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[gbh]

Well the first time in 17 years I broke down and had to be recovered how annoying. Haven't been hardly anywhere in the car for sometime and been having a few niggling problems with interior light and front seat and to finish a breakdown maybe they're all related.Had a decent run in the morning for an eye test and got referred to hospital in the afternoon on the way back from the latter suddenly the battery light came on and lots of other warning lights soon followed and  a decrease in performance I was just hoping to make it home but alas a queue at road works stopped me.Emergency assist recovered me and very good they were by the way. Popped out this morning and checked battery volts 11.14 so now that's on charge as a first step and then we'll try and start it and I guess check volts at the battery to see if it's charging. Any other hints or tips because of course it could be the alternator would the ecu have any bearing with all the rain we've been having?

[Doctor Gollum]

Is the aux belt attached?

Follow Kevin Woods excellent how to for battery and alternator testing. And report back.

[Nick W]

Start it up and check the voltage at both battery and the alternator power connection.


They should be the same and at least 13.5volts(over 14 would be better). If under 13.5 your alternator isn't working correctly, and if different you have dodgy connections in the power leads.


If over 14.5 your alternator is overcharging, but that wouldn't have run the battery down. In the worst case, the battery will explode

[gbh]

Just popped out in between the rain as I have a spare omega car thought it good to compare having just fully charged both batteries after checking before hand the battery had dropped to 11.14v before charging and 13v on other car. After charging volts have gone up to 16.19v and on starting up to 17.52 which then drops after a few minutes back to 16.4v and the battery light has come on,at least the car started without problem.Volts on the other car were 16.7 to 18.8 and not dropping back so it seems for some reason the alternator starts charging then stops.How easy difficult to swap over alternator as both 2.6 vehicles although problem one is Elite and the other Cdx.Don't know why the charged voltage is so high is that normal assuming my Fluke meter is still accurate

[Doctor Gollum]

Sounds like both alternators are goosed if the measurements are correct 

Anything much over 14.5V is bad news

[Doctor Gollum]

Read this...

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=90619.0

Understand it and carry it out to the letter using workingvtest equipment.

[gbh]

Thanks Doc I'd just found it and hopefully try again tomorrow

[gbh]

A big change in the weather today so out to the car I go and after having charged the battery a week ago it's voltage has dropped again whilst it was connected to 11.8v.So onwards as they say and I've removed the alternator and a fair amount of work involved in that but it' off.So my dilemma should I take the one off a spare Omega I have or but a new one I've seen a couple of Lucas ones which aren't Bosch of course LRB255 or LRB319 and would save a lot of effort if they're ok for the job.I couldn't see any markings on my old one to indicate a manufacturer which seems a little odd.Your thoughts as always much appreciated !!!

[cam.in.head]

the alternator does draw power if only to power the regulator but its minimal.if your still having the electrical problems relating to the interior light as you recently spoke about i would be tracing the fault there first or at least doing a current draw test at the battery to see if theres anything excessive. ( more than 250ma)
i found that the issue with mine did all sorts of strange things relating to the central locking module when it thought something was still open/ on.
it did flatten a recently new battery overnight too just like yours and has been fine since i traced the blue wire

[Doctor Gollum]

So you didn't run Kevin's guide all the way through then

[gbh]

To be honest DG I tried but after charging I was getting strange results with my tester voltage wise aka 16v rising to 17.5v at battery terminals which can't be right.What I did find was that initially the there was some extra volts from the alternator which then dropped off and the battery light again came on in the car and stayed on.Under load the voltage actually increased to 18v so it was untestable either with my equipment or something strange going on with my automatic battery charger.As for testing the volts at the alternator that seems an impossible task as even before getting it off i had a look to see if I could and I couldn't even see the terminals to test.But It's off now so I have to go forward I did check as many terminals as I could for any heat under load but they were all cold.

[Nick W]

To be honest DG I tried but after charging I was getting strange results with my tester voltage wise aka 16v rising to 17.5v at battery terminals which can't be right.What I did find was that initially the there was some extra volts from the alternator which then dropped off and the battery light again came on in the car and stayed on.Under load the voltage actually increased to 18v so it was untestable either with my equipment or something strange going on with my automatic battery charger.As for testing the volts at the alternator that seems an impossible task as even before getting it off i had a look to see if I could and I couldn't even see the terminals to test.But It's off now so I have to go forward I did check as many terminals as I could for any heat under load but they were all cold.

17volts is perfectly possible if the alternator regulator has failed. That's why you diagnose charging faults with a meter.


The most I saw was 26volts, together with a horrible smell and loud shouting to turn it off!!


I recovered a couple that had boiled the battery dry, and one that blown the battery casing apart.

[STEMO]

To be honest DG I tried but after charging I was getting strange results with my tester voltage wise aka 16v rising to 17.5v at battery terminals which can't be right.What I did find was that initially the there was some extra volts from the alternator which then dropped off and the battery light again came on in the car and stayed on.Under load the voltage actually increased to 18v so it was untestable either with my equipment or something strange going on with my automatic battery charger.As for testing the volts at the alternator that seems an impossible task as even before getting it off i had a look to see if I could and I couldn't even see the terminals to test.But It's off now so I have to go forward I did check as many terminals as I could for any heat under load but they were all cold.

17volts is perfectly possible if the alternator regulator has failed. That's why you diagnose charging faults with a meter.


The most I saw was 26volts, together with a horrible smell and loud shouting to turn it off!!


I recovered a couple that had boiled the battery dry, and one that blown the battery casing apart.

Rotten eggs, it took a long time for the battery to actually cook on my escort, I kept thinking someone had farted for about a month.

[GastronomicKleptomaniac]

The most I saw was 26volts, together with a horrible smell and loud shouting to turn it off!!

Never got to the tester when the Polo (1989 vintage) started overcharging a while ago. As MrsGK pulled into the drive I could smell a familiar smell but couldn't put my finger on it, I was like "not clutch, not brakes..." then got close to the battery and heard it bubbling.

Being an old thing, I whipped the alternator off, and two screws to remove the voltage regulator... £7 at the local electrogenius stockists and it was back in business

[countrywoman]

And you have to be careful as thats a lot of hydrogen gas being made, blew the side off a battery on a 265 Volvo sparking off the positive terminal!! (265 Volvo , showing my age) . It was a customer's car so had to replace it for free.