Alternator or Battery fault?

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Positively Negative

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Hi Forum,
please share some advice.

I haven't been using my car for long periods at a time and I'm not sure if the Alternator or battery is now faulty.
I get into the car and hazards and lights work fine. I just cannot start the car. So we jump start it and it works fine.
I run it around the block for 15 minutes and the next day I try, same issue.

The thing is I went away for 2 weeks recently. The night before I left I took the battery leads off. When I got back I popped them back on and the car started no problems. Is it the alternator draining the battery then?
Also I had my alternator replaced in 2010. Do they have such $hiity life expectancies?

What are the costs for an alternator these days :erm:.... it's for a Golf .

Any help appreciated. :);)
 
doubt if it's the alternator "draining" the battery.

maybe the alarm system or maybe another short circuit somewhere.
 
Car batteries don't like standing for long periods of time as sulfation occurs and the battery won't charge up properly anymore

A 15-minute drive will only give your battery a surface charge which will quickly be depleted, especially if the battery is on it's way out

Best to have the battery tested and replaced if necessary
 
syrrano said:
Car batteries don't like standing for long periods of time as sulfation occurs and the battery won't charge up properly anymore

A 15-minute drive will only give your battery a surface charge which will quickly be depleted, especially if the battery is on it's way out

Best to have the battery tested and replaced if necessary
Click to expand...

+1 on this. I've got a Golf3 and had a Citi and they were remarkably resilient to running down good batteries. If the battery is fine, then get the charging rate checked, the battery guys can do it as well. If that's okay, you'll have to hunt down whether some light is stuck on, door or boot maybe, or some relay has gotten stuck and is draining power.
 
sounds like the battery to me. check the distill water level in each of cells and top up if neccessary. best to have the battery tested by a battery place or AA mobile unit (they sell batteries but are more expensive)
 
Follow advice as above but take the vehicle for about 30km spin, with varing speeds 60-80km!
Sorry, in daytime so you not using lights; also don't have have the boom boom thing going if ya youn kid!
When you get back, switch off for about 30 min; then restart - would help if you have a volt/multimeter - stick +probe on +end of battery & -probe on -end of battery, switch on with hood up; gently pull accelerator cable by hand! Inside engine now; meter should read about 14V, if it does, yer alternator is working fine!
It means battery is not hold charge; ie, if it refuses to start ff day again!
 
If you can't have it tested, try charging it with a stand-alone charger overnight, then see if it holds the charge.

Best is to get it tested though...
 
once i had a similar problem. (battery was out as I was gone for a while & was put back in)

Someone cleaned the contacts & placed the cables back correctly(loosen & retighten)

the battery worked for another 2 years.

But yeah, you might need to have the battery changed
 
Same happened recently to us.

Car started fine the one day, the other day it just won't.

Ran jumpers, left battery to charge overnight, nothing helped.

In the end, I localized the fault by swapping out batteries.

We just replaced said flattery with a new battery.
 
Test it like this, start the car and let it idle, leave the radio an lights etc off, while idling remove the positive cable from the battery terminal, If it continues to idle your charging system is good and the fault is with the battery. If it stalls the alternator needs to be repaired.
 
Positively Negative said:
Hi Forum,
please share some advice.

I haven't been using my car for long periods at a time and I'm not sure if the Alternator or battery is now faulty.
I get into the car and hazards and lights work fine. I just cannot start the car. So we jump start it and it works fine.
I run it around the block for 15 minutes and the next day I try, same issue.

The thing is I went away for 2 weeks recently. The night before I left I took the battery leads off. When I got back I popped them back on and the car started no problems. Is it the alternator draining the battery then?
Also I had my alternator replaced in 2010. Do they have such $hiity life expectancies?

What are the costs for an alternator these days :erm:.... it's for a Golf .

Any help appreciated. :);)
Click to expand...

i just priced a new alternator for a golf mk1 ....1300 for a bosch one

my car has a rattle noise coming from the alternator

so im hoping it is that cos i suspect it is the bearings
 
Take your car to an Auto-electrical shop and have them do a Battery Specific Gravity test and a battery Load Test. 15 Minutes is not enough time to recharge a battery full with an car alternator. If a vehicle (newer types '92 onwards) is not started for more than 2 or more days, the voltage will drop and the car will not start. You will only throw your money away if you buy a new alternator, take your car for a long drive every day or two.
 
OK thanks for the great feedback guys!

The thing is I have an alarm system installed and that activates and de-activates fine.When I get in the car I can put on the lights and even turn the radio on. All battery operated stuff seems fine before even starting the car. It just seems the start 'charge' is not kicking in like it supposed to. I mean when we jump start it...I basically just have to connect the leads on my battery,hop in and it starts straight away. It is not struggling or taking a few minutes to charge up.

The car has been sitting here for months at a time not getting a good run and I've always heard that expression that you need to make sure an older car gets a run often.I have a sub (yes I am a young lad :p) so what I will try the next test run is to disconnect the radio power .I am kinda broke right now so I will give the car a good 30 minute or 30 km run and see how it goes from there!

The battery is one of those waterless ones and is about 2 years old. But I've been thinking that I probably KLAPPPED it doing all the boom boom driving around.

But if it is not working soon I will take it to the Auto-Electrician and get wonderfully ripped off :D :D :D

Thanks for the help as always forum!
 
it could be that there is JUST not enough charge in the battery to turn the starter & adding the power from the other battery helps it to start.

Try going for longer drives if possible.
 
Positively Negative said:
OK thanks for the great feedback guys!

The thing is I have an alarm system installed and that activates and de-activates fine.
Click to expand...

Thats most likely your problem.

I have an alarm in my bakkie, recently had the same issue, swopped out the battery etc eventually took it back to the guys who installed the alarm/imobiliser .
The technician explained that alarms, with their little diode light that either stays on or blinks, will drain your battery over a period of days up until the point where the battery doesnt hold enough charge to swing the starter.

Best bet , simply disconnect the battery if the car is standing for more than 5 days and is in a secure lock-up location.

A recharge drive, as mentioned earlier should also not be less than about half an hour.
 
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