Battery Light Blinking

[stevenc75]

Hi guys,

Just over 24 hours into 340 ownership and I have my first question.

I was out in the car today and I noticed the battery light blinking. I had the heater and radio on, no other electrics. It happened briefly and I forgot about it.

Tonight I was out again and had the heater, lights, radio and rear screen demister on and the battery light was blinking constantly.

The car starts fine, runs fine and so on, there are no other symptoms. Obviously my first thought would be an alternator problem, but is there anything on these cars that would cause this? Earthing issues, etc?

The car had been sitting for a while before I bought it, so it could be the battery I guess.

Any pointers appreciated.

[jarlidge]

you could try checking the fan belt, if its slipping it can cause that problem.

[stevenc75]

Of course...

That's my problem when it comes to mechanics, I always try to over complicate things instead of starting simple. Thanks for that.

[jarlidge]

not a problem

[stevenc75]

The fan belt seems tight, it doesn't appear to be slipping.

[Ronnie]

Welcome to the club dude!

The light means the battery isn't charging.

Try revving the bugger hard, sometimes enough to get the alternator to kick in and make that blinking light go away.

Could easily be the battery. Especially if your car has been standing for a little while. People like Kwik Fit will check it for free, but don't buy anything from them! They sell crap at high prices, just say you'll come back tomorrow. Lucas are good for quality batteries at cheap prices if you need a replacement.

[Chris_C]

Try these tests, will help to narrow it down a bit.

1: If you have a multimeter, great, else, beg/borrow/steal one from someone!

2: Measure voltage across the battery with ignition off.

3: Start the engine, and with no 'gubbins' (lights fans etc) measure the voltage across the battery again

4: Still with no gubbins, get a trusty minion to hold the engine at 2500rpm, and measure voltage yet again

5: Switch on all the gubbins you had on when you made the light come on, and with engine idling, measure the voltage again!

Should help us get a clue to whats going on, even if it doesn't immediately say the cause, it'll wipe out a lot of possibilities. If you havn't used a multimeter before, just shout, they are dead easy (you can get a cheap yellow digital one for a fiver from your local maplins, best fiver you can spend tbh, it'll do all you need in a car)

[pettaw]

I've got one more test for you to do. Do all the lights light up as they should when you first switch on the igntion, before you start the engine? And do all the gauges work as they should? Aside from that Chris has covered the basic alternator checks to see if that's suspect.

Hope that helps and post back with the results.

[stevenc75]

I'm going to buy a multimeter tomorrow and check it out. All the lights do light up and all the gauges operate as they should. The car is still starting first time and running fine.

I'll follow the suggestions here and post back.

[stevenc75]

Well I got a multimeter, but it turns out I didn't need it. Handy to have though.

I got around to looking at this last night and it was something very simple. The main wire from the alternator to the battery was broken and hanging by one thread. A new connector fitted at a cost of £0.00 and we're all set again. Thanks guys.

You can see the broken wire seperated from the connector here.



Repaired and running fine, the battery is charging and the light is out.

[SteveP]

Nice work, genuine Volvo oil filter too - always a good sign

[stevenc75]

genuine Volvo oil filter too - always a good sign

Yeah, I spotted that and was pleased when I did.