92 golf alt. light is flickering

[vw chick]

Hi
I just bought a 92 golf and the alternator light keeps flickering on and off. I didn't make note of it until i came home last night and my car died - wouldn't start (stereo was still operational though). I later checked to see if my car would start and it did. however, after letting it idle for about 10 minutes it died again. I did notice the instruments on the dash were wonky though (my gas guage said i only had a quarter tank even though I had just filled it). So even though my mechanic said the alt. was fine, could it be the problem, or is it the battery, or the connections? Another question aside, what is a v-belt? could this be the part of the problem?
Thanks in advance
Any thoughts are welcome........

[im_reg]

You may need a new Alternator and Battery. My battery light flickered then my car died. It drained all the power from my battery and also killed my alternator. You should be able to pick both an alternator and battery up for around £130. They are both easily fixed into the car yourself. Check your alternator bracket also as mine was a little over rusted so some of the teeth had come off. Buying a new one now and fixing it at the same time will save any problems and time in the future. Oh and also fix a new fan belt. Your old one may have been slipping. It fixed the problem for me. I'm not sure what a V-belt is sorry. Good luck.

[Cashman11185]

The v-belt is just the belts that run over the alternator or the water pump or things like that. Most cars just use one belt which are bigger. these belts are smaller and cars that have then usually have two or three. Mostly in the old models.

[naterkane]

there are two wires that are attached to your alternator....

one is the main lead that goes to your starter (it's thick)
and the other is a thin blue wire that (typically, but not in all cases) goes near your battery (you'll see a blue wire w/ a white connector near the positive connection on the battery) and then back through the firewall to your gauge cluster.

that thin blue wire does two things... it tells the alternator to charge the battery, and it also activates the dummy battery / alt light in your gauge cluster (the one that's flickering)

there are two things that could go wrong...

start with the wire and make sure it's connections are clean, and it's not broken (you might have to trace it all the way back from the alternator to the firewall, etc...)
it's not a bad idea to replace it... maybe with somthing thicker, like a 10ga. wire (since it's only 16 or 18 ga to begin with)

and secondly... somthing that happened to me a few months ago... is the post on your alternator that it connects to could have a broken connection inside the alternator....

to test that the easiest way is to take the wire off, and when doing that see if the threadded post spins at all when you pull the 8mm nut off.

if it does have some play, it's likely that the post's connection isn't good, and then your alternator needs to be repaired or replaced.

if you're inclined, i'd try to repair it myself by taking it apart (it's not a big deal, but getting the nut off the pully is a pain w/o an inpact tool) and resoldering the connection inside (it'll save you 80-120 bucks to not replace it)

good luck...

start with the wire first... and get your battery fully recharged. you battery has enough amps to run the stereo, just not to crank the motor and fire the plugs.
after you're sure that little blue wire is good, if it's not fixed... look to the alternator.

good luck.

-naterkane

[walterk]

HI,

to be accurate with finding the problem use Volt meter.

1) Check your battery - it should be not less than 12,5 V, if less recharge the battery,
2) start engine and check your batterry - it should be no less that 14,1 V. If less - check alternator or V belt ( sometimes it's enough to tight the V belt)

In case the abovementioned is OK, flickering altenator light shows that there is a problem with relay. Check in the shop.

Walter