Hey all,

Driving home tonight and i notice my battery light on the dashboard come on very dimly as im driving, flickering a little. I thought it was a little strange, and as i increased revs, it went off completely, but sitting at idle, it is on.

What does this light represent? Im thinking alternator but im not exactly the expert here. :cool:

Cheers guys,
Shane.

Voltage Regulator (the brushes) it sounds like, it's a 30 buck part i think (dont quote me on the price) mine did the exact same thing on my TS when i had her :)

Cheers

Heath

What does this light represent? Im thinking alternator but im not exactly the expert here. :cool:


Yes it represents the alternator, the light comes on when the charge drops below, i think 8 volts? When you rev the engine the alternator spins faster generating more electricity and therefor the light goes off.

The regualtor which was mentioned earlier makes sure that no matter how fast the alternator is spinning it produces around 14v. If this part isnt to fault then the alternator itself is screwed. The bushes inside (as previously mentioned also) are part of the whole power generating thing and if worn down they wont work as well.

You should repalce the regualtor and if that doesnt work you can either buy a different alternator, or you can pull it apart and replace the bushes yourself, the bushes arent that expensive.

hope this helps

taking the alternator in a v6 looks screwed i payed for it to be done... paid $45 bucks labour which was cheap considering i looked at it and the wreakers had to rip the aircon lines out of one i had to get....

hmmmmmmmmm, gotta love failing parts - thanks for that guys, the quotes really give me a good indication cos im getting the timing belt done atm, so i've asked him to give me a quote on the battery light problem so hopefully he'll be reasonable - if not, bring on the part hunting :cool:

I recently got my alternator changed because of an intermittent problem with the battery light coming on.

Had the thing done for $140, with a reconditioned Bosch alternator. My car is a V6 TE and had the more affordable Bosch alternator in it. Apparently some other ones have a Mitsubishi part and that is over double the price of the Bosch. Just something to be careful of, get a torch and have a look to see the brand on the side of your alternator (that's what I did). Some, less than honest people, may try and push you into buying the Mitsu part and charge you for it.

Not sure how this may relate directly to a TR, but just in case.