Battery light coming on
Moderator: RichardW
Battery light coming on
Hello-Driving back to the Midlands from Portsmouth yesterday night I noticed my battery light comes on if you turn the air blower on- Is this normal or is the alternator or battery on its way out? Its only dim and doesnt seem to be getting any worse. Regards, Adam
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Hello It could be that the ignition switch contacts are begining to burn up and are going high resistance.As the current for the heater goes through the switch it can fail with age as the contacts are only just and just man enough when new.Is the switch getting on a bit?
Does the ignition key get hot? Bad contacts will cause the ign. or charge light to glow.
Cheers.
Geoff
Does the ignition key get hot? Bad contacts will cause the ign. or charge light to glow.
Cheers.
Geoff
Huh.
My experience with brushes is based on Magnetti-Marelli alternator - pls remember this before reading any further.
BXs were fitted with alternators coming from at least 5 different manufacturers (Paris-Rhone, Bosch, Mitsubishi, Valeo, MM, Iskra - which makes six, but it can be that Iskra was one of them made under licence). How very Citroen-like.
Each of these can come in sub-variants the number of which is unknown. This makes indentification of brushes by type of car/alternator extremely tricky.
Now comes my personal experience and very simple piece of advice: Remove the brushes from the alternator and take them to the dealer. Measure them and the black magic of Citroen dervishes will become clear at once.
If you can not bring the brushes to the shop, measure them and buy the brushes BY DIMENSIONS, not by the type of the alternator. It will save you a lot of time and nerves and petrol-money.
Soldering them back is E-Z job.
Sanding down the brushes does not seem to be a good idea - they are made of pressed carbon and the outer layer is thicker, if you sand it off, you will end up with the softer core that will be going to heaven sooner than later.
Any opinions are welcome.
My experience with brushes is based on Magnetti-Marelli alternator - pls remember this before reading any further.
BXs were fitted with alternators coming from at least 5 different manufacturers (Paris-Rhone, Bosch, Mitsubishi, Valeo, MM, Iskra - which makes six, but it can be that Iskra was one of them made under licence). How very Citroen-like.
Each of these can come in sub-variants the number of which is unknown. This makes indentification of brushes by type of car/alternator extremely tricky.
Now comes my personal experience and very simple piece of advice: Remove the brushes from the alternator and take them to the dealer. Measure them and the black magic of Citroen dervishes will become clear at once.
If you can not bring the brushes to the shop, measure them and buy the brushes BY DIMENSIONS, not by the type of the alternator. It will save you a lot of time and nerves and petrol-money.
Soldering them back is E-Z job.
Sanding down the brushes does not seem to be a good idea - they are made of pressed carbon and the outer layer is thicker, if you sand it off, you will end up with the softer core that will be going to heaven sooner than later.
Any opinions are welcome.
I would first check for 14+ volts and clean contacts, and the earth from the battery to the body, and from engine to body etc. I have found that the small sigle wire coming of the unit is prone to partial breakage as it wobbles about over the years. Interesting comment by czenda, having modified brushes many times I was not aware that the outer surface was harder. I presume this is to allow for the wear in the guides. In future I will use the correct ones where possible, but it aint easy to locate new bushes seperately. Anyone know a specialised source for them?