jarrvo
January 22, 2013, 4:24 am
Thank you both for the replies, sorry i forgot i had posted this
I parked the car up over the christmas period as i was mostly away, when i returned the noise had stopped so i assumed the issue had fixed itself (wishful thinking i know).
Then whilst driving down the M1 last week my battery light came on, a few moments later the abs light came on followed by loss of power steering!
This was a little disconcerting to the say the least, i made it on to the hard shoulder of the slip road and called the RAC, he quickly diagnosed the alternator had failed and after a charge i made it home and rung around a few garages for a quote. These ranged from £185 to £456! to replace the alternator and check the battery.
It appears the alternator was putting out just enough juice to keep the battery barely charged, once the cold snap arrived and the heated screen was used this was enough to push it over the edge.
The car is now sorted at a total cost of £270 which i a little more than expected but i now having a working car once again, first thing i noticed was how bright the lights are! I must have gradually got used to them getting dimmer and dimmer.
Ive now changed my route to work, its a little bit longer but takes in few motorway miles so at least the battery will get a little bit of charge.
Thanks once again