Electrics died 98 sharan tdi

[bedbug]

Hi

Had a worrying journey home today. It began about 10 minutes in with the battery warning light coming on. Then the ABS warning light followed by the airbag light. After another 5 minutes all the electrics just died. No lights (including indicators), speedo and rev counter went to zero and of course the radio went aswell. The car began to sound like a tank (I'm assuming the computer went aswell.). This scared the life out of me as I had my kids in the car and its fairly rural around here.

I assumed the battery had gone so shelled out £75 on a new one close to home. Then suddenly all the electrics came back but still the battery warning light remained lit. I've just changed the battery and although the car starts a little easier the battery warning light is still on. I'm worried this will happen again and perhaps worse still.

I hope someone can shed some light on this and perhaps explain how to fix it.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

[zollaf]

sounds like the alternator has failed. the battery warning light goes out when the alternator charges the battery, and comes on when it doesnt. as the battery voltage gets lower, various electrical things stop working.

[bedbug]

Thanks for your response.

Is there anything I can do to verify the fault?

[tona955]

Hi

You could take it to an auto electrician, they will test to see if the alternator is actually charging the battery.

Some bigger KwickFit can do this also if you can find a friendly one, I have had my Sharan at Kwickfit before and they tested it free of charge, worth a try.

Cheers

[the_old_diver]

If you have a voltmeter I'd suggest measuring the battery voltage with the engine stopped - it might be something like 12.5 volts. Now start the engine and blip the throttle a couple of times to make sure the alternator has become excited, then measure the battery voltage again with the engine running - it should be 13.8 volt - ish if the alternator is good and the connections are clean.

I measure the battery voltage by touching the meter probes onto the battery terminals, with the meter set to "DC Volts" (I know that is obvious, but only if you know it).

If the alternator is known to be good and the battery is also known to be good then I'd suggest checking the cleanliness of the earth connections at the engine and chassis points.

Hope this helps.

[cmartin1]

Hi,
Between family and friends we have 3 galaxy's, 1 alhambra and 1 sharan, (mine's the sharan) all tdi's and have had this fault on 2 of the galaxy's. I traced the fault to the fuse box right at the front of the car next to the battery. The connection on the main cable coming from the starter motor into the fuse box loosens off causing a high resistance and therefore heat, melting the plastic around the fuse link post and the first few inches of cable. As a quick fix to get home, you can connect the cable across to the post on the other end of the fuse link, all thats needed is a 10mm spanner to do this. Ultimately the fuse box will need to be replaced and usually the cable down to the starter motor also, (around £45 for the parts fro m the dealer).

I would advise all owners of galaxy, alhambra, sharan and touran to check these connections in this fuse box are tight before the this happens.

Hope this is of use to you and other forum members.