I went out of town for 3 days, and my wife used my car, a 1997 KF Verada automatic 3.5 litre V6. The day before I got back, she took it out in the morning, to a shopping centre only 2km away, then in the afternoon set off again, drove out the driveway, about 100 metres down a slight slope, and the engine stopped and she coasted to a stop. She couldn't restart it, so had my sons push it back to the garage.

The next day I tried to start it, heard the starter motor make a very brief attempt, then nothing. Tested the battery, with car not running, measured at 12V, noticed the clock showed the wrong time and the radio was asking for a security code. Decided the battery was flat, so put it on charge for 3-4 hours at 2A. After that the car started normally.

Used it the next morning (today), to drive to the shopping centre myself. Started normally, ran normally until stopping at the centre, when I saw the red charge warning light come on and the motor falter, while the car was still moving slowly. Engine then stopped. Switched off, tried again, car started normally, switched off, made purchases. On way home, had to stop at the lights, charge light came on, engine stopped. Switched off, started up again normally, but any time I stopped or slowed to a speed that gave engine revs lower than about 500, light would come on again, would go off if I accelerated, but engine would usually stop if I didn't accelerate.

Measured battery with car running - 13.7V.

Checked battery posts and terminals, cleaned them up, refitted, but same symptoms persisted. Thinking of a problem with alternator or voltage regulator. Any opinions? If it's the alternator, can anyone suggest a good auto electrician in the Doncaster VIC area who could confirm and fit a reconditioned one?

this happened in my old XI last week.

The battery light would come on and off and then eventually the car conked out as the battery discharged.

The voltage regulators are a weeker link than the alternator, however, due to the age of the car, I would replace both since they are included as one unit.

You an buy them from low klm cars for about $50-100 and they are easy enough to install yourself.

- remove battery negative terminal, remove drivers side radiator fan, undo alternator front bolt, remove wiring from alternator, let alternator drop slightly, remove the bracket for the alternator, and then pull it out.

Once you install the new one, you should then retention the drive belt. The whole process should be over in about 2 hours. Easy job.

Mike

Thanks Mike. I don't really feel confident to do it myself, so I took it to my mechanic today, and when I described the symptoms, he said "I think your alternator diagnosis is spot on". Apparently there are many options for low cost alternator replacements these days, so I'm relying on him to balance cost/risk and fit the right item.

Same here....it was the regulator. I replaced it with new, and paid someone for the labour.

You could always try pulling the bushes out to see if they are worn down, which could be the cause of a somewhat intermittent problem. I had a similar problem and paid for a new alternator - when i took the brushes out of the old one they were worn, so I think that was the problem and it could have been fixed it much more cheaply.

Brushes, Regulator, and I would even consider a new battery while you are at it. How old is your battery? With all of your recent deep discharges I would consider a replacement after you have ascertained that the fault was from the alternator and replaced the faulty parts.