torga
Autocross Champion
Last night, I got a battery warning light on my cluster. I was on the road, so I stopped to run my errand, then got back in the car and paired my OBDeleven. Battery read 12.5V with the engine off. I turned the engine back on and let the light come back on, and the battery read 11.8V.
So at that point, I figured I may have a failing alternator and I'd have a trip to the junkyard this weekend to hopefully find a donor CC/Jetta/Passat.
So this morning, fired up and went to work. No hesitation starting, no slow starts. Battery light is still on during my drive. Same story when I started the car to come home. However, when I was about 5 minutes from home, multiple other lights started coming on: ABS, traction control, EPC, and airbag all came on. Then, about 40 seconds from my driveway, the power steering light came on yellow, then quickly switched to red and I lost all power steering. Barely managed to get the car into the garage (engine is running/idling totally fine at this point).
So once I'm in the garage I leave the car on and pop in the reader; the battery is at 9.7V under load. I lock the car and the horn beeps perhaps 30% as loud as it usually does.
Can a bad alternator, leading to a loss of overall voltage, cause all of this? This is my first new-ish car with oodles of electronics (coming from a '95 Celica), so this sort of near-catastrophic electronic failure is completely new to me.
Will a working alternator solve all of this? Or are these symptoms uncommon for that failure point and should I take it somewhere?
Alternative question: how can I be sure if the issue is the alternator itself, or perhaps the voltage regulator?
So at that point, I figured I may have a failing alternator and I'd have a trip to the junkyard this weekend to hopefully find a donor CC/Jetta/Passat.
So this morning, fired up and went to work. No hesitation starting, no slow starts. Battery light is still on during my drive. Same story when I started the car to come home. However, when I was about 5 minutes from home, multiple other lights started coming on: ABS, traction control, EPC, and airbag all came on. Then, about 40 seconds from my driveway, the power steering light came on yellow, then quickly switched to red and I lost all power steering. Barely managed to get the car into the garage (engine is running/idling totally fine at this point).
So once I'm in the garage I leave the car on and pop in the reader; the battery is at 9.7V under load. I lock the car and the horn beeps perhaps 30% as loud as it usually does.
Can a bad alternator, leading to a loss of overall voltage, cause all of this? This is my first new-ish car with oodles of electronics (coming from a '95 Celica), so this sort of near-catastrophic electronic failure is completely new to me.
Will a working alternator solve all of this? Or are these symptoms uncommon for that failure point and should I take it somewhere?
Alternative question: how can I be sure if the issue is the alternator itself, or perhaps the voltage regulator?