Scirocco Register

had my 1987 gt parked up for 3 weeks while iv been working away went to start it and nothing so i thought it was just a flat battery,so got the jump leads out and slaved it off with the girlfriends car.
i then took it for a good half hour run and it drove great as normal got home turned it off and nothing again so got the jump leads back out and it started,but then turned it off and nothing again.
any thoughts guys???????????
cheers
danny

alternator.

Jay4424 wrote:alternator.

thought it could be cheers,,,,
is it a big job?????????

A completely flat battery will take much more than half an hour to recharge. You'd need to do several hours on the motorway at least (or charge it from the mains). You could have something (stereo/alarm) draining the battery, which could easily flatten it after a few weeks. I'd check that the alternator isn't doing its job before changing it.

Thinking more (gotto do something while on the motorways... Have pulled into services write this!)

When youa re driving is the batt light on, on the dash? If not then the alt is ok. Another check is when the enines on, jut about tick over speed measure the voltage at the batt, it should be arous 14 volts. When the engine is off it should be 12.5/13 odd... If 11 then its flat! If after a long drive as in the post about its still the same, the batt is ducked ad requires replacing... Do check (as above) all systems, that your not draining it with something silly like an amplifier left on, or something!

Hope that helps more than my earlier comment!

Jay

thanks for the replys chaps very helpfull
cheers
danny

Just a quick addendum to the above - when my alternator failed last year, the battery light did not illuminate, even when driving as the electricity gradually drained away! I suspect the voltage regulator was shot. Just saying, a non-illuminated battery light does not necessarily mean the alt is ok.

my mopney is on the battery. they don't always recover from being completely flat.

once it is running, do you have nice bright headlights, or if you have access to a multimeter, do you have 13 or more volts at the battery?

even if a battery is dead flat, it will take enough charge in 5 minutes of running to then restart the car. our standard advice is 15 - 20 minutes of driving before switching off. if that doesn't let it restart, you either have a charging fault, or more likely a dead battery

Nate wrote:do you have nice bright headlights

If he has he ain't driving a Rocco!