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Corsa Diesel Battery Warning Light

Hi,

I have a 1993 Corsa 1.5TD and the battery warning light decided to pop itself on on Sunday evening just as I was pulling into my drive. Didn't have time to check it out yesterday, but having searched on this NG I carried out the following checks:

1) Checked battery voltage without engine running. Was around 12.7V. So battery okay. Should be as it's less than 1 year old.

2) Started engine. At idle the voltage varied between 14V and 14.7V and the engine sounded very "clunky" until it got warmed up. It was like the engine was revving then not revving, hunting I guess you could call it. Haven't noticed that before.

3) Once that had stopped, it settled down to 14.65V at idle with no electrical load.

4) Having turned on the lights to full beam, and putting the fan on, it showed about 14.35V at idle.

5) Stopped the engine and the voltage across the battery is around 13.5V.

Unfortunately, the leads on the meter I've got aren't long enough to enable me to rev the engine and take a reading.

So, it seems that the alternator is actually charging the battery. The battery seems to be holding a charge and the engione starts okay. Any ideas as to what it could be? If it was the regulator would I expect to see higher volts at higher revs? If it's not the reg/rec then what else could it be?

Thanks, Colin.

Reply to
veersix
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Hi

Long shot but does the battery warning light double as a warning for anything else? Have a look in the handbook.

I say this because on my car the "door open" warning doubles for "automatic gearbox failure"

Chances are its a grem> Hi,

Reply to
Ian

Ian wrote in news:juOHe.930$0g7.161@newsfe6- gui.ntli.net:

Well, there's nothing in the owner's manual about it doubling up for something else so who knows :-)

I managed to get the engine to rev after a friend suggested I use the throttle control on the engine - doh! It didn't make any diffference to the results. On the face of it, everything seems to be fine.

Thanks, Colin.

Reply to
Colin Anderson

Should have a simple enough alternator. Connect your multimeter, switched to volts from the warning light wire to the main pos on the alternator you should have near to zero voltage. If you are getting a voltage here then the alternator is faulty. Probably a warning light diode open circuit, so it will charge on the main circuit but still not put-out the waring light.

JOhn

Reply to
John

we are talking about a corsa diesel simple enough but bloody expensive when you come to replace it !

Reply to
reg

"John" wrote in news:dcofdm$bh1$ snipped-for-privacy@reader01.news.esat.net:

So if it is still charging, which it seems to be, but not putting out the warning light, then will I need to replace the alternator? Could it just be the charging light relay that's blown for some reason? How can I check the relay for correct operation? The alternator seems to be quite expensive and very fiddly to replace.

Colin.

Reply to
Colin Anderson

expensive yes, a little fiddly, drop through the bottom after you've disconnected some of the suspension, makes it more accessible .

Reply to
reg

These do have a charging light relay, which is what I would check first, as they are known to fail.

Reply to
Moray Cuthill

on a diesel, if the warning light is on in regards to the battery, then the first thing you will find is that the rev counter won't work if it does work (or you don't have one) then get it checked

Reply to
dojj

from memory i think that is in the kick panel on the drivers side, correct me if im wrong .

Reply to
reg

Is there a relay fitted. (Isuzu engine?) I was thinking of the normal Bosch alternator on most GM from that era, (no relay). If it is Isuzu, you still have to identify the warning light connection on the alternator. Disconnect the connector from the alternator and put a pos feed to w/light wire on connector side. Relay should switch and extinguish w/light on dash.. You can take the relay out and put power across the windings to see if it clicks. Is it a blue relay?

Reply to
John

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