Important! : a few electrical problems

11th November 2011, 16:50

well basically i have been having a few electrical issues with my which consist of,

-battery not retaining charge
-squeeling when turning full lock
-alternator rattling
-burning smell in the dash.

so heres the story, one morning my car suddenly decided not to start (battery flat) so i did usual checks, got the battery tested and the alternator was charging it up but it would not stayed charged, so last night i put it on charge at 8pm and took it off at 9.30am this morning, to which it had not charged at all

so thought fuck it and went and swapped the battery for a new one, fitted it drove straight to motorsave to get battery and alternator tested.

so on the way there i smell a very very strong burning smell to the point i was going to pull over and get out but i go to motosave and turned it straight off, then went in and enquired about the tests, bloke came out and tested the battery and said it was fucked i told him it was new and he said take it back as its no good it read 30 on the tester he used.

i asked him about the burning smell he said something must be shorting under the dash i had a look and found nothing with any signs of burning/burnt so i drove it home and rang andrew pages (place i got battery from) they said it was weird how i took a fucked battery to them now i have another fucked battery and i agreed and they said if i take it to them they will test it and swap accordingly which is fair enough.

my problem is, is there anything that could be causing all this? can anyone help,
thanks.

11th November 2011, 17:03

-battery not retaining charge- be down to alternator
-squeeling when turning full lock - pas pump is on it way imo
-alternator rattling- check the tension on the belt might have to replace alt belt
-burning smell in the dash- where abouts is smell coming from passenger side or dials side

also what year / model etc

11th November 2011, 18:09

Alternator on it`s way out causing a current drain,it may show it`s charging the batter,Mine did this when tested, the following day the alternator packed up completely.

11th November 2011, 18:42

hmm strange, had 3 test on alternator also its 1999 vts mk1 also the burning smell is from passenger side and you cant smell it from under bonnet only when in the car.

and with the squeeking noise it only does it when cold, stops completely when car is warm.

11th November 2011, 18:57

Check your fusebox inside the car for the burning smell,it maybe a relay.

11th November 2011, 18:59

cheers will go have a look in a min, anything else you can suggest?

11th November 2011, 19:04

just looked and the yellow relay has burnt out, what is it for?

11th November 2011, 19:52

also does anyone know where i could pick one of these relays up on a saturday morning?

11th November 2011, 19:55

I tried looking it up in the Haynes manual mate,but had no luck.What you need to do is go down to either a scrapyard/citroen main dealer & match up the serial number on the relay itself.If you see a relay the same colour but with a different serial number in the scrappy on no account substitute for the 1 in your car,as you may end up with a fire.If the new relay smokes then remove it and call an auto electrician.

11th November 2011, 20:21

ok cheers mate, also any idea on what is causing it to burn out?

11th November 2011, 20:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by DUBHEAD

ok cheers mate, also any idea on what is causing it to burn out?

Possibly your alternator.

y:

11th November 2011, 20:32

ok but i am confused as was told alternator was ok, is there any way of finding out if the alternator is deffinatley fucked as it seems fine, also any idea how this battery could be fucked since it was new when i got it then drove less than 5 mins to be told it was fucked? i have no idea about electrics lol

11th November 2011, 20:39

An auto electrician would have more idea than a motor factors mate.

11th November 2011, 22:00

yeah just spoke to a bloke who reckons the following is the problem,

right he says 'alternators output a constant current because of a regulator, as the engine speed increases so would the current because its spinning faster, without the regulator it can over charge and damage a battery' this makes sense, now another problem i need a cheap alternator tommoro a new relay and new battery and all needs to be bought and fitted before sunday night

11th November 2011, 22:05

Which is what I said in post 3 your alternator if faulty will cause a current drain,i`ve had it several times on different cars mate.

11th November 2011, 22:22

sorry mate didnt realise thanks

11th November 2011, 22:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by DUBHEAD

sorry mate didnt realise thanks

No worries not having a go like.

11th November 2011, 23:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by DUBHEAD

ok cheers mate, also any idea on what is causing it to burn out?

stevo67 is like gandi of sax-p if he says alternator then it will be

12th November 2011, 08:25

lol cheers

13th November 2011, 14:18

bit of a update, took my battery back to andrew pages as it was fucked (tested by motosave twice) and pages tested it and said yeah its no good we will swap it for you, then the bloke came back and said 'i just tested another battery and it read the same because i had the wrong setting on, so i changed to right setting and it says the battery is working properly' so i said ok fair enough not going to argue, then i went to motosave for a few parts and was speaking to bloke who had tested the old battery and asked him if he would test the new one (this is the second battery, just incase anyone is confused), so he did and said it was fucked then wen t and got a bigger 'better' tester to confirm it and it was fucked kept saying replace on the meter.

so went to pages just round the corner (different branch i got the battery from) so i went in and just said can you testthis battery please mate he said yeah sure, so he puts tester on (the wrong way ) then he put it on right and said yeah its fucked so i said i had just got the battery from there other branch and that i was told the battery was good he even gave me a dodgy ticket saying it was good (dodgy bastards) anyway they changed it and tested a brand new battery just been delivered day before it was still on pallet and that was fucked, they where all fucked.

so they gave me a bosch battery about 16 quid dearer than the one i have because of the 'hassle' i had been through with it which was good of them.

anyway got back to car found a relay burnt to fuck melted allway through i have pics if anyone wants to see, so swapped batteries and was going to change the alternator but one of the bolts was totally fucked so couldnt get it off then PAS packed in so i hit the pump with a hammer and got it working again drove to pub and set off back and it had gone stiff again, think there is air in it some where as its leaking fluid and when on full lock bubbles come out of the reservouire(sp?) so all in all been a good day even though i was very lucky the car didnt set on fire when i was driving it as the bit where the relay goes into the panel had all melted to fuck lol

so in a way i am back to square one i just hope the alternator is ok as i found a few problems which i thought was down to the alternator but it wasnt, just hope the alternator is fine.

sorry for long story lol

oh here are a few pics of the relay lol

13th November 2011, 14:19

it also burnt where it is plugged into i was lucky it didnt burn it to the point i couldnt put a new relay in.

13th November 2011, 16:04

The regulator on your alternator is faulty,therefore to much voltage is going through the relay causing it to burn out.This is also why your power steering is going heavy as a lot of current is being drawn by it.

13th November 2011, 16:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevo67

The regulator on your alternator is faulty,therefore to much voltage is going through the relay causing it to burn out.This is also why your power steering is going heavy as a lot of current is being drawn by it.

it was a dodgy earth causing the power surge to relay and i tapped the pas pump with a small hammer and it sorted it-ish there is air getting in some where as when i put it on lock to lock bubbles come out of resivouire(sp?) so dunno.