OP
OP
Northernraider
LIFE MEMBER
- Jul 30, 2017
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OK so he jacked up the van , came out from underneath with a nut in his hand ,went in to garage came back out with wire brush , spent 2 minutes underneath brushing came up started van put Meter on terminals and hey presto 14.3v.
I asked him what he did.
He took photo underneath of a crimped terminal on a cable ...he said loose connection overheating cable.
Basically what he had said when I first pulled in this morning. So it looks like he knew his stuff.
Now the part that really hurts.
I don't think it needed the new alternator, and it doesn't need a new battery.
When I left uncle lenny s after we had fitted all my new electrics I had commented to him that the voltage reading on my wee USB plug on the dash only read 12.3 or 12.4v ... and he said at the time, don't be surprised if you discover the starter battery is on its way out. And that wee volt guage has never showed great voltage ... the last few days its been showing 11. Summit all the time even after the New alternator was fitted.
When I checked the voltage at starter battery myself straight after the New alternator was fitted I got 12.98v which I thought was strange but it appeared to be charging at that point so
I think the garage just tested the volts at battery like I've been doing and they assumed the alternator was faulty and they changed it. I think there's a chance it was a loose connection all along.
That volt meter on my dash now reads 13.5v when engine ticking over and 14.8v when revved or driving.
It's never read that before so that fault has been there since we did all the electrics and basically the ablemail battery maintainer has been charging my starter battery since then and not the alternator.
But it's all working now, I have 14.3v going in to starter battery just on tickover and nearly 15v when revved .
Maybe the original alternator was on its way out , maybe not and it was just the belt needing tightened and this loose connection. I guess I'll never know now. But I'm now really pissed off that I didn't at least keep the old alternator which was probably still working.
It's bloody hard when you don't understand electrics ,you're at the mercy of people who do. And it's hard when you're travelling etc and trying to pass that information to other people and ask/take their advice. That can be hard and then it's often guesswork so that can't be helped.
But I'm pissed off that a main iveco dealer garage could have missed that loose connection ,especially as I asked them to check all the connections etc and they said that's what they had done the first day when they put it on the ramp. They then fitted a new alternator and obviously never checked the output at the battery or didn't have the knowledge to know it should have been higher than 12.98v
Throwing money at it isn't always the answer ...like I said.
Sometimes it's just something bloody simple.
The hopeful bonus ( I say hopeful because I've now no trust in that iveco dealer ) is that I now have a more powerful new alternator that should work better than the old one.
I may or may not have to replace the battery later as all this trouble may have damaged it.
Time will tell I guess. I just Hope I have no more trouble with the bloody electrics. My anxiety just can't take it.
The guy was good as gold , he actually apologised to me for making me wait and for being short tempered , to which I had to translate that no no no he was fine and that I'm very grateful and relieved that he's fixed the problem
He wasn't going to take any money from me , but I asked him how much , he said €25 so I've given him €30 . If it has fixed my problem it's worth every penny
The bloody other £460 though well that hurts I have to say ... really hurts
I asked him what he did.
He took photo underneath of a crimped terminal on a cable ...he said loose connection overheating cable.
Basically what he had said when I first pulled in this morning. So it looks like he knew his stuff.
Now the part that really hurts.
I don't think it needed the new alternator, and it doesn't need a new battery.
When I left uncle lenny s after we had fitted all my new electrics I had commented to him that the voltage reading on my wee USB plug on the dash only read 12.3 or 12.4v ... and he said at the time, don't be surprised if you discover the starter battery is on its way out. And that wee volt guage has never showed great voltage ... the last few days its been showing 11. Summit all the time even after the New alternator was fitted.
When I checked the voltage at starter battery myself straight after the New alternator was fitted I got 12.98v which I thought was strange but it appeared to be charging at that point so
I think the garage just tested the volts at battery like I've been doing and they assumed the alternator was faulty and they changed it. I think there's a chance it was a loose connection all along.
That volt meter on my dash now reads 13.5v when engine ticking over and 14.8v when revved or driving.
It's never read that before so that fault has been there since we did all the electrics and basically the ablemail battery maintainer has been charging my starter battery since then and not the alternator.
But it's all working now, I have 14.3v going in to starter battery just on tickover and nearly 15v when revved .
Maybe the original alternator was on its way out , maybe not and it was just the belt needing tightened and this loose connection. I guess I'll never know now. But I'm now really pissed off that I didn't at least keep the old alternator which was probably still working.
It's bloody hard when you don't understand electrics ,you're at the mercy of people who do. And it's hard when you're travelling etc and trying to pass that information to other people and ask/take their advice. That can be hard and then it's often guesswork so that can't be helped.
But I'm pissed off that a main iveco dealer garage could have missed that loose connection ,especially as I asked them to check all the connections etc and they said that's what they had done the first day when they put it on the ramp. They then fitted a new alternator and obviously never checked the output at the battery or didn't have the knowledge to know it should have been higher than 12.98v
Throwing money at it isn't always the answer ...like I said.
Sometimes it's just something bloody simple.
The hopeful bonus ( I say hopeful because I've now no trust in that iveco dealer ) is that I now have a more powerful new alternator that should work better than the old one.
I may or may not have to replace the battery later as all this trouble may have damaged it.
Time will tell I guess. I just Hope I have no more trouble with the bloody electrics. My anxiety just can't take it.
The guy was good as gold , he actually apologised to me for making me wait and for being short tempered , to which I had to translate that no no no he was fine and that I'm very grateful and relieved that he's fixed the problem
He wasn't going to take any money from me , but I asked him how much , he said €25 so I've given him €30 . If it has fixed my problem it's worth every penny
The bloody other £460 though well that hurts I have to say ... really hurts
. The first thing you did was look for a garage to help and park by there. You also knew what it might be that was causing the issue and also what it might not be.
