C5 BATTERY CHARGING FAULT

bbrucez · Unread post by **bbrucez** » 24 Sep 2007, 10:55

The battery meter had been waving about for a while but yesterday went to zero and I got the message above.
As the battery was quite new and well charged so decided to try to make it home.
Then the needle crept up for a while then back to zero and I got the message again.
This happened several time in the 45 miles to home with headlights on.
The battery is still OK as it restarted.
Is my alternator on the way out or am I getting a false message?
I get the "DIESEL ADDITIVE MINIMUM LEVEL" message all the time despite the Eolys tank being full and I used to get spurious messages about the immobiliser and airbags so I don't have a lot of confidence in the Engine Management System.

Unread post by **Peter.N.** » 24 Sep 2007, 11:42

Connect a voltmeter across the battery with the engine running, it should read near enough 14 volts, much less and you have an alternator problem. Could also possibly be a slipping drive belt.

Unread post by **RichardW** » 24 Sep 2007, 15:58

I have seen a surprising number of C5s on ebay with "new alternator" in the description....

Give's Peter's test a try, although with the multiplexed jobbies there's no guarantee that the alternator is directly connected to the battery

bbrucez · Unread post by **bbrucez** » 24 Sep 2007, 17:15

Thanks, will give it a go.
I s'pose after 77k miles in 6 years it's not bad.