me to work and back fine (12 miles) then on sunday, decided to take the missus out and after 10 miles the abs light came on, another 3 miles the src light came on, then another 2 miles and the car dies. luckily i had managed to get off the motorway.

Calls out the rescue company and he does some tests on the car and he tells me its the alternater, the test meter was reading between 10.4v to 13.06v, he reckons its breaking down under load or heat.

So yesterday i ordered another alternator, which has been tested and is fine, and have just fitted it, and it's still only putting out 10.4 volts.

I have checked the fuses for the battery and alternator, ( the 60 and 100 amp ones in the engine compartment fuse box and these check out fine).

I have recleaned all the connectors and checked they are all tight and these are all good.

I have swapped the battery for a good known working fully charged battery, and it still does the same, 10.4 volts when the engine is either ticking over or revved, still no change.

Please can someone tell me if there's anything i have overlooked or missed, i spent all my money on the car, and had to borrow the money brgrudgingly from the missus to pay for the alternater, and don't want to have to ask her to pay for it to go to an auto electrician to find out whats the problem.

I had hoped that it being japanese, it would be reliable, but this is driving me mad.

thanx in advance

andi

If you changed the alternator, used a new battery, and checked the contacts, and it's still not charging correctly, I could understand your frustration. Just off the top of my head, you've covered the bases.

This is just out of curiousity, when you changed the alternator, I would assume that it was a whole unit including the on-board voltage regulator circuitry?

Hi Again, Yes, i replaced the whole alternater unit and this one came with a condenser thing attached to the side of the body as well, which i connected to the main terminal stud. I assume this is a suppressor for the radio????????

i have searched all over google and the net and i have 3 more items i need to check, these are:

The earth connections

The plug wires in the 4 pin plug that goes into the alternater are actually making good contact with the pins in the alternater

The alternater warning light bulb in the dash, as it isnt lighting up, when the voltage is low, and i found someone on another forum mention that this could be a break in the charging circuit, seems a bit far fetched to me, but i will try anything at the moment, i have plenty of time, and very little money left after crimbo.

I will let you know later how i get on...........

Yeeaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Found it, it was a bad Earth, i started on the bulkhead and removed and cleaned these with emery cloth and a wire brush, then the main earth lead on the Gearbox and followed it back to the battery and cleaned that, but noticed it went into some sheathing under the battery tray, so lifted it up and found another one, which was green and horrible, so cleaned it up really nice and shiny, connected everything back up nice and tight, fired the car up and am now getting about 13.4 to 14.1 volts, :amen: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

Excellent news! Wiring and earthing problems are the worst, because you have no idea exactly where a break is (sometimes, a wire will break inside the insulation with no visible clues).