Focus 1.8 petrol - battery charge light - intermittent

[tonycollinet]

As subject:

Battery charge light intermittently lights.

When lit - battery voltage (with engine running) is 12V or slightly lower.

When not lit, battery voltage is 14V

So far had replacement battery, and alternator, and today the wiring has been checked - still no positive diagnosis.


Any ideas?

[Mustangman25]

You don't have any accessories hooked up which would draw a lot of power, do you? Aside from that, I'm stumped, as I've never heard of a battery producing much more then 12.6 volts.

[tonycollinet]

Sorry - didn't explain very well

The 14V is with the engine running - ie when the light is out, the altenator is generating the charging voltage of 14V

When the light is on, there is no charging voltage - only the battery voltage.

This, even with new battery and alternator - and the wiring has been checked today.

[west2parade]

Originally Posted by tonycollinet

Sorry - didn't explain very well

The 14V is with the engine running - ie when the light is out, the altenator is generating the charging voltage of 14V

When the light is on, there is no charging voltage - only the battery voltage.

This, even with new battery and alternator - and the wiring has been checked today.

Hi there Tony - just wondered if you had sorted out this problem as I am having exactly the same problems with my Ford Focus. I'd be grateful if you'd let me know.... Thanks in advance, Jackie

[mr_tw]

you could get the altenator tested, one of my buddiesgot a bad one once, and most places will do that for free, and just a guess but could the pulley be loose? causing it to run at diferent speeds or not at all?

[tjspeed2003]

I have recently ran into this problem.
I have found that the serpentine belt tensioners have a tendancy to go bad.
they stick in different positions, so it is not easy to detect.
hope this helps.

[davebigs]

I had kinda the same problem with mine. It took me some time to figure it out. There is a connector that plugs into the alternator that has three wires. One of the wires was broken right at the connector.the insulation was still intact on the wire so there was no way for me to see it. I found out that this is very common problem with the 2000 to 2002 models. I got my connector at a local junk yard and the guy there showed me that there were at least a dozen of these cars there that people had come to get that same connector for.