Car conked out (alternator light coming on) Help??

Sunshine12

Can anyone help me please?

I have an Audi TT which is due its service (being done in a couple of days). Was driving along today and the car completely conked out. The alternator light came on then the car just died on me. It wont start up again and I have no clue what to do. Im not sure if this is connected to the battery or not and also dont know if I need to phone a breakdown company or the garage? Its parked up at the moment so no desperate rush to move it but Im not sure what to do now. If anyone has any advice or ideas I would be really grateful. Thanks in advance.

jrrowleyws

Unless you have a spare battery/can jump start it then I'd call the breakdown people. They'll be able to try and jump it. Sounds rather like the alternator, but could be something else -hard to tell without being there. Break down company will be able to tow you if they cant fix it!

bap98189

It sounds like the alternator has gone. When that happens, the light will come on because the alternator is no longer charging the battery. The car will continue to run until the battery is drained at which point the car will stop.

It's not something the breakdown people can fix, so if you are near the garage, I would give them a ring and see if they can pick it up. Most garages have a tow-truck, or if not they will be able to bring a spare battery with enough charge to drive it a few miles down the road. Mind you, is it an independent garage or a dealership it is going to? An independent might pick it up and not charge you much if they are doing the repair work, but you can bet your life a dealership will charge you a fortune for doing so.

Alternatively you could disconnect the battery, take it home and charge it up with a battery charger. A full battery should give you 10-20mins of running time, so you should be able to drive it to the garage if it is nearby.

mkirkby

Happened to me years ago on my old renault 19. RAC got me going again by jump starting then hitting the alternator with a mallet.

Every time the light came after that I would just lift the bonnet and whack the alternator with a long stick to make it work again....got another 2 weeks out of it like that. I would not recomend this course of action

Sunshine12

Thanks all for your replies.
I dont actually have breakdown cover (only just found that out...) so Ive joined and going to have to wait a few days then get them out to look at it. The garage Ive got it booked into a for a service (on Thursday) is 40 miles away so I reckon Ill have to get this fixed first then get it serviced following which Im going to sell it. Ill need to remortgage my house at this rate!!

john-306

Happened to me a couple of weeks ago, had driven about 20 miles, parked up and smelt burning, opened bonnet and looked like fireworks night with all the sparks and smoke coming from the alternator, same as you it totally drained the battery.
Got it towed home and removed the battery cable to the alternator before fitting a new battery, this then allowed me to drive it to the garage to get the alternator fixed (done it myself years ago but with these newer type cars could hardly a hand on it never mind trying to remove and refit it)

I don't know if a new charged battery with alternator disconnected would get you 40 miles though:(