A new nosie AND a warning light..

A new nosie AND a warning light..

Author
Discussion

Kensai

Original Poster:

30 posts

262 months

Monday 3rd November 2003
quotequote all
Hello wise ones,

I was thrashing the old girl (early S1) back along the A52 tonight when wallop, it goes a tad Pete Tong.

Symptoms are the battery light is on and there is a loud mettalic ringing from the engine compartment which seems to vary with revs but not wheel speed. Oh, and my radio is looking powerless, but everything else seems to work fine. I even switched her off and back on again without any apparent problems.

Anyone got any ideas what I've done to the poor old thing this time?

dimmadan

701 posts

270 months

Monday 3rd November 2003
quotequote all
my initial reaction is the alternator has packed up. You would still be able to start and stop until the battery runs down. You can easily get it checked at a garage 2 min job to see if its working prop or not or if you have a multi meter DIY.

bigmatt

10 posts

252 months

Wednesday 5th November 2003
quotequote all
a few weeks ago I had a similar experience. I stamped my right foot down and was rewarded with an initial 'ping' from the engine compartment followed by a persistant rattling noise and my battery light coming on.

Now I'm not mechanically minded so the exact details might be wrong, but it turned out that a bracket mounted on the alternator involved with tensioning the fan belt had snapped and the belt had fallen off, which would explain both the noise you heard and the battery light.

The good news was that the part came off the shelf for under a tenner, and my local AA garage charged me about forty quid to replace it.



>> Edited by bigmatt on Wednesday 5th November 12:43

Kensai

Original Poster:

30 posts

262 months

Wednesday 5th November 2003
quotequote all
Cheers for the info.

I aksed about this problem on the elise technical board of the british cars forum and the consensus is it's the crank pulley coming loose. I had a bit of a fumble around in the engine compartment and found there was indeed a loose belt and pulley down on the right hand side (as you look from the rear).

Work's a bit busy at the mo so I haven't got round to ringing any garages, but hopefully I'm not going to have to sell a kidney to get it fixed.

Anyone know how much I should expect to pay to have a garage come collect my car on a trailer?