battery light

[SarahP]

Hello.. went out in the car today vectra estate 1.9cdti (120) and on way back the battery light came on, turned engine off and back on again and its not lit up.. what could it be? Thanks

[themarbleman]

Alternator not charging properly
May be on its way out.

[simmo3187]

yep i'm going with alternator

get it checked out before it goes properly and you lose ABS, power steering etc

[vectra ste]

yep i'm going with alternator

get it checked out before it goes properly and you lose ABS, power steering etc

[SarahP]

whats a multi reader and it an alternator dear to replace? or even be fitted by garage?

[SarahP]

i think i got one actually but dont know how to use it.. its a pocket sized digital multimeter

[DieselWig]

Check the voltage across the battery terminals with a multimeter- should be about 14.4V with the engine running - lower than this and your alternator is likely to be on it's way out.
On the bright side, the alternator is easy to replace if you have a set of sockets for the attachment and small spanners for the terminals. Fiddly at worst, but simple!

[DieselWig]

A multimeter will have a dial on with various settings - choose the one that states around 20V. Pop the bonnet and put the red probe on the red battery terminal and the black probe on the black terminal. When the engine isn't running, expect to get a value of around 12V. Do the same with the engine running and someone revving the engine to 2000rpm or so - this is where you should get about 14.4V.
A quick search on google will give you more details and pictures to help if required.

[SarahP]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Digital-Mu...item3f0dbccb24

this is the one i have.. cant understand the dial bit

[SarahP]

ok with the car NOT running it reads 12.10 .. with the car running but idle it reads 11.68 (dial turned to the 20v on the left) and 20+ (with the dial turned to the 20v on the right) when the car was being revved at 2000rpm it was still saying the same ( 11.68 left.. 20+ right) what does this mean?
Did the school run today and battery light didnt come on but have a 1 hour round trip drive tomorrow to take son to specialist dentist and am little worried that the light 'may' come back on