Charging issues

[Wes]

well had a bit of an eventful evening.

got a call last minute of some friends to go down to a meet about 25miles away.so I rushed to the garage to give the car a quick rinse. On leaving the garage I noticed that the battery light was flickering on when accelerating and then going off when braking/coasting. I put this down to something getting wet when washing the car. Maybe the belt was wet and slipping. A couple of guys on the FB modifiers page also said this.
After meeting with friends we travelled to the meet and by the time we had got there the battery/charge light was on constantly. Also it struggled to start.
I gave everything a check over that I could see, wires belt, tensioner. I also asked on the modifiers page and someone mentioned the crank pully.

I checked them all as best I could and all seemed fine. I have managed to get home but I am looking for a bit of info on where to start looking to find the issue.

I have all next week off work luckily so will hopefully have it sorted soon. Obviously I will need to check alt but I am concerned about this pully issue that has been mentioned. Also anybody know best place to get an alt ?

 

[PobodY]

How old is the alternator? - I'd guess that's almost certainly the issue; even if the belt is slipping the cause might be that the alternator is shot and stiff (and the tensioner is on the alternator mount).

If it was a Toyota I'd suggest checking that it hasn't fallen off the engine. - That happened on a Celica I owned (most disappointing car ever); the bottom bolt worked loose and fell out, then the alternator was just hanging by the cables.

I bought a second-hand one for the GTiR off another member, but you could have your existing one tested and rebuilt if you've got the time.

 

[Wes]

Not sure on the age of the alternator, Changed the old 4 rib belt because it was slipping and the tensioner was at the end of its movement for a 6 rib one that was a bit smaller and gave me more movement on the tensioner.
I will be getting the multi-meter out later and starting to look over it all.

 

[lakeview]

Check the connector on top to I've had a few that's rusted away

 

[PobodY]

I started by thinking the belt was too big and putting a smaller one on... and that lasted about another year before the alternator failed and I had to be recovered.

 

[Fast Guy]

Slack belt, Crank pulley rubber separating, loose/broken wire connecting to alternator or alternator itself are about all that can go wrong. Mine went a couple of years ago, it was pretty much the heat from the exhaust melting it inside.

 

[Wes]

The belt I used was a 6pk0840. The air con has been removed from my car would using a six rib instead of a four rib belt without air con cause anything to fail prematurely?

Weather is miserable today, I have the battery on charge at the moment and will be systematically going through the charge system if we get a break in the weather.

With regards to the pulley wheel, What is the best way to check it? is it just a case of taking the belt off and then trying to turn it buy hand with the engine off?

 

[Wes]

I managed to take a look today as the weather dried up. While the battery was charging I went over all the connections. I found one which was on the drivers side wing attached to the relay box at the bottom of a group of four connectors that seemed a little loose in the housing. If I am looking at the wiring diagram correctly this connector with two white wires goes straight to the Alternator (please correct me if that is wrong).

I though this may solve the issue, unfortunately I don't think it has. I have put the charged battery back on and fired the car up. The charge light is still on and there is no increase in the voltage to indicate the alt is working. I also left lights on for 25 mins with car off and after starting the car ,again there was no increase in voltage.

I have started to remove the alternator and just have one bolt left on the alt bracket which seems to be right next to the oil feed pipe.
Crank pulley wheel seems to be in good shape with no evidence of any wear.

 

[geoff pine]

the crank pully will look ok! draw a line on the pully from the centre to the out side edge i used a wax crayon drive the car in gear then see if the lines broken .

 

[Wes]

A replacement alternator has fixed my issue.