Battery Charge Fault: Stop Driving (2017 C4 II G Pic 1.6 Bluehdi 120)

[Jules]

Hi
Has anyone any advice on a new fault I have that popped up an hour ago, please...

Early into journey, red message "Battery Charge Fault: Stop Driving". Car still runs, but I went home anyway.

I can't remember the battery ever being changed and the car has done 110k miles, 5 years old.

Old battery?
Faulty Alternator?
Alternator belt?
Loose terminal?

Other ideas?

I'm hoping the car is still ok to drive, except of course if the battery is not charging it'll run out eventually.

Thanks all.

[Jay-Bruce]

You've listed all the things I'd say to look at, but I don't think a battery would give you a battery charge fault, so it's a case of looking for wires off of the alternator, belt still connected, and or a goosed alternator. First check, voltmeter on the battery before starting it, should be north of 12 volts, next start the engine, and with the engine running, check the voltage again, should be north of 13 volts, and certainly north of where it was before you started the engine running. If that doesn't give you good results, stop the engine then go to the engine bay, start removing the necessary covers to expose the alternator, look for a broken belt. Then look for wires hanging loose, if nothing's visibly borked, or disconnected, it's likely that the regulator module on the alternator has let the magic pixies push the smoke out of it. However, it'd still be worth checking for ignition voltage on the appropriate pin on the alternator (I don't know which pins that would be).

[Jules]

Thanks Jay

I checked the belt and removed the positive lead from the terminal and reseated it (it's the quick release sort) last night. That's about the limit for me without a meter.

It then occurred to me that I have AA Home Start, so I called them early this morning and they came and checked it over. Alternator seems fine, battery too. He cleared the message, and it did not come back. Concluded that the terminal lead must have been loose, just enough to trip a sensor perhaps. The engine has been worked on 6 months ago (replaced!) so I guess it's feasible that it's worked it's way loose after being disconnected.

Drove to work fine, so far so good, so fingers crossed.

Juilan

[Jay-Bruce]

Sorry for the late reply, just back from work, but glad you got it sorted, happy days

[CitroJim]

I love nice easy resolutions like that Excellent!

[geotaf]

Hi everyone.

Hope somebody is still here. I have the same problem in my C4. It appeared first time few months ago, but it dessapeared. Now, i face the problem again. When I try to unlock the vehicle, the alarm system does not working, but the doors unlock (alarm system is after market). But, the main problem is that I can't start the engine. When I disconnect the positive pole of battery the proble is solving, until next time. I checked the battery and the hole system in mechanic but they could find what is wrong. Please help!