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alternator? battery? or both?


ff2007
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Hi guys,

- car cranks fine

- battery date is 15A.

- battery reading 12.5v when engine off, and 14,55v when engine on.

- no lights dimming/flickering when revving.

- car stereo lights up the display, plays the music fine but date/time is not shown until I drive a min or two.

- "ESP sys fault" & "Transmission malf" is shown only when driving the car right from the cold. When warming the engine and then driving the car, those two warnings don't show up!

Looks like after the battery is recharged while engine was running problems do not appear!

How would I check the alternator is really charging in a stable way?

 

Thanks in advance.

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Have you recently changed the battery? What makes you think battery/alternator is related?

If you are getting 14.5v when the engine is on, then I'd say the alternator is working.

I know there can be electrical issues if you don't use a calcium battery...

Have you tried reading the fault codes?

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The alternator should be working correctly with that voltage, might be worth checking for fault codes and trying to log them (using a code reader and phone etc) - might find that the alternator is on all the time trying to charge a battery that can't hold the charge or indeed the alternator is overcharging the battery - would need to log the voltage during a drive.

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These are the codes shown on IDS:

U2023 - ABS
U1900 - EPS
U1900 - IC
P0700 - PCM
U0101 - PCM
P0790 - TCM
U0001 - TCM

 

Not sure if this is battery/alternator related OR it is a low level of transmission oil when cold starting, and it is expanding all over sensors inside the oil cap?

 

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1 hour ago, alexp999 said:

Have you recently changed the battery? What makes you think battery/alternator is related?

If you are getting 14.5v when the engine is on, then I'd say the alternator is working.

I know there can be electrical issues if you don't use a calcium battery...

Have you tried reading the fault codes?

Have the car for more than half a year now, didn't change the batter. It's production year is 15A (Jan 2015), had no issues starting the vehicle even on winter temps (-20 deg C).

Even now, car cranks fine. but if I drive it cold, it will show up those 2 warnings, if I wait to reach 75-80 deg C, then drive, then no warnings on dash whatsoever.

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Now, starter relay clicking when ignition is on only and no battery light on scree! Anyone has any idea what's happening?

I heard people tell that their cars won't start and hear the starter relay clicking!

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its either the battery has a faulty cell or you're dash cluster is faulty

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Did a battery test to local garage, while engine was running they removed the positive cable from the battery and measured:

 

Volts: 13.33V

Measured: 483 A

Rating: 570 A

 

And the report their device generated says to replace battery!

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Before you bin the battery it would be worth checking the battery cell electrolyte levels.

Even on a "sealed" battery you can usually do this by removing the label on the top to expose the cell covers.

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17 minutes ago, Dan62 said:

Before you bin the battery it would be worth checking the battery cell electrolyte levels.

Even on a "sealed" battery you can usually do this by removing the label on the top to expose the cell covers.

They did check this indeed, the level of fluid was clear showing green for all cells, however the fluid in the cell next to positive terminal was kinda darker which they said it's normal.

Clamps were tightened.

If this issue turns out to be a wiring/cable/grounding, I'd be surprised cause same wiring is when engine is warmed and I understand that some wires may warm due to the load passing through.

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Removing the red terminal from a battery while engine is running will fry most cars!!!!!! something you should never do on a modern car with its electrics and indeed the ford manual expressly says to never do this

That battery reading shows some sulphation but seems ok and indeed seems to start the engine ok. So I would suspect a connection issue of as someone said above a dash issue

 

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Thanks everyone for the comments! I see many are pointing to the dash.

But, can't these codes be if a TCM is the issue?

 

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13.3v is too low it should be around 14v or higher

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56 minutes ago, artscot79 said:

13.3v is too low it should be around 14v or higher

13.3 was when red terminal was removed from the battery.

Otherwise, tests at home with multimeter read 14.5 when engine was running.

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they should never have removed the red terminal to be honest but hey ho looks like more live data is needed

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Don't forget to Get a silver calcium battery !

 

as I said to you before. My car had similar issue, battery was duff , although it wasn't as to low on power it was low enough to make the car throw a wobbly.

any lack in power & these auto ones no likey ! 

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Regarding the cluster , have you tried doing a self scan on it & seen the results?

 

if your unsure how to do this 

ignition off, hold the button on the end of the indicator stalk 

whilst holding button turn ignition on, release when the digital dash screen iluminmates with black dots , then using the scroll stick on indicator to scroll through each test ,  to exit turn key off

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On Wednesday, March 23, 2016 at 0:36 PM, madmole said:

Removing the red terminal from a battery while engine is running will fry most cars!!!!!! something you should never do on a modern car with its electrics and indeed the ford manual expressly says to never do this

That battery reading shows some sulphation but seems ok and indeed seems to start the engine ok. So I would suspect a connection issue of as someone said above a dash issue

 

Just tonight appeared the Check Engine light. Code B1317 battery voltage high. Code was then cleared and it dissapeared from the dash.

Could this be from yesterdays removing the terminal from the battery

Light did not show up in the morning though!

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Hard to tell, anything electrical could have been zapped, but would have shown straight away I would have thought

That would suggest your alternator was putting out Over 15v. which you can easily check with a multimeter if its true

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Agree. Did check, showed 14.55v. Initially thought about putting the multimeter to the cigarette light socket and measure the voltage while driving the car to see the voltage at the time any light appears on the dash, including ESP and Trans.warnings.

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That's normal as is anything up to 15v if its cold. Clear the codes and see what comes back in case its from the arc when the cable was removed

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your alternator should be a smart charge one also

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How does PCM monitors the battery temperature??? This technical bulletin says it does!

 

Screenshot_2016-03-25-20-23-40.png

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