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Car acting up


jasim

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This is going to be hard to believe.

Here's my problem: Roughly 10 to 15 minutes after I start my car and start driving the headlights and the dashboard lights start dimming and/or flickering and the battery warning light follows soon after. If I don't stop driving, the airbag warning light will then come on and within a few minutes, the car loses all forms of electrical power. Now for the fun part: the engine keeps on running but there's no reason to continue driving when the lights, the wipers, the radio nothing works. It will need to be jump started but will only function normally for 20 minutes or so.

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Contd...

The first time I got it jump started I was told it was a loose battery lead which had been fixed. Next morning on my way to work it happened again. The people at the workshop said it seemed like an alternator/battery problem but they cleaned the earthing and jump started the car so I could get to work. The car broke down again a couple of days later. This time I got towed to a different garage and initially their mechanic said it was the alternator belt slipping. When I went back to pick it up I was told that the battery was not charging to a high-enough voltage so they changed the battery and that the belt was fine. Unsurprisingly, the same thing happened again last night although I managed to get home.

So far no one can identify the problem which means all my money, time and effort has been going to waste. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

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To me it sounds like either the alternator or the charging control circuit is faulty. If the alternator belt was slipping however, you would be able to hear it, apart from the fact that you would also be able to smell the rubber melting. One way to confirm is to put a voltmeter across the battery terminals. It should read about 12 volts. When the engine is running, it should go up to around 13 or 13.5 volts which basically indicates the battery is being charged.

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Djamal Overall it has been a really good car for me, and this is the first time I have had a major problem with it.

Comando. muneer and junior Thank you all for your valuable time and advice. Will definitely discuss everything with the guys at Al Naboodah next time I am there.

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I totally agree with Junior. You should just replace the alternator or have the shop run some wires from the battery terminals into the passenger compartment and road test the car to try and duplicate the conditions you describe. When the problems occur, have the tech check the voltage at the wires running from the battery to see if it falls below the specified range (12.5-13.5 volts). My guess is that the alternator is putting out low voltage which eventually drains the battery and prevents restarting without a jump. When voltage drops belw a certain level, it messes with the computer systems which rely on micro-volt readings. Having said that, replacing the battery was a silly idea

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A lot of problems are caused by faulty earths and a lot of times private mechanics change alternators just so that they can keep the old one, repair the faulty earth strap and make a quick buck or two later on. The same can be said for starter motors and batteries. So before going into panic mode, check the earthing points for a good contact.

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