A friend has just called with a charging problem on his 52 plate Citroen Berlingo diesel van. Apparently the alternator failed and he has replaced it with a new one. Everything looks good from the driving seat, he says the charge warning light comes on and goes out when he revs the engine, It doesn't charge though. From the engine compartment he measures Voltage as around 12 which only rises slightly with revs, possibly some residual magnetism in the field. When he uses a continuity tester from the positive battery terminal to the field coil the alternator charges at 14V on tickover. He cannot tell me what the ignition light does because he's alone. I'll have a look with him tommorrow.
I imagine the alternator is ecu controlled but is there anything external between the ignition light and alternator to check?
AJH