Advice please

[Gazney101]

I have a 2010 allroad. I've owned the car since 2020 and shortly after buying it the crank pulley failed onme and after having that repaired I noticed the parking sensors stopped working closely followed by the rear wiper. I didn't let these issues bother me as I barely use the car as I use a van most of the time.
More recently I got the message "alternator fault battery not charging" so I had the alternator reconditioned and refitted however I'm still getting this fault intermittently. Totally random it will be working or not. If it does work it will continue to work the entire time until I switch the engine off. It can be working 5 times in a row then next time I start it I get the fault.
When the fault comes on I have tested at thetions alternator with a multimeter and it's putting nothing out. When it's working it's putting out over 14volts without fluctuations.

I have noticed if I disconnect negative battery terminal then reconnect before I start then it works every time.

I am wondering if the rear wiper motor being faulty may be causing it or if my reconditioned alternator is not with genuine parts and the can bus is not happy communicating with it?

I'm stumped with it now, does anyone have any advice? It would be much appreciated.

Cheers
Gary

[dean warren]

Do you have a scan tool? VCDS or maybe ODB11?
Need to check it for fault codes really.


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[Gazney101]

Do you have a scan tool? VCDS or maybe ODB11?
Need to check it for fault codes really.


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Hi thanks for your time. My friend has scanned it with his delphi system but has found no fault codes at all. He tried it when the fault was occurring and it said no communication with alternator but then 10 mins later I tried again it was working and the computer found no faults again.

I have had the car remapped 2 days ago and the mapper did some tests for me with his computer and the car was working fine the whole time he was here. Then 2 hours later I went to drive it the fault was back.

I have unplugged the sensor on the negative battery terminal and it will work more often now but still every few starts it will throw the alternator fault.

I am almost at the basil fawlty stage

[smiffypr]

When the crank pulley failed, if it damaged the belt, did bits of the belt damage any wiring or connectors? (just a thought, my frayed belt damaged the oil pressure sensor connector).

It is very strange that there are no fault coded relating to the parking sensors or wiper, perhaps get it scanned with a different tool.

I can tell you that the car is not as clever as it thinks it is, mine (also 2010) will say that the battery is fully charged on the screen but also say that the battery is low on the dash, and I know that a Ford with a "smart charging" alternator will turn the alternator off when it thinks the battery is fully charged. So there could be a fault with the battery monitor, the engine ECU or the alternator. But, if the engine ecu is telling you that there is a fault with the alternator, it does suggest that the engine ecu hasn't told the alternator it can have a rest, but my experience with the troublesome Ford was that the ecu was telling the alternator to turn off and reporting a low battery. What all this means s that it is unlikely to be simple to find the fault.

See if you can get some fault codes read, then cleared. If that doesn't help, can you get the alternator replaced under warranty?

Hopefully you will find a damaged connector.

[Gazney101]

Hi, thanks for responding, the car was faultless for a long time after the failed pulley was repaired but I will check around that area to see if there's any damage.
I fear you're right that it won't be easy to diagnose. The thing is I don't mind putting an alternator on it if indeed that is at fault but for the price of them Im reluctant to try incase it's something else. I really need to get a new rear wiper motor fitted as it needs one anyway and will rule it out.
Are these vcds things on ebay? I've seen some but I don't really know what I'm looking at.

[smiffypr]

There are VCDS things on Ebay, the cheaper listings will be a cable only, then you have to find free software with limited abilities. There are some second hand ones with licensed software which they say have a number of VINs left to use. Then there are some packages with pirated Ross-tech software which has been hacked to work for any VIN but will have no updates,(can't see any on ebay at the moment), then there's full price ross-tech sold stuff. Or find someone local to you that has it already. The Ford I mentioned before started working properly after I had a fiddle with the control cable to the alternator.