hi all.

i have tried searching but nothing relevant was found.

okay. for the past month or so the car has been going crazy, all sorts of lights have come on.

the first few where EPC, which was fixed with a new brake switch (even though the old one was only a few weeks old). i then cleared the codes with vagcom.

then the power steering light keeps coming on and the steering gets heavy, i have to pull over and turn off the ignition for a second and then it goes away.

a similar case with the abs light which has a chime, this pretty much comes on everytime i drive the car now, i keep driving and it goes away.

when i connect vagcom there are no codes, which is strange.

also when i have the headlights on, they get really dim if i am not revving the engine.

this leads me to think it has something to do with the charging circuit, maybe the alternator or battery, but the battery is around 5 months old.

i had a similar problem with my touareg, which had all sorts of lights a problems until i had a new battery fitted.

is it a common fault for the alternator to go bad?

has this happened to anyone else with a 9n / 9n3?

any help would be greatly appreciated.

Edited 9 August, 201114 yr by dixy

anybody?

hoping to find out what is wrong with it soon, as its starting to really p**s me off.

I'm thinking the easiest way of fixing it is a can of petrol and a match.

any one for a VW BBQ??

I'd have a quick check of the battery voltage, could be the voltage regulator isn't working as it should.

Depending on the condition of the battery, with the engine off and no load it should be around 12 volts, give or take. With the engine running, the voltage should rise even at idle, unless the battery is really flat. When the engine revs the voltage should increase further but typically the voltage shouldn't go over 13.8 volts for most cars.

Never had a 9n but I know on my 6n2 some of the modules like the SRS are quite sensitive to under and over voltage.

SOLVED

after lots of head scratching, i decided to bite the bullet and buy ANOTHER new battery, fitted it, still the same.

i had measured the voltage drop across the battery terminals and it was around 13-14v at idle, and around 12v with heater, lights, rear screen heater etc on.which i guess is normal.

so, i thought f**k it! and bought a reconditioned uprated alternator and a new belt.

fitted these, and would you believe it.... still the same.

left it for a while (so i didn't do something I'd regret !), came back to it and checked every thing i could think of, and found that the positive terminal cable mounting stud threads had been damaged and the cable was loose! so i removed it and replaced it with a new stud and locking nut.

i didn't think to check this as it was covered with the distribution block.

9N/9N3 OWNERS PLEASE CHECK THIS AS IT IS VERY WEAK AND COULD HAPPEN TO YOURS.