How far do you think you could drive in a TDi with no alternator?

asbokid

vikingaero wrote: »

I had a drive belt failure at night in Scotland at night. It was before widespread mobile coverage. It took about 30 minutes driving to get to a phone box and by then my headlights were no more powerful than faint sidelights.

We've heard it all before! Except this time you forgot to mention the blizzard, and the whisky barrel in the boot and the rabbie burns book in the glove box that kept you alive! We know!

epninety

tomstickland wrote: »

Curious as to how far you think you could get with the alternator not functioning.

Would ECU give up when battery voltage dipped?
How long would that take?

I don't have an ECU, and don't need the glowplugs above -10C.
Once started I need about 2A to keep the stop solenoid engaged.
I have 2 x 55Ah battery, so using one for the stop solenoid,
and the other just for cranking, I could probably keep driving
(in daylight) until the next weekend when I get chance to fix it!

If desperate, I can jam the stop solenoid with a spring, only park
at the tops of hills, and I'm [STRIKE]fat[/STRIKE] big enough
to bump start a Defender on my own

The last time this happened to me in a car with an ECU, It drove perfectly normally for nearly 100 miles,
including a couple of stops. When I got home, I parked up and there wasn't enough juice left to
operate the central locking.

attila_

patman99 wrote: »

Diesels do not require a spark, so once running, they will keep going until they run out of fuel.
Petrol engines do need a spark, so will run until the battery runs flat.

The spark energy does not require a battert. Look at lawnmowers, go karts, old motorbikes.

The killer is also elc power steering if u have it. I can see the Volt meter going down when i steer.

N9eav

When the alternator failed on our works Tdci focus. All the dash lights came on, the power steering failed on a roundabout and the whole car became impossible to drive in seconds. Quite dangerous in fact.
I guess a whole lot more goes on than just air and fuel in the engine

Kilty_2

N9eav wrote: »

When the alternator failed on our works Tdci focus. All the dash lights came on, the power steering failed on a roundabout and the whole car became impossible to drive in seconds. Quite dangerous in fact.
I guess a whole lot more goes on than just air and fuel in the engine

I don't think many modern cars would cope well with an electrical failure like that. Something like my current runabout which has next to no electrical gubbins might fair a bit better....

vaio

attila_ wrote: »

The spark energy does not require a battert. Look at lawnmowers, go karts, old motorbikes.........

sparks need either a battery & coil or a magneto. Coil & battery has many advantages which is why it's been used on just about every car since the 1940s

daveyjp

My dads mid 90s Fiesta 1.8D had an alternator failure on a driving lesson. He went long enough to finish, but there was battery drain as he needed wipers and lights.

N9eav

On the other side of things. At work I came across an abandoned car once. It had been stolen and left with the engine running in the middle of the road. No keys (hotwired) abandoned because the clutch had gone.
I could not turn the engine off as there were no keys. Could not stall it as the clutch did not work. Ended up 'strangling' it to death by squeezing the air intake pipe.

bigjl

I have driven several Zafira CDtis back to the fitters when the alternator has packed up.

I also drove a Sprinter Ambulance 5 miles with the multibelt missing, and yes there was no power steering!

I reckon the OP could drive at least 10 or 20 miles, dependant in the amount of electrical gubbins the car has going. As already said newer diesels are a lot more complicated than good old fashioned ones.

The Zafira alternator is also a known weakspot, on the diesels anyway, there is apparently an upgraded part available.

Kilty_2

bigjl wrote: »

I have driven several Zafira CDtis back to the fitters when the alternator has packed up.

<snip>


The Zafira alternator is also a known weakspot, on the diesels anyway, there is apparently an upgraded part available.

It's a very common problem on the 1.9 CDTI but I was under the impression it was a recovery job :eek: