car keeps dieing

[turbomad]

last week i was driving to work when my battery light came on and a few miles later it died, lights dimmed, no heaters, no power steering.

so i got it home charged the battery checked the battery voltage then the voltage from the battery to the altenator which was reading the same which told me the wire was fine so i got an altenator fitted.

hoping it would all be fine but no... still the battery light is on so i tried a different battery still no luck car died again. one thing i have noticed when i bought the car was you turn the ignition off, sometimes the power steering still runs so i tried disconnecting it and starting the car, checked the voltage and it drops i even tried adding an earth incase the engine had a bad earth still keeps dieing anbody got any ideas....?

[turbomad]

just noticed wrong section can somebody move it please

[3cott]

It could be the alternator...

[turbomad]

i fitted a new one so i wouldnt think it would be that unless its not a good one :S

[adam661]

take a fuse out at a time and see which circuit the faul is on sounds like theres a live sumwhere?? check the sub/amp wires?

[turbomad]

dont have fancy speakers was told to try disconnecting the radio and the powersteering see how i get on car is starting to piss me off as it was going to get sold yesterday

[turbomad]

any other idea's

[megslad]

when the engine is running what is the voltage reading?

is it 12v or 13.4v ?

Sounds like a dodgy altenator

[Sparco_Tom]

could be a loom issue? is there any damage to the loom around the alternator?

[turbomad]

its 12v and drains until it cuts out i havnt seen any damage i checked the thick wire its fine as its reading the same voltage at the alternator and the battery i havnt checked the little plug below it what does it do??

[turbomad]

pulled a few fuses still had no luck :(

[Saaamon]

Put the voltage meter on it and then put some on the electrical system, i.e radio on, wipers, heater, rear screen etc and if it drops fast chances are its a dodgy alt, it does happen even if they new. Its unlikely to make much difference on a road car but spray some releasing fluid in the alt and that will clear out any dirt in it.

[turbomad]

was told to check for stuff shorting how do you do that not that clued up on wiring

[Cammy]

mate, shorting is easy enough, all you need to do is short 2 wires together (crossing eachother by strands touching) ENSURE THERES NO VOLTAGE TO THE CAR, or could be bad...

Take your multimeter, and put it on buzzer (to ensure you've got the right one, cross the 2 prongs you measure ohms or voltage with together, should hear a beep)

Once your cables are shorted on the other end (make sure you short them at the end of their wiring, can do it with a bit of soldering wire touching the pins in the plug the cables goes to) and then put your multimeter across the wires at the start of the loom, hearing a beep means its ok and theres continuety.

Not hearing a beep or having a dodgy beep (i.e its crackling or breaking up means one of the cables could be damged)

if ones damaged, bell the cables out singlyand see which one was doing it, if so - replace it, cable is cheap - can use 3 core 12v cables which can actually be found in old plugs or network cable - just make sure its the same diamater and thickness.

hope that made sence, lol.

[turbomad]

still had no luck with this i was told it will be the little plug that is on the altenator i dont no where the wires go im told it will be the dials to light the battery light anybody had this problem or have a wiring diagram any help would be great

[turbomad]

got it sorted turns out the altenator i got was faulty got a new one and it worked fine :D