Hi all

So the alternator swap didn't fix my problem of the cut outs. £90 wasted.

Earth points are my next place to check, i've had a look and the fuse box atop the battery is ok and not melted, apart from following the earth from the battery are there any others to check?

Thanks

John

Ok, what's happening? What makes you think it's battery/earth related?

Engine non starter? Cutting out when driving? give the crystal ball a fighting chance

Haha ok was driving on m25 got abs, traction control and cel light, car cut out. Non start on key. Bump started and off I went but half a mile later same thing happened again but this time no cut out it just went to idle idle with no response from the throttle all, seemed to me like the alternator wasn't charging the battery and this was causing the car to spaz out - obviously I can explain the fact it was idling ok with no throttle response.

Put a multimeter on the battery while running (after charging it) and battery showed 11.9 v and alternator showed 9 volt output.

Swapped out alternator still same problem so earths are my next point to check as battery seems to be holding a charge just fine?

Did you get it checked for any codes?

Vagcom showing no fault codes at all...

Seems as though you guys have about as much of a clue on this one as me!

Mobile mechanic called in, credit card ready'd, will update you when he sorts it...

broken wire between the alt and the battery is my guess. do you have a battery warning light on the dash with just ign on? OR broken earth wire to the engine, easy to check with a jump lead from the battery -ve terminal to a metal part on the engine..

actually if you have 11v at the battery and only 9v at the alt it has to be a broken wire as there should be same voltage at the alt end as the battery (as its only a wire)

Cheers felicia clear advise there! Will give it a bash before the mechanic comes!

My guess would be one of the signal wires (D+, DFM) from the alternator. There is a 4-pin connector that sits in a slot on the starter solenoid. Two wires go to the a/c clutch and the other two go to the alternator. It's common for the wires to become brittle and break at this connector.