Car Help.

andrew1986

Hey everyone.
I wonder whether there are any experts in?

I have an old (1999) Vauxhall Corsa, and have had problems with alternators / batteries for some time.

The battery has gone flat from time to time, and it was suggested that maybe it was because i dont drive the car on long distances / trip regular enough (like most people, sometimes its used to go to the local shops and back, but on other occasions i will go to the other side of town etc.) I think the reasoning behind this was that if you dont drive far enough the alternator doesnt have chance to charge the battery.

One a more recent occasion the battery dropped out, i was told that it was the alternator which is the problem, and to that effect, it doesnt matter whether i drive 1 mile or 100 - if its not charging the distance is irrelevant - which i follow the logic.

Because my car is an old diesel and has spark plugs, i was told that stop / start journeys dont give enough time for the spark plugs to go out, and that was burning out the alternator hence not charging the battery. I got round this by leaving the engine running (with someone else in the car) on necessary stop / start journeys as the spark plus have time to go out then...

After going all through this, my battery warning light is on again for like the 100th time.

Im just so confused. There are other cars in my road, that only go on "A to B journeys" and they dont have flat batteries.

Is it the car is just knackered, is it me, or what? Its costing loads of £££££££££££££££££££ :mad:

Thanks for any replies.
Andy.

flashg67

First, diesels have glow plugs - these are only used briefly to help start from cold. It is possible the glow plugs are staying on and drawing current - any half decent mechanic with a tester can check this quickly- (does the orange 'coil' light go off after a few seconds?)

My OH does short journeys and her battery sometimes runs down. If the battery is weak, it will run down faster. But even a good battery will only last a few days max if the alternator isn't working properly.

What exactly have you had done to the car recently?

s_b

he obviously didnt need my advice
so i will keep it for someone i might make a dolla out of

Notmyrealname

OK, the journey thing.

It takes well over half an hour running at mid engine speeds to replace the charge used to start a car.

Driving to even the other side of town would not be sufficient. You need to go out for a run at least once a week/fortnight to replenish it.

psychic_teabag

andrew1986 wrote: »

After going all through this, my battery warning light is on again for like the 100th time.

ISTR the battery warning light means that battery is not being charged, rather than that it currently holds a low charge. Short journeys would not allow enough time to replace the charge used to start the engine, but my understanding was that the battery warning light means that the battery is not being recharged at all (e.g. alternator is delivering less current than the car is currently using).

Or does it only come on while you're idling, for example ?

forgotmyname

£5 cheapo test meter will give you the anser in less than 5 minutes.