Hi All-I have a 2008 Euro L with 170Km's (approx. 110K miles) and the alternator has given up which seems to be par for the course at this mileage.
I live way out in the back blocks and have to get the car to an Auto Electrician this Monday a trip of about one and a quarter hours-my plan is to take two fully charged batteries for the trip and use minimum power on the way.Can anyone confirm that I will make it OK.
After 5 minutes running the Alt gets pretty hot,almost to hot to touch,is this normal and is it using battery power?Could this cause problems on my trip.
I have no options as the nearest tow truck available is a huge distance from my house.
Any suggestions will be most appreciated.

 

I'd be nervous about going that far on the battery. Lots of electrical stuff drawing power that you probably can't switch off.

More than that, is the alternator getting hot. You might try disconnecting the alternator wiring to see if it doesn't get hot that way.

Can someone else drive along with jumper cables in case you need to charge your 2 batteries?

 

Thanks for reply Jim-I have managed to borrow an additional battery from a neighbour so that will make 3 fully charged-I think jumper leads would take way too long to charge a battery.--The alternator will get hot so will it help if I disconnect the main terminal to the battery pos pole and unclip the terminal that carries the lighter wires without doing damage to the ECU.
Look forward to your comments.

 

I don't have a circuit diagram for your car, but disconnecting everything from the alternator shouldn't hurt any worse than the alternator not working. I'm assuming the alternator gets hotter than what would be explained by general engine-compartment heat??

If the problem with the alternator is some internal short-circuit, then maybe it'll still get hot. But if there's some way to prevent it from overheating that might prevent further damage. You cannot remove the belt because then you won't have a water pump.

Of course, wrap the end of the big power lead so it cannot short to ground, and tie them down somehow so they cannot get into anything like spinning belts, or radiator fan blades.

 

Thanks again Jim-The alternator heat is more than engine bay heat-its pretty much like the reg/rec has failed and AC power being produced inside the Alt.
I was on my way home from city shopping last week when problem first occurred the lights on the dashboard all lit up like a Xmas tree,and lights,indicators, wipers etc were all activated.Called the AA and test showed flat battery and no alt charge,put another battery in and car fired up as normal but was not charging.I have no idea exactly when on the trip did the alt stop charging,it may have been early in which case I did a lot of running before the battery went flat hence my original query.Anyhow as stated I will take 3 batteries with me and fingers crossed I will make it OK.
Thanks again for your advice.
Chris

 

Auto Electrician confirmed that alternator was toast so new one fitted,only problem now is that the module that controls the ABS/VSA is faulty,they are currently trying to find one from a wrecker or else will try and repair the faulty one.Does anyone have any suggestions.

 

First check to be sure it isn't something simple like a flaky connection in the wiring harnesses.

 

Hai,
My honda accord is giving continous showing red battery sign.
How I can check alternstor is working or not.

 

Measuring the voltage across the battery posts while the engine is running is a good place to start.

 

That was what I was going to advise but Jim beat me to it.To elaborate use your multimeter,or buy one they are cheap,and test for what voltage reading you get at the battery with the motor running,the reading should be around 13.2 volts-if you are not getting this your alternator is probably shot and you will need to take to an auto electrician to replace it.