hi all can anyone help last night my battery light came on followed by the eml light no charge at battery, went to the car after a few hours tried to start it but battery was dead, put it on charge charger says battery is good after full charge so put it back on car, and started first go, no battery light but eml light still on, drove about half a mile towards work battery light came back on, as I was driving to work journey about 10 miles, power steering started to get heavy then gear indicator started flashing(its an auto) and lost gears crawled to work and put battery back on charge, finished work battery back on all good but eml light still on, drove home same again, been googling all points down to alternator, or smart charge, my question is can you tell me is the smart charge part of the alternator, so if I replace it it will be sorted? there has been a mention of a fuse could anyone tell me what location it is in the fuse box? and if this fuse has blown would it put the eml light on thanks Colin

From what you say - I'd agree that the alternator could be / is likely to be the culprit

thanks for reply is there a how to on removing it as it looks a bit tricky?

a garage will test both for free sometimes it is the battery but faulty cells will make the charger say its full when its not

but am I right in saying if it was the battery, once im driving the alternator should take over and run the car? when I have charged the battery car starts no problem but dies after a while driving!!

i would say bad alternator

anyone changed one before is there a how to anywhere as looks tricky its the 1.6 tdci auto mk2

try youtube

tried cant find anything

would this be the same

no mate looked at that one its differant

Have you got a multimeter to check alternator output voltage?

battery when charged was 12.4 when en on dropped down to 11.3 and still dropped even when revved the engine

Ok, right, unplug the connector off alternator ( by removing plug it should default to 14v ), not the thick one, and start car and recheck voltage, also check voltage at alternator thick cable, ( remove rubber bung to access thick cable on alternator. If still 11-12v when running then sounds like alternator had it,

ok cheers will try that in the mornings

Then if alternator had it , I can guide you through removal.its not that bad as long as you have earlier car without intake shutter in the way , air con pump needs unbolting to access the lower alternator bolt properly. Thats eay enough.

not the best pic but this is the position of the alternator

ok done as said but still at 12v so looks like the alternator

it does, only one other check to do but wont be relevent i doubt is with the connector disconnected, check for battery voltage at connector at pin 3 red wire , ign off.

then its time to replace alternator, im only advising alternator as i havent done the checks, so its your call.(my disclaimer. lol)

yes I understand thanks for your advice any chance of a quick how to on removal

aux belt off, tensioner off(there is a tensioner bolt that gets covered by the pulley after belt off so remove that one before removing belt)

remove top left alternator bolt, think all bolts are 16mm heads , not a normal size.drop aircon compressor down(4 bolts)

now the idea with the 2 other alternator bolts are that you just loosen them off a few turns (they are tapered bolts) and remove the alternator and bolts still attacthed through the holes they tapper up against. you will see what i mean. but if you undo them to far then the alternator wont slide out . so either a few turns and try to remove or just remove them completely.

it will make sense

ok great cheers ian my only question is, is this done from under car, through wheel cover or from above? getting new alternator Tuesday so will give it a go thanks again for your help hope it sorts problem

Belt, tensioner, top bolts from above, aircon pump and bottom bolt from below, cant remember then which end to remove alternator, think from above.

had to take it to garage to get changed as car died completely got a phone call to say all done so it was the alternator thanks for all advice ian

Good its fixed any way.