General brava 1.6 problem

[lenny89]

tried to start the car and there was no life at all,jump started ok so i took it for a drive got home and tried to start it and again there was no life in it.
been starting no problem up until today ,could it be the alternator? if it is how much could i be looking at
thanks

 

[Oldschool]

The alternator could be on its way out. But I wouldn't conclude from the fact the you couldn't start the car again after driving around. If it is not an earthing problem or any other electrical/electronical problem I would think it is more likely the battery. Often when batteries are older and being completely discharged, the either never recover or need quite some time to come back to life. Batteries should generally not be discharged below the 50% level of their storage capacity.

Also when the battery is not taking on the charge the alternator is not forced to produce more energy and the charging is unlikely. I usually turn the headlights on when I have this problem. Even better is to put the battery on a charger for some time and see from there. If the battery doesn't take the charge after several hours then it is time for a new one.

In any case try to find out why the battery went that low in the first case

 

[jug]

you should jump start the car and then measure the voltage across the battery with a multimeter. if must be 14v minimum, 14.4v should be expected when the car is running with no electrical accessories turned on. a voltage of less then 14v would suggest a faulty alternator, voltage regulator, alternator belt snapped or wiring fault in the charging circuit.

if the battery was at fault you would have noticed the car stuggling to start over the past few weeks, the problem gets worse and worse as the battery dies, a sudden problem like yours is less likely to be the battery.

if the engine isnt even trying to turn when you start it with the key it could be the starter motor, especially if the engine doesn't even try to start at all. starter motors can fail suddenly without warning, usually due to dodgy wiring.

an alternator costs £15-20 if you remove it yourself from a scrap yard, and its the same for a starter motor, but i doubt either of them will actually need changing. i'd take a mistic meg type guess its a bad connection on a wire