ABS/Airbag light and stall

[JKnaggs]

Hope some of you good folk can help. My wifes 99 1.4 golf runs fine for a time and starts fine. Occassionally the ABS and passenger airbag light come on, the wipers slow down and sometimes the car will stall,usually needing a jump start. Have fitted a new battery but this doesn't seem to have helped. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

[Perkele]

Exact same problem with my 98 MK3.
Any pointers greatly appreciated.

[JKnaggs]

Found that the alternator regulator was faulty only kicking out 9 volts when the problem occured. Replaced the alt. and car has been fine since.

[Perkele]

I bought a cheap car battery charger and fully charged the battery. It seems to be working ok today.
Although it was a warmer day. Yesterday was minus 5 all day and colder during the night.

[JKnaggs]

If the battery is charged it will be ok but when your alternator stops pushing out the 14 volts it should do then your battery will slowly lose power as its not receiving the required top up from your alternator. Get a volt meter from maplins and put it on your battery terminals when the lights come on with the engine running, it should read a steady 13-14 volts anything less and your alternator is on its way out.

[Perkele]

Thanks for the tip, I'll be trying that first thing in the morning.
Fingers crossed the alternator is ok and the problem was just a cheap wiring fault.
Although actually finding a wiring fault is a different story.

[JKnaggs]

Have finally nailed this, for anyone else with same problem. Follow wire from Alternator to battery in amongst it will be a small blue wire, this wire is the one that tells your alternator to start pushing out voltage from startup and controls the battery light on dashboard. It is a common fault on Golf of this age and a simple fix. Forget all about code readers,do some simple basic fault finding,its alot cheaper.