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Altenator / charing prob; charging prob
Topic Started: Aug 6 2016, 08:32 AM (1,319 Views)
concept
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Hi guys,
When I start my engine, the battery light goes out but I'm getting no charge to the battery?
Is there a relay or fuse between the alternator and battery?
Or is there a regulator somewhere, I know some alternators have them internally.
At nearly 500 pound for an alternator I'm hoping there's another way to sort it!!!!
Thanks in advance...............
1994 2.5td
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mark hadley
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That sounds an odd combination. How do you know that the battery is not charging ? what voltages are you getting? There is no fuse, just a wire wire from alternator to starter motor (very hard to reach). But if you have ignition light going off then the alternator must be working to a large extent.
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raphtor
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Hi,

I had a similar problem on a different car where the alternator would turn the ignition light off but not charge enough. In that case it was a nut that had fallen into the alternator housing and shortcut one of the three phases in there. The resulting voltage after the regulator (on the DC side) was around 12-13 V, but not high enough to properly charge the battery.

Take a multimeter, set it on Volts and measure between the battery poles while the engine is running on >2000 rpm. You should see something around 14 V, then the alternator is fine and charging.

If it doesn't charge you can probably replace the voltage regulator, which will be around 20 GBP. I am not 100% sure which alternator type is fitted to the IVECO though.

Good luck
Raphael
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concept
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Putting a meter across the battery shows no change in voltage whether the engine is running (at any revs) or not!
Just been told the voltage regulator is inside the alternator, on that basis I guest it can't be repaired........
Edited by concept, Aug 6 2016, 09:46 AM.
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johnr
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i had a very similar problem on my iveco. the battery was giving 12.7 volts with everything off, and with the engine running it gave 12.9v, enough to put the light out but not enough to recharge the battery. but before you panic, get your multimeter and check what voltage you are getting from the alternator itself, the live feed connects to the alternator with a small nut on the rear of the unit, this feed then goes off to the starter motor where it picks up the live feed from the battery. but mine must have been broken along the way because whilst there was virtually nothing at the battery, putting the multimeter onto the alternator gave me 14.2 volts. so, i simply ran a cable directly from the alternator to the battery positive terminal. the feed to the starter motor is really hard to get at, hence me going this way. never been a problem since.
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concept
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Thanks for the replies guys, will be trying the johnr test in the morning, will let you know.
Trevor
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concept
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ok. here goes.
Out put from Alternator is 14 + volts.
Battery reading 11.68 enginestopped
Battery reading 12.78 with engine running
If I jump a wire as johnr did that piece of wire gets red hot as though the battery is charging through it! Well it must be because I get 13.8 at the battery with it connected
Trev
Could I drive it? I'm stuck about 100 miles from home! My little understanding of engine is that a diesel engine doesn't need electricity to run its all compression?
Trev
Edited by concept, Aug 7 2016, 12:26 PM.
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johnr
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ok, so that proves that your problem is the wire from the alternator to the starter rather than the actual alternator itself. so, a cheap fix! i fitted a fresh wire from the alternator to the battery directly, simply because its such a faff to try and get to the starter motor without taking the front panel off. even from underneath its tricky to get to. but what you need to do is fit a suitably sized wire, anything too weedy will, as you have discovered, get hot as it is overloaded by the current going through it. this will lessen as the battery picks up enough charge and the alternator switches to just topping it up rather than throwing all its output into it. iirc i used a doubled up length of 6mm cable to do it. you will probably find that you get over 14v at the battery as i did, because with the cable you fitted being to small, you will lose some of the power as the cable saps current and gets hot, thus creating resistance. the old cable to the starter i left in situ as due to ist inaccessibility, theres no guarantee that cutting it off wont create a hazzard as the other end is still connected to the live feed to the starter.
as for driving it, well yes you could, but there are some risks, id not run with the lights on and id leave the heater fan off. try and drain as little current as you can. if you can get hold of a cheap set of jump leads, you can butcher the red one to make a temporary feed from the alt to the battery. otherwise, id try and get as much charge into your battery as possible before setting off home, if its a motorway run then you should be ok, a couple of hours running wont harm it. but just be careful what you turn on and off on your trip.
Edited by johnr, Aug 7 2016, 01:04 PM.
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marcjagman
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concept
Aug 6 2016, 08:32 AM
Hi guys,
When I start my engine, the battery light goes out but I'm getting no charge to the battery?
Is there a relay or fuse between the alternator and battery?
Or is there a regulator somewhere, I know some alternators have them internally.
At nearly 500 pound for an alternator I'm hoping there's another way to sort it!!!!
Thanks in advance...............
1994 2.5td
At £500 for a replacement you are being shafted, a recon is £95 from any good refurb company
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mark hadley
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All good advice above. You can get a long way on the battery if you don't use the electric items. I did 100 miles then charhed from solar and another 100 miles later in thecweekend.
One bit of warning, if the wire from srater motor to alternator is broken and dangling, that could be serious as both ends of it will be live and capable of sending enough current to do damage.
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johnr
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i suspect that like mine, its broken inside the insulation, so i left mine in place and fitted the extra wire as well. next time i take the front panel and rad off (when i do the cam belt probably) i will remove it. but for now its ok where it is.
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mark hadley
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johnr
Aug 8 2016, 06:07 PM
i suspect that like mine, its broken inside the insulation, so i left mine in place and fitted the extra wire as well. next time i take the front panel and rad off (when i do the cam belt probably) i will remove it. but for now its ok where it is.
I dont bls,e yoy. Ive got the front grille and radiator off and istill can't see the starter motor connections.
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johnr
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kind of intrigued to see if he got home now!!
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raphtor
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Just my 50 pence to add: the diesel engine does need current to run in the IVECO configuration, as the stop solenoid will shut down the engine without power. But as this probably only draws something in the region of 1A, a fully charged battery will be fine for many hours (and if you wanted to optimize this you could remove the solenoid and would have to chocke the engine to turn it off).

Well, did he get home?

Regards
Raphael

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johnr
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its a mystery, he may well, for all we know, still be pushing his van up the bleak hard shoulder of a deserted motorway.....
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