Battery light

[Richierich84]

Hi all right having a little problem
car audi s3 2000

after about 20 mins of driving my battery light starts to flicker and when I boot it it come on fully and when I take my foot off the pedal it goes out again, then after few mins of this happening my stereo cuts out and my heaters stop working properly my abs light air bag light and a few other bits and pieces flash at me but the engine runs fine any ideas

 

[The Doctor]

Alternator?

 

[thegoal007]

+1.
something similar happened to me.
Had mine refurbished by a fairly local electrical company - about £130 - i think.
Plus a bit of time to make the room to remove it.

 

[Richierich84]

Alternator?

Have thought it to be the alternator but why does it do it after about 20 mins would have thought if it was the alternator it would happen straight away

 

[thegoal007]

Well, when it happened to me I was hoping it was just the battery not holding the charge so I put it on one of those intelligent chargers. It charged the battery fully without any error. I then took it to the local electrical who confirmed the alternator wasn't doing it's job properly.


Are you not charging your battery every day then in between these problems ? If your saying over the space of a week (for example) the problem comes and goes then there could be some kind of earthing issue or loose connection somewhere ? Plus all these lights are flashing on your dashboard and the heater goes dead, stereo goes dead and yet you can stop and turn the car off and STILL managed to start the car next minute....then there is a problem elsewhere as I suggest possibly.

NB. your aletrnator may be trickle charging your battery (and sometimes not enough to drive everything powered on) and on the way out hence the intermittent issue.

 

[Richierich84]

Well, when it happened to me I was hoping it was just the battery not holding the charge so I put it on one of those intelligent chargers. It charged the battery fully without any error. I then took it to the local electrical who confirmed the alternator wasn't doing it's job properly.


Are you not charging your battery every day then in between these problems ? If your saying over the space of a week (for example) the problem comes and goes then there could be some kind of earthing issue or loose connection somewhere ? Plus all these lights are flashing on your dashboard and the heater goes dead, stereo goes dead and yet you can stop and turn the car off and STILL managed to start the car next minute....then there is a problem elsewhere as I suggest possibly.

NB. your aletrnator may be trickle charging your battery (and sometimes not enough to drive everything powered on) and on the way out hence the intermittent issue.

hi mate went out in it tonight and had to be recovered battery light came on and everything died wouldn't start put jump leads on and she fired up straight away took them off and the battery light came back on and everything died again so its defo the alternator

 

[david7m]

If you go to a reputable battery/tyre dealer under the guise of getting a price for a battery, they will put tester on battery when running and it will test alternator.
Dave