[Warning Light] Battery Charge or Electrical Supply Faulty

[Davo]

Hello All,

Got the subject warning and battery icon on the dash out of the blue last night. Stopped car and restarted several times, warning seems to come on 3 minutes after restarting and stays on until engine turned off. Everything seems to work, but the wipers seemed slow right before the problem started, and still do. They don't seem to be straining, or making any strange noise. I'm hoping that might be a lead to what's wrong. The fault occurs with or without wipers being on. I think it's OK to drive, but it is a long way to a Citroen dealer.
Any one have experience with this? 

Thanks!

[oilyrag]

Might be worth some basic checks - is the alternator belt good/tight and the battery connections firmly in place. If you have a test meter then look for 12.6 volts resting, 13.6/14.6 when running, at the battery terminals.

[Davo]

Thanks - I don't have a meter, but your reply and other research point to a bad alternator or connections as easy places to start.

Thanks Again

[oilyrag]

Even without a meter try switching the headlights & heater fan/wipers on at tickover to load the battery and then increase the revs - the lights should get brighter as the revs increase if the alternator is doing its job.
You may even have a cell in the battery beginning to fail, so get it checked before buying a new alternator.

[Davo]

Thanks - Now that I was able to see well in the daylight, the drive belt was broken in half and just dangling under the car. It's probably the newish big stop/start battery that's keeping things running. I'm hoping it was just its time to go and not one of the pulleys out of alignment; it looks unevenly worn.

[oilyrag]

Not much can go out of alignment, but if the belt slips/stalls it ends up with worn patches that exacerbate the wear pattern. I'd guess that a new belt, correctly tensioned, will do the job.

[Davo]

Not much can go out of alignment, but if the belt slips/stalls it ends up with worn patches that exacerbate the wear pattern. I'd guess that a new belt, correctly tensioned, will do the job.

So new belt and one of the tensioners installed by mechanic. Got 30 minutes down road and a ring comprising one-third of the belt came off. Warning messages including engine fault, tyre pressure, gearbox, and a couple others that didn't seem related to the drive belt came on. Managed to pull over and then automatic transmission wouldn't even engage so I couldn't pull further off the road. The belt is still on, just at two-thirds of its original width. Can't understand why I was able to drive without a belt at all for a while with the original problem, but now the world seems about to end when most of the belt is still on.

[notsofast]

Could one of the pulleys have seized?

[Davo]

Could one of the pulleys have seized?

Apparently there are 2 tensioners, which the mechanic says is overkill. The one they didn't replace is the one that failed most recently. He says the internal spring broke. When a portion of the belt came off last night it knocked a sensor loose, causing the computer to report any number of faults. Currently waiting on second tensioner to be delivered/fitted here in the Highlands. Might be time to say goodbye to Brian Berlingo. Hard to justify keeping an older car when parts and service can be a long way away out here.

[Davo]

All good after replacement. On the plus side, the stop/start started working after a year of not. Don't know if reseating the sensor did it, or if the electrical system wasn't getting the charge it wanted from the drive belt for some time.