At first my power steering light would come on and the steering would get heavy when stood in traffic, so I would have to turn the engine off and on again to get rid of the light. I arranged for my recovery service to have a look and they said that the battery was not giving out enough power, so I took it to a garage and they said that the fault code was that the alternator was not giving enough power, so I arranged for a new alternator to be fitted, when it was fitted, that lasted for about 2 weeks and it started doing it again, but now it did it when I was reversing as well and when driving at night the headlights would sim when stood in traffic so I took it to a garage and was told it was not giving out enough power, so I arranged for a replacement alternator to be fitted, that’s lasted 2 days and now it’s still doing it. Any suggestions 

What year is the car?

Check to see if the red battery symbol lights up when you turn the ignition on to the position that other warning lights self-test.

If it does not, there is probably one or two broken wires at a connection point which will fix this when repaired.

The year of the car is 2007 and the battery symbol lights up when I turn my ignition on.

Do you know how old the battery is? Has it been tested? 

On 25/04/2022 at 06:39, Pete1 said:

What year is the car?

Check to see if the red battery symbol lights up when you turn the ignition on to the position that other warning lights self-test.

If it does not, there is probably one or two broken wires at a connection point which will fix this when repaired.

 

 

I'd still give that a look to be fair. I've had it where there's been a poor connection, the battery light has worked on start up, but the alternator wasn't getting pulled up to full output properly. 

 

 

I’ve had 2 alternators fitted up to now and I’ve asked my garage to install another different manufacturer alternator in case they have a bad batch of  alternators   

I got the battery tested and load tested last week by Halfords where I bought it from when my garage said after the first alternator went faulty, they said the battery is still holding charge, when I went to my garage to tell them, they checked the output voltages from the alternator and keeps on fluctuating, they think it’s that.

Of course it is quite possible that the alternators fitted are faulty, but it is also possible that there is a problem on the car.

It seems that the battery has been ruled out as suspect.

Check that the main alternator lead (output lead - the thick one) is in good condition and has tight/clean connections.

A little trick to rule out any possibility of the 'sensing' lead (the thinner one) has problems, is to disconnect it from the alternator and TEMPORARILY replace it  with a wire from battery positive (+) via a 12 volt 2.2 Watt bulb, the other end connected to the small alternator terminal. - If everything works as it should with this set up, there is a problem in the 'sensing' lead on the car or its connections.

Note: Don't leave this temporary set up connected when the car is unattended for long periods, or you may well flatten the battery.

 

Regards

P.S. I have just spotted the date of your post, so I may well be too late with this reply.

Edited 29 May, 20224 yr by caretakerplus

Hi, thanks got the reply, since I had a third alternator fitted it’s been ok. 

if your garage has fitted 2 duff alternators then that’s a worry as to where they are getting them from.

My own garage won’t fit remanufactured alternators from ECP, due to their dubious quality.

Edited 30 May, 20224 yr by mk2tastic

They Hi, thanks got the reply, since I had a third alternator fitted it’s been ok. The third alternator I had fitted was a different  manufacturer, the first two was the same, so I have put it down to the manufacturer