General 1998 Ulysse battery light glowing with engine off....

[Bertie The Bus]

hi All - firstly i'm new to the forum, although did register a few years back when we first bought "Bertie the bus" our 2.0S 1998 Ulysse, and to date he's been as good as gold...... untill the weekend.

The battery light started "glowing" when we were driving, not very brightly but enough to make me think the alternator perhaps was not kicking out enough juice so to speak so we headed back home rather than run th erick of flat battery and stranded wiht the six kids (yes 6 kids in our bus !!)
However after a bit more investigation today when i had 5 minutes to spare, is that where before when you turned the ignition on but hadnt started the engine the battery light would glow really brightly, it now seems to glow at the same lesser level with the ignition on or the engine running. its doesnt chaneg it brighness ?

Has me slighly puzzled as i'm now not convinced its an alterantor charging problem, although with trusty voltmeter across the battery it read around 12.4V engine off, but 11.4V engine running at tickover, which you would think means chargning problem, but just cant get my head round this slighly glowing light with the engine not started. to me that tends to point to a fault connection rather than a charging problem, but then 11.4v seems low for a reading unless of course its all good and the reading is supposed to be like that. Long time since i;ve had to do this on any car, and i normally have a gauge fitted so i can watch what's happening (more of a "old timer" type car man me, rather than a modern car if you get my drift)

Any ideas ???
Sorry for the long first post - I'm unfortunately a man of many words

Did do a search but nothing came up for this that helped so wondered if anyone else has had this problem, and if possible what fixed it.

Look foward to any pointers.
ta

 

[Model Depot]

Hi, I had a frontera ( 2.5 ) 1996 5 door, many moons ago, I had batery light on for 3 months, finaly found out the alternator had oil inside of it, no idea how the slippy stuff got into it, but cleaned it all up with IPA, the problem was resolved, shortly after my third child was born, so I sold the car and got my first ulysse.
kindest regards
Simon

 

[T14086]

glowing alternator warning light is generally a fault with the diode pack inside the alternator.

 

[Bertie The Bus]

Thansk for the replies. I;ve now taken the plunge and bought a new alternator, as we took the car for a long drive and it eventually stopped which to me means no charging.
I;ve got the old unit off, and now just refitting it. However, need to know how the tensioner adjustment works on these cars. Did try and cheat adn was hoping to be able to et it back on without adjsuting the belt tension etc, but it isnt going to work.
Anyone know how the tensioner works ? Undid an allen key bolt on the side just below the tensioner but doesnt seem to have made any difference.

Any ideas ?

 

[Bertie The Bus]

Well - all is now fixed with our Bus, was the alternator after all.

I worked out how the tensioner works, and put a new alternator on, and hey presto all the lights are off. And then whoops, the Diode pack went and the battery light glowed when the ignition key was out. You can imagine how "annoyed" i was that happened. Only had the new one on for 5 minutes maximum. so off it all came again, another alternator is now back on, and hey presto its all back running, and no dash board lights with the key out. Veleo refurbed units are supposed to be more reliable for anyone else that has to go through this, and the first one wasnt a valeo . Got very very hot which is i suspect what killed th ediode pack so quickly.
And the tensioner, if anyone needs to know ho this works dont be afraid to ask me , i managed to change this one in about 15 minutes i've had enough runs at it now