rjsdavis Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Hi to all Got a slightly odd problem. Yesterday, my wife got stranded in the TD5, where on a short journey she experienced firstly two of the yellow air suspension lights lighting up, then a minute or two later, pretty much all of the lights on the dashboard lighting up and a loss of power. This was then followed by the lights dimming on the dashboard and then her headlamps going off (! - it was at night) and a massive loss of power. She limped it at 5mph to its destination and then the engine could not be restarted - and when the key was turned you'd just get that "fast clicking" from the starter motor. I got to her with the jump leads - fed some power in for about 30 seconds, and she started up immediately with no lights flashing on the dashboard. It was immediately obvious that the battery was virtually dead. Left the jumps connected for about 6-7 minutes to feed in some more juice, and then drove the TD5 home (about 3.5 miles) with no problems. Left the TD5 on trickle charge overnight and drove the following morning - she drove fine, but got the battery tested - it failed and later that day got a brand new Bosch S4 Silver unit and installed it. Shortly before the battery was changed, the red "battery" light on the dashboard had popped on and stayed on. I assumed that this was simply indicating that the old was indeed cooked and required attention. However, since the change, it has stayed on - the new Bosch job has been trickle charged and it is completely full. The TD5 drives really well, and is much perkier under throttle to 50mph than she was before with the old battery - and there are no other lights flashing. As far as I can tell, the car is running fine, but am concerned that the red battery light is still on - is this some sort of stored fault code that requires a computer clearance? I've taken on a very good run - multiple speeds / conditions from fast lanes to 80mph motorway and all were fine. Revved her upto 3.5-4,000 revs, and no budging from the red battery light...... Any ideas of what's causing this? As far as I'm concerned she's running relatively sweetly, but am worried that she's either not charging the new battery or is draining inappropriately and the wife will end up stranded again.....? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinhead Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Probably killed the alternator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zim Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 The battery light is a sign that your alternator is not charging, nothing to do with the condition of your battery. G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSD Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 I'm not a Td5 expert but ISTR the Td5 references the alternator feed through the brake or tail light circuit. Check the stop and tail lights are working before you spend out on an alternator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niamh Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Measure the voltage when running, a good alternator should mean you see 13 - 14V across the battery. Niamh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billysmart Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Measure the voltage when running, a good alternator should mean you see 13 - 14V across the battery. Niamh Yep, 12-13v without the engine running. had the same concern on my 300tdi, Chrismas day, just finished nights... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niamh Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 & with the engine running? Niamh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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