A/T Temp, Battery, Timing Belt lights on

[Don Logan]

My A/T Temp, Battery, Timing Belt (and the one on the left of that- unsure what it is) lights came on together today on the motorway. I had a look on the search thing and posts seemed to say that it could be the alternator or a loose earth connection.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for stuff to check?

How do i check the alternator?
And what's the light on the left hand side of the timing belt light?

Thanks.

[TonyN]

Hows your dash voltmeter? its normally showing about 14-16ish volts, if its lower then you have alt problems.

The obvious way is to check the alt output with a mutimeter with the motor running.

Car shops (even Halfrauds!! lol ) can use their battery tester to check your Alt output.

Have you been dunking it in water, its often does this time the alternator dries out and cleans the brushes off, sometimes takes a couple of days.

Whats the light look like?

[Don Logan]

Oh yeah, i forgot to say that the voltmeter looked lower than usual. Do i need to check for 16ish volts at the output of the alternator then? If lower, it needs changing?

It has seen an awful lot of action offroad in the snow since thursday, so i dunno if that's got water into the alternator brushes.

The light is the one on the far left in this pic:

http://euro.lexusownersclub.com/gall...ghts.sized.jpg

Cheers.

[wishbone]

Water in diesel filter warning light.

[KERRSURF]

Just let out out with the wee drain tap on the bottom of filter housing.

[Apache]

16V is a little high. Nominally, the charging voltage for a 12V lead-acid battery is around 14.4V. This is the voltage you should see AT THE BATTERY, not at the alternator output. Stick 'idle up' on so the alternator is running at a decent speed as you wont always get full charging voltage at idle.

[Don Logan]

Started it up this evening and it struggled a bit. It's always started on the button before. The voltmeter on the dash is showing only halfway now as well. I'm getting 12 volts at the batteries with high idle on. I felt for the drain plug on the bottom of the fuel filter housing, is it the one with the 'wings' on it so i can be loosened by hand? Anyway, i loosened it and let a bit of diesel pour out for about ten seconds and did it back up. After starting, the lights are all still on.

This won't have anything to do with water in the fuel filter housing though will it? They'd be separate problems wouldn't they?

If it is because of water on the alternator, would that cause these problems? Or is it more likely to be a buggered alternator?

Thanks.

[davec170]

Start it up (if you can) and squirt loads of WD40 into the alternator whilst tapping it's casing with a "light" hammer. If charge voltage does not recover you are probably looking at replacing the alternator brushes and/or diode pack. If you don't have a friendly autosparks, or are not sure what I mean, budget for a new alternator.

[PeuNeu]

Hi Dave,

Could you please explain me what do you mean with this WD40??

I have the same lights on (flashing on saturday, but on now) and will try to troubleshoot everything tonight.

Thanks

[4thsurf]

I wouldn't bother with the WD40 or "Thumping" trick. Check your belt tension first then...

Generally what happens is this. You will occasionally get all of the warning lights flicker at you then they will stay on after a while. Continued driving will cause the batteries to die as they either don't get enough charge or are overcharged and get fried so you will eventually stop when you run out of volts. What has happened is the internal regulator in the alternator has died. Now I don't know what it's like in your guys neck of the woods but here it's generally cheaper to replace the alternator than have it repaired which gives an excuse for a nice upgrade..

Think HZJ75 or similar Landcruiser here and get the nice 110 amp alternator off of it. To fit it you more or less bolt it on and 2 little mods need to be made. The adjusting bracket needs to be extended which is a simple task with a welder, best to have the alternator in place to get this 100% perfect. And you need to change the terminal on the main wire to a larger one, the original can be carefully drilled out to suit if you feel lazy. I also tend to leave the original 80 amp alternator main fuse in place as worst case that will pop before any wiring melts, You can go bigger on the fuse but you'd want to play it safe and replace the main charge cable with this

[TonyN]

I wouldn't bother with the WD40 or "Thumping" trick. Check your belt tension first then...

I would, most people have this problem after going offroad or getting it very wet.

As nice as upgrading things is, if just cleaning the crap off the brushes makes it work again, why spend lots of cash?

If the alt is duff then go for it, but I'm sure most people would be happy just getting it working again.

[4thsurf]

I would, most people have this problem after going offroad or getting it very wet.

As nice as upgrading things is, if just cleaning the crap off the brushes makes it work again, why spend lots of cash?

If the alt is duff then go for it, but I'm sure most people would be happy just getting it working again.

True. I can only comment from my experiences and 95% are failed regulators, Fouled brushes seem to result more in a reduced charge rate rather than lights up and that seems more after a washdown or "drowning"

[PeuNeu]

Thank you both for your answers. True that the engine is quite durty as I drove 2000km through Hungary, ukraine and Russia last week.
I checked today, at the battery plugs, while motor running, I had 14.0V.

WD40 is to clean durty brushes?

[PeuNeu]

Could you please just tell me one thing: I'm not that good in mechanic but spread WD40 in an alternator while running is not hasardous? I mean, this produce electricity, isn't it?

I've already tried but just a little. on the next day, lights were flashing but now went back on again. is that linked? í can not say...

Thanks