Golf Alternator or Battery

We have a 1999 VW Golf, that had a dead battery the day before yesterday and required a jump. I put it on a charger all night and it still was dead in the morning. The battery (Interstate) is 16 months old. We jumped the battery & I put a Volt Meter on it and it read ~ 14.25 volts. We then took it to the Interstate Store and they put their "Wizard" on it. It was showing 12 volts with the car off.

They put in a new "loaner" battery, as their policy is to charge the existing one to try to find out if it is the battery. Then they measured the voltage with the car running with the new battery in and it was ~14.5 volts. I measured it with mine at home and it was 14.62 volts. The technician said the old battery showed signs of venting...acid from the vent on the battery case, and suggested that the alternator was possibly running too much voltage and could have "cooked" the battery. Incidentally or coincidentally, the right brake light bulb was burned out, something that happened in the last two days or so. This car has had a history of weird electrical problems.

The question is: is 14-5 - 14-6 Volts too high? My 2001 Jeep Wrangler reads 14.23 volts running, measured across the battery terminals.

Thanks for any advice,

Campbell Freeman South Carolina

Reply to
Campbell Freeman
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I am very sorry for posting to this group. I meant to send it to the watercooled group.

Thanks very much,

Campbell Freeman

Reply to
Campbell Freeman

You might want to try the watercooled group for VW golf problems.

Late model VW's are renowned for electrical problems - don't be alarmed.

The voltage sounds fine, although the old battery should read more than 12V when not in the car. An auto electrician is a good place to have your battery/charging system checked - they should now what to do.

Allan :-)

Reply to
Allan Williams

Allan, a class act! You were able to redirect this wayward person without flaming them then give them sound advice, nicely done :o) I've seen a few unfortunates fall into the "shark tank" here lately and end up as chum.

Reply to
B.C. Bugger

A temporary moment of weakness, I'm sure :)

Jan

Reply to
Jan Andersson

Sorry.... I was drunk. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Allan!

Reply to
Allan Williams

LOL :o)

Reply to
B.C. Bugger

My ears are burning. Sorry (not really) if I'm so hard on people who are too STUPID to not know the difference between AIR or WATER cooled.

Personally I don't want to associate with those who lack the most basic of observational skills. They're the type who end up turning on a skill saw when you aren't looking causing you to loose a finger.

But if you enjoy that sort of stupidity, more power to you. I guess like attracts like.

-ANT

Stop that. To reply change my ISP to @hotmail.com

Reply to
ANT

................It is amazing that some people are so completely lacking in basic knowledge that they don't understand how a car's engine is cooled. I'm OK with treating some of them politely.........AND.........I'm OK with flaming the crap out of them sometimes.

.........Good cop-bad cop, carrot & stick, etc. It always worked on me.........lol

Reply to
Tim Rogers

bad analogy ANT....anyone putting thier fingers near a saw that is in the hands of another should be prepared for having bodyparts detached...

------------------- Chris Perdue

*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug"
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reply take your PANTS off
Reply to
Chris Perdue

The point I was trying to make was that the stupids of the world cause more problems for innocent standers by.

"I thought the gun wasn't loaded" That sort of thing.

-ANT

Stop that. To reply change my ISP to @hotmail.com

Reply to
ANT

LOL....i did get your point(im not quite *that* stupid), was just ribbing ya a bit...

------------------- Chris Perdue

*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug"
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reply take your PANTS off
Reply to
Chris Perdue

The correct regulatiog voltage for a 12V system is 14.1-14.4 volts. Your numbers sound just a bit high, but I'm not sure if this is high enough to damage the battery. Can you check the water level? If it has removable cell caps you can check to see if all the fluid has been boiled off. If so, overvoltage is a likely culprit.

Check the cables that ground the engine and battery to the chassis, and the one that grounds the alternator to the engine, and consider replacing the voltage regulator.

-

----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

-----------------------------------------------

Reply to
Jim Adney

Errmm... that was uncalled for. How did you get from what I wrote that I suffer fools or enjoy/tolerate stupidity?!?! All I meant was RELAX. A gentle nudge in the right direction can be more effective than biting one's head off. Having owned aircooled Volkswagens as well as many other vehicles for over 20 years now I am neither stupid or lacking in the finer points of mechanical conveyances. If you chose to view this as a personal attack so be it, I didn't think of you personally when I wrote my original reply. Maybe you had an attack of "guilty conscience"?

G
Reply to
B.C. Bugger

How did he cause you in particular any grief? If your observational skills are so keen you would've seen in the subject line that it dealt with a Golf, chose not to open the post as it was not relevant to this ng, and moved on to the next one. Post ignored, no harm done.

G
Reply to
B.C. Bugger

This attitude is exactly what kills newsgroups.

You need to REACT to content that doesn't belong here. Ignoring the problem won't make it go away. Yours is the standard reply I see from a lot of people when spam or off topic posts is criticized. This approach is very short sighted, IMHO, as it does nothing for the group. If your neighbor's god keeps coming to your doorstep to make his morning poop, do you just ignore it? Will that make it go away or stop? Like it or not, the analogy works. It doesn't belong there, it's annoying, and if it keeps piling up and others continue to follow the example, you will soon drown in it.

I have seen newsgroups die because of just that.

Jan

Reply to
Jan

My neighbours God? Man... I hope they don't believe in the giant elephants! :-)

Allan :-)

Reply to
Allan Williams

And Dog is my co-pilot....or at least he smells like a wet dog.

-ANT

Stop that. To reply change my ISP to @hotmail.com

Reply to
ANT

LOL oopsy, meant DOG

Jan

Allan Williams wrote:

Reply to
Jan

The two could be the same in some cultures.

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Bill Berckman

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