Well nothing earth shattering to report other than one ground wire (he says there's 2 grounds) was badly corroded and rusted to frame. He broke the nut loose, replaced it after cleaning up all around the contact area to make a good ground. He checked all of the other connections and wires and they looked good. So it's off to FL for the winter.

 

So as a follow up to my previous posts regarding the battery light coming on, we've made it to Florida with only one time the batt light coming on for a short period of time. After we stopped for gas, fired the car back up, the batt light stayed off for the duration of the trip. Now that we've been down here a month, this is time #5 that the light has come back on. The only similar thing I notice about this each time is, it happens only after I've had the AC on for at least 30min then shut the car off for about 10mins to run into a store or whatever, then come back out, restart the car, put on the air and after approx 2mins the batt light comes back on.
I have the AC set to auto, 70degs with the recirc button on. So I've tried the AC on manual 70degs w/o recirc on and still the same thing. So obviously this has something to do with the AC being a drain on the system somehow. The battery cable is not unduly hot where water sizzles when a drop is put on but it is warm of course.
If I drive the car around here w/o the AC on, no issues.
So if anyone has any ideas I sure would appreciate them.
Thanks,
Boston

 

Boston when you replaced the battery did you get one with the same specs as the one you replaced ? Also is there maybe a chance that the new battery is possibly bad ?

 

A lot of folks say it's usually the positive battery cable, so as a cheap solution I ran a generic 3ft 8ga cable from the alternator to the positive terminal on the battery to supplement the original cable. I haven't had the battery light since, but it was pretty occasional before so I can't say with certainty that it has fixed the issue. But for $10 from any parts store it was worth a shot. I also got a cheap USB charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter that shows battery voltage, so if the alt light does come on I'll be able to just flip open the ashtray and to confirm that the alternator is still functioning as intended.

 

Almost certainly the cable is bad on the interior. I'll wager you fixed the problem with your shortcut fix. Mine does too intermittently when I have worked on my lighting mods, draining power over a few hours without having the car started. I've "band aided" my problem by using fluid film on the cable on a couple of times on the hot cable. Reasoning was it would "seep down" the metal better while hot. Been several months now with no reoccurance.

 

Hi Tony,
Yes, the battery is identical to the orig when I replaced the alternator. I've checked the battery since on several occasions and the readings were fine.
I think I'll get the new cable and the USB plug-in XtypeHI (below) as suggested.
I'll probably do it this coming week and let everyone know what happens.
Thanks for replying.
Boston

 

Thanks for the reply. Tell me, any particular type of usb charger i should use? Is it just for the indicator light that shows it's getting power?
Dell had mentioned about the battery cable switch out some time ago, and now with you and everyone else saying the same thing, obviously it's something I need to do.
So this coming week I'll switch it out with the 3' 8ga and let everyone know what happens after awhile.
Thanks again.
Talk to everyone soon.

 

The USB charger has a display that shows the battery voltage. So if the alt light comes on you can take a look and make sure it's still actually putting out 13+ volts and continue on your way with piece of mind that your charging system is actually working correctly and it's a false light.

I got the one below on amazon for ~$10 and it works great but there are a bunch of similar ones. Since the lighter socket on the X-Type isn't powered when the car is off I just leave it in the socket and just pop open the ashtray if I want to take a look (or charge something).

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For the cable, I got this one but anything similar from a parts store should work:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is a little tricky to install because the bolt on the back of the alternator is a bit tricky to get to. I think I removed the air intake box, but the real trick was to use a long series of extensions on my ratchet to go across the front of the car so I could have the ratchet over by the battery with plenty of room to turn. I might have needed either a wobble extension or u-joint I'm not 100% sure. Getting the bolt on the back of alternator off was easy with this method, but a bit more of a pain getting it back on since you can't get a hand on it. I always find a dap of glue to temporarily hold the bolt to the socket while getting everything lined up helps, and then the glue easily comes free once you've gotten it tightened down and given the ratchet a tug. So it's a cheap repair but a bit of a hassle. Good luck!

 

Hello XtypeHI,
Thanks for the great info. I went ahead and ordered the USB charger you recommended. The battery cable I'll probably have to have a garage down here do it as I don't have my tools with when we came to FL for the winter. I did look at doing it though and yes, I would have to remove the air cleaner box and getting at it would be a pain. So I'll just have it done this coming week. The cable is a 6ga with a 5/16" eye socket crimp on both ends correct? That's what the description is showing anyway. So it's not a whole new pos cable, just a supplement in addition to the cable that's in already correct? I guess I'm not sure how this is going to attach to the existing cable. Do you have a picture of what the end result looks like at the battery end?
Thanks,
Boston

 

Yup 6ga with 5/16" terminals should do the trick. It is indeed a supplement to the original cable. The stud on the back of the alternator is long enough that you can just undo the bolt, leave the original cable end on, add the end for the new auxiliary cable, put the bolt back on and tighten it up. For the battery end, you add it to the bolt holding the small cable that goes to the fuse box. Same thing, just remove the bolt, add in the new cable end, and tighten back up. It would be dead easy except the pesky alternator stud is a little difficult to get to. I routed the new cable under the air box where some factory wiring is already located, and put it in some cable covering just to make it blend in better (or I suppose you could just get a black cable to being with too). New original cables are still available or you could get one custom made for less, but this seems to be the cheap/easy fix that works, and especially since the only issue seems to be the false light I didn't want to spend a ton of time or money fixing it, though it did bug me enough to want to do something. I also want to replace the cable running from the battery to the fuse box as I do see a voltage drop between the alternator and interior that I think might be causing my occasional false overheating issue, but I'll have to ask the forum about that one since it seems a little less intuitive to replace.

 

Ok, great info. Seeing I don't have the tools here with me, I'm going to order the cable and pay mech in town to do the work. This should be interesting. After i get it done I'll let you know what the results are.
Thanks again, that was great information on how to do it.
Boston