Battery or alternator

[willvill2]

My Crosswind's starting during the day has no problem. I bring the missus to school, do some jogging at the park, going around the city for many reasons with air con and all those signal lights and my car would just be fine.

The problem happens during the night. The headlight, aircon, etc are fine as long as the engine is on. The problem comes when I park and leave the car for awhile. When I restart the engine, it fails. I have to get my pick up and with the engine running I would hook up with the Crosswind the batteries and do some recharging. After 2 or 3 minutes I could restart the Crosswind again. My battery is just a year old.

The problem just came out a month ago and I'm thinking it could be the battery.

[raine]

dalhin mo na lang sa tindahan ng battery , and doon maron silang tester to check kung maganda pa ang charging ng alternator or defective na ang battery. para sure,

[gearhead000]

tama. kelangan ipa-check kung nagkakarga ng maayos. kasi kahit palitan ng battery kung di kumakarga sayang naman.

[gtamp]

share ko lang baka sakaling pareho ng solusyon kase halos pareho ng simtomas.. yung terminals sa battery siguraduhin na mahigpit yung talagang mahigpit na maski anung yugyog eh hindi gagalaw kahit 1mm man lang..

[CVT]

Bro,- Place a voltmeter across the terminal of the battery and run the engine with all accessories on... You should have a feel if the alternator is still charging the battery enough or not....

When you say "no problem in the morning", are you saying that even if you use the vehicle the night before, it will start the following morning?

16.2K:bat:

[willvill2]

Bro,- Place a voltmeter across the terminal of the battery and run the engine with all accessories on... You should have a feel if the alternator is still charging the battery enough or not....

When you say "no problem in the morning", are you saying that even if you use the vehicle the night before, it will start the following morning?

16.2K:bat:

I'm usually home at 5 pm bringing everybody from school. Right. There are times I could not start when I used the headlights the night before.

What I do, at night, is to run the engine with the air con and headlights off for 2 to 3 minutes before shutting it down. Sometimes, we go to the mall at night and if I would shut down the engine as soon as we parked, I could not restart when we went back.

Oh. I forgot to mention that I have changed my headlight bulb to a higher wattage but that was a year ago already and my present problem just came out a month or so.

[dr. d]

if it's not the alternator nor the electrical connections, then it must be the battery. and at 1 year old, it's probably still under warranty and you can get a brand new battery! yehey!

[willvill2]

I got my old Fluke digital meter and measured:

engine running only.....13.9 to 14 volts
plus aircon on.............13.5
plus headlights on........12.2
plus signal lights .......... 12

The normal voltage when charging is 13 to 14 volts. It seems my alternator cannot cope up with the demands of the headlights and signal lights.

[CVT]

The headlights are a big drain, bro.(delta of 1.3V).... From the normal 55/60W,- did you upgrade to 100W or higher? But then again, you said you upgraded it a year ago.

It looks like you need to have your alternator checked...

16.2K:bat:

[xtian119]

It could be the battery or the alternator. Just bring it to any battery shop to make which one needs replacement.

[kinyo]

try checking the belt too ... a loose or slippery belt may also cause above symptoms

[Bin Diesel]

How about your RPM while idling? Does it drop significantly as well when you turn on all accessories?

[Retz]

Replaced your battery with a new one. If this happens again, then either your alternator or a connection/grounding issue that is draining your battery.

[mcbry]

have your battery and alternator check.
even at full load your battery must be at around 13.5v - 13.8v

[willvill2]

The headlights are a big drain, bro.(delta of 1.3V).... From the normal 55/60W,- did you upgrade to 100W or higher? But then again, you said you upgraded it a year ago.

It looks like you need to have your alternator checked...

16.2K:bat:

I will start with my battery. I'll have it tested black and blue. I upgraded to 100w.

[willvill2]

try checking the belt too ... a loose or slippery belt may also cause above symptoms

Right. Sometimes I hear slipping belt but only sometimes.

[willvill2]

have your battery and alternator check.
even at full load your battery must be at around 13.5v - 13.8v

Correct. It really points to the alternator.

[willvill2]

How about your RPM while idling? Does it drop significantly as well when you turn on all accessories?

I could not sense any significant drop, bro.

[willvill2]

And so I went to my favorite electrical shop (dyan sa may kanto kanto). After the alternator was disassembled, we noticed that there was nothing wrong. The stator was sanded bright and clean and the alternator was returned to my crosswind. The repairman even disconnected the battery while the headlight and aircon were running to show that the alternator was working.

In the final analysis, there was significant improvement but I'm not yet 100 per cent sure.

[willvill2]

For further tests, I attached my multimeter to the cigarette lighter port so I can monitor the alternator's charging. With the aircon and headlights on at idle, the alternator could not go higher than 12.5 volts, it keeps going down. But when I keep my crosswind travelling, the voltage goes to 13.5 volts and stays there. My test also showed that if the rpm stays at 1k, the alternator can handle all the power requirements adequately. So I consider the alternator's problem solved. I spent just 200 php for the cleaning of the stators contact with the carbon brush. Cleaning came exactly 10 years from the time the car was first bought.