I was driving home last night at 80mph and braked quickly then accelerated quickly. I then got a fault come up about handbrake and gearbox and Alternator fault. As I was only 1/2 mile from home I carried on home. This morning I left home but the battery didn't turn over very quick but it did start. I stopped at the shops 1/2 mile away and when I went to start the car it was struggling to turn over. It did start just. I arrived at work at 7:30.

At 17:00 I went to start the car and it turned over very slowly and didn't start. I then had all the warning lights coming on ABS, Oil pressure, handbrake, low suspension, gearbox fault etc. I opened the boot and put. On a set of jump leads to charge the battery. I also plugged in my OBD and deleted all the fault lights / messages showing up.

after a while the car eventually started. As I drove off all the fault lights and fault messages appeared. I continued to drive home about 1 mile and the ratio / sat nav panel started flashing on and off. My headlights als went out just as I got home. I tried to see if it would start but it was dead. The other issue is once I had jump started the car I couldn't get the rear boot lid to close and had to tie it down. Can anyone help please

 

Hi Bruce,

I would start by checking the voltage of the battery with a multimeter or voltmeter. See what those are as this all sounds a bit like a low battery.

Take the voltage reading with the car switched off and then take a reading with the car and alternator running. Leave the car a little while and then take another reading with the car switched off and see if the voltage has dropped at all.

Let us know what the readings are.

Thanks,

Chris

 

JX350,

Thanks for the help I will get this checked tomorrow and let you know how I get on.

Cheers

 

Sounds to me like your alternator is on its last legs and not charging the battery. Check the voltage at the battery when the car is running and see what the voltage is on the battery with the engine off. I think you need about 14.5V from the alternator.

 

Joe Dredd,

Will give it a try and let you know how I get on.

Thanks

 

Going into Garage tomorrow to get it checked. Also the issues I have with the low battery power ie my headlights went out before I managed to get home.

Will keep you informed of my results.

Thanks

 

I'm a little late but I had a similar issue, I started my car and every fault code possible came up along with the check engine light and traction control. I was looking around in the engine bay with the engine cover off and noticed the air filter wasn't properly connected to the throttle body. Not sure why but connecting this fixed all the issues.

 

The alternator not charging will light the dash up like a Christmas tree.

Shutting down electrical systems one at a time.

Air conditioning, with the blower was the first thing, followed by others.

 

Hi all,

Bruce has updated on his other thread that this problem was being caused by a fault alternator and hence causing a problem with his boot (trunk) lid.

Thanks,

Chris