Can anyone help? :confused:

I was driving home from work last night and a warning suddenly a came up on the in dash display "Alternator Workshop" and the Battery light also came on. The warning vanished within 5 Seconds and has not reappeared as yet.

Could it be a loose belt or Battery problem? The Battery is now 3 and half years old but seems to be working OK

Thanks is advance

I would have thought that 3.5 years was a good innings for a car battery.....

You can check the alternator charging capacity with a multimeter on the battery terminals. You should expect around 13.5v.

Thanks for the replies.

I agree that the Battery is probably coming to the end of it's life, but find it a little confusing that the fault was only briefly indicated and has not reappeared.

The car starts first time and never struggles to turnover. I'll probably change the battery to be on the safe side seeing as the cold weather is moving in.

TBH I wouldn't rush out and change the battery just yet. If it starts ok and you aren't having any symptoms I'd see if anything else shows up. Get the ECU read for codes and see if that helps at all.

Save your money for now in case it's not the battery.

Hello Folks

I am sometimes getting the same error. And I also have issues with startup too. Mine is a 2001 L&K. Got timing kit done recently and they said nothing showed up on the diagnostic. Should I change the battery just in case.

B

I am supprised as every diesel i have ever drive has had the original battry for about 5+ years one was still in after 10 years.

Get the codes and see whats what, it could be something slipping if it just came and went. As said if it starts just fine the battery will prob be ok as this is where things first show up on a diesel.

I too, would hope for more than 3-4 years on a battery in a diesel. The GFs felicia is 97 and thats battery is pretty much at the end of the road. Might be worth checking all your earth contacts are good and sound.

- Pug 306 1.9TD 10 years

- Pug 205 1.8TD (8 years)

- BX 19RD 11 years on original battery (about 170k miles in that time too)

- Ford Endura engined fiesta (Cringes - and no not mine thank god) 7 years

Diesels don't abuse the battery like a petrol car does as there are no sparks, so it should last at least 5 years. I suppose you could check the levels of the distilled water in the cells just incase you have cooked some of it off.

I've got an '04' Octavia estate - 1.9diesel. I'm a private hire operator and the car is fast approaching 98000 mioes. Non real problems as it is such a reliable car. Never failed to start and never let me down... yet.

When I first had an alternator problem, it was usually first thing in the morning - the warning came on for a few seconds then dissappeared. After 3 such warnings, I took it to the Skoda dealer who tested it and found no fault. I took it as teething problems - it never stopped me and was just a minor nuisance.

Having said that, today I heard a thump as I was driving along - and the battery light, plus alternator warning came up. The bty light stayed on, but the car kept going... As I was 10 minutes away from my mate who is a mechanic, I drove it there. We found that the alternator one way roller clutch had sheered off - plus a faiur amount of fine metal filings on top of the engine. The drive pulley was running around what was left of the alternator shaft. Has anyone heard of this before. The roller clutch was bone dry - maybe it had a problem with lack of lube and ground to bits.. As it's a VW part, I am interested to see if this is a wider problem.

:confused: :confused: :confused:

I had the battery light come on a couple of weeks ago for a couple of seconds - just thought it was crying wolf at the time. However I was on the way to work this morning and the ABS and ASR light both came on then the powered steering failed and with that the light for that came one too. Luckly i was able to pull over straight away. I switched the engine off and then the alarm started going off and the locks went crazy! I checked the battery itself and there was no green illumination in the inspection window. The alternator seems to be charging so Ive replaced the battery and fingers crossed it should slove my problems. My cars a 52 fabia TDI - i would have expected the battery to last a little longer that it seems to have?

One last thing - now the batterys replaced the electric windows won't go down using the automatic press option (if you know what i mean!?) any ideas?

mas

One last thing - now the batterys replaced the electric windows won't go down using the automatic press option (if you know what i mean!?) any ideas?

use the search function and look for restting one touch, that should giveyou the answer!

windows fully up, fully down fully up and hold it fully up for a few seconds until it clicks if I remember correctly.

HTH

windows fully up, fully down fully up and hold it fully up for a few seconds until it clicks if I remember correctly.

HTH

:iagree: but i couldn't be arsed to type it again today!