Clay
17th September 2002, 06:17 PM
Why are there so many warning lights glaring at me from my dash? Here's the answer:
Recently, my fan belt broke which was an oversight on my part. I really should have replaced it when I bought the car as I knew it had been sat around for 2 years!
For reference, when the fan belt goes you will see :
Add coolant light
Oil pressure light
4W-ABS light
Charge light
(The rest of the indicators are unaffected).
When you replace the belt these lights should all go out. Unfortunately in my case they did not! It would appear that the additional surge when the alternator spun faster than normal, presumably by the whipping action of the belt rapidly spinning off, caused the IC regulator (fed from the diode pack) on the output plug at the rear of the alternator to go open circuit. This fault has no effect on the performance of the car. It just means that you need to be extra aware of the relevant checks on the systems indicated. If the oil, coolant and ABS levels are ok and you can detect the 14V (ish) charging voltage across the battery when the engine is running, then everything will work fine. The only way to remedy this is to replace the alternator.
As an aside, when the belt wrapped itself around the camshaft it caused the seal to break which is a normal occurence and rather expensive £8.50 for the seal and up to £400 to fit depending on the knowledge of the garage!!
I now intend to replace the IC so should have a spare alternator for sale in the very near future so watch this space!
Hope this info helps others in similar trouble!!!
Recently, my fan belt broke which was an oversight on my part. I really should have replaced it when I bought the car as I knew it had been sat around for 2 years!
For reference, when the fan belt goes you will see :
Add coolant light
Oil pressure light
4W-ABS light
Charge light
(The rest of the indicators are unaffected).
When you replace the belt these lights should all go out. Unfortunately in my case they did not! It would appear that the additional surge when the alternator spun faster than normal, presumably by the whipping action of the belt rapidly spinning off, caused the IC regulator (fed from the diode pack) on the output plug at the rear of the alternator to go open circuit. This fault has no effect on the performance of the car. It just means that you need to be extra aware of the relevant checks on the systems indicated. If the oil, coolant and ABS levels are ok and you can detect the 14V (ish) charging voltage across the battery when the engine is running, then everything will work fine. The only way to remedy this is to replace the alternator.
As an aside, when the belt wrapped itself around the camshaft it caused the seal to break which is a normal occurence and rather expensive £8.50 for the seal and up to £400 to fit depending on the knowledge of the garage!!
I now intend to replace the IC so should have a spare alternator for sale in the very near future so watch this space!
Hope this info helps others in similar trouble!!!