Intermittent battery light

paul chocks · Feb 7th, 2011, 22:04

Ok, so over the last couple of days my car has given an intermittent "electric service required" message and a red battery light. These may stay on for anything from a split second to 5 minutes and then go off again. This pattern repeats over and over. The light/message tend to only come on when engine is under load, and never when car is at idle.

I have had battery checked - OK, and alternator checked - OK (but this was at idle)

Any ideas? (I'm thinking it could be a slipping alternator pulley, but I'm not so hot on electrics)

Many thanks.

CherokeeDriver · Feb 8th, 2011, 14:37

I had this issue on my old BMW. On my BMW it was because my altinator was about to fail. I took the altinator off and took it to a local repair shop (use google to find one, there are loads of them!). Cost to fix was a £10 bosch/valeo repair kit and £20 labour. Much cheaper than a new or swap out device. slippage is unlikely, but have you checked the condition of the "drive belt". If you're messing about with tensioners etc. you may want to replace the belt and tensioners as pre-emptive maintainance anyway....

paul chocks · Feb 27th, 2011, 17:53

Car seems fixed now - Volvo said I needed a new alternator during service, as did several specialists I had previously consulted. However, I elected to remove alternator and take it to a repair centre for it to be bench tested. Alternator appeared fine and it was suspected that pulley was slipping under load. Went back to Volvo and replaced aux belt, tensioners and alt pulley. Problem appears to have been fixed (touch wood). Have since driven 2000 mls (ski trip) and no battery light.

Feb 7th, 2011, 22:04	#1
paul chocks Junior Member Last Online: Dec 2nd, 2022 10:25 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: newbury	Intermittent battery light Ok, so over the last couple of days my car has given an intermittent "electric service required" message and a red battery light. These may stay on for anything from a split second to 5 minutes and then go off again. This pattern repeats over and over. The light/message tend to only come on when engine is under load, and never when car is at idle. I have had battery checked - OK, and alternator checked - OK (but this was at idle) Any ideas? (I'm thinking it could be a slipping alternator pulley, but I'm not so hot on electrics) Many thanks.

Feb 8th, 2011, 14:37	#2
CherokeeDriver Junior Member Last Online: Oct 20th, 2012 19:15 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: London	I had this issue on my old BMW. On my BMW it was because my altinator was about to fail. I took the altinator off and took it to a local repair shop (use google to find one, there are loads of them!). Cost to fix was a £10 bosch/valeo repair kit and £20 labour. Much cheaper than a new or swap out device. slippage is unlikely, but have you checked the condition of the "drive belt". If you're messing about with tensioners etc. you may want to replace the belt and tensioners as pre-emptive maintainance anyway....

Feb 27th, 2011, 17:53	#3
paul chocks Junior Member Last Online: Dec 2nd, 2022 10:25 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: newbury	Car seems fixed now - Volvo said I needed a new alternator during service, as did several specialists I had previously consulted. However, I elected to remove alternator and take it to a repair centre for it to be bench tested. Alternator appeared fine and it was suspected that pulley was slipping under load. Went back to Volvo and replaced aux belt, tensioners and alt pulley. Problem appears to have been fixed (touch wood). Have since driven 2000 mls (ski trip) and no battery light.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)