Hi guys, I'm new here and hoping you can advise me on a problem I'm having.

So I just bought my first car (56 Punto Grande ) after passing my test in July and it's been brilliant so far.

Recently however the red battery light has started coming on and intermittently flashing. The car is fine for about 5-10 minutes or so usually and it hasn't affected the car that I've seen besides the power steering shutting off when I'm below 2mph and then coming on again once I go above it.

It's not the battery as when I was dropping a friend off when his car was getting MOT'ed the gent was kind enough to check it for charge and it was fine (around 11.5/12.5 if I remember correctly).

Does anyone know what this is likely to be?

Thanks!

I would say alternator fault , sell a few of them at work , first thing to go is normally the electric steering due to the voltage it needs

Check alternator main earth strap and battery are the terminals tight ?

its stilo the best said:

I would say alternator fault , sell a few of them at work , first thing to go is normally the electric steering due to the voltage it needs

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That's what I was thinking it could be, although I had a friend quickly look at it, disconnected and reconnected the wires to make sure they were tight and they seemed fine. Could be something more serious than a connection problem though of course.

Andy Monty said:

Check alternator main earth strap and battery are the terminals tight ?

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The battery is fine, green light on the battery, high end battery too from what the guy said. We tightened up the connections on the battery too as one of them looked a little slack. There was no red battery light that night when I was driving which made me think by some miracle that had fixed it but no luck, it came on again the next morning.

I'm thinking my best bet is just to take it a garage to be honest. Anyone know how long/how much fixing something like this might cost?

Get alternator tested , make sure its putting out approximately 14.5 volts not below 13.5 volts tho

Get the alternator test done at the battery and then between the battery live and the engine block (to rule out a bad earth strap). By it working for a bit having moved the clamp (was it the negative quick release one by any chance?) I still fancy the earth strap


Try my jump lead test as in the FAQ to double check

For me it was the alternator - it's case was broken due to it being old, heating and having some water splashed on to it (rain/puddles etc.). Had it replaced.

pepshi said:

For me it was the alternator - it's case was broken due to it being old, heating and having some water splashed on to it (rain/puddles etc.). Had it replaced.

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Biggest killer is water from the scuttle drain did you replace it with the modified version?

Thanks for all the posts guys!

The car battery actually died on me Luckily I was parked in a car park waiting to pick someone up JUST down the road from my house and opposite a garage so I got SUPER lucky there

He had a look at it and turns out yeah it's the alternator, you guys were right.

He's quoting me £425+VAT to replace it, is this normal for an alternator replacement or is he trying to rip me off? Is it something easily replaceable by someone with a little knowledge of cars or is it a more involved process?

I'm just getting him to charge it fully for now which is gonna cost £20ish and he warned me it can damage your electrical system running with a broken alternator. Is this true or is charging the battery when it gets low a workable solution (for now)?

That's a real rip off I did the Alt on a 1.2 active none air con £30 for a second hand one and took less than an hour to fit if its the air con I would say £50 second hand and a little longer to fit

Revolve said:

I'm just getting him to charge it fully for now which is gonna cost £20ish and he warned me it can damage your electrical system running with a broken alternator. Is this true or is charging the battery when it gets low a workable solution (for now)?

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£20 - for £1's worth of electricity

Battery could be pooped if it went completely flat. Brand new alternator for me including labour was £160...that's including vat. He's mugging you off. Ask friends and family if they have a mechanic they'd recommend.