Help ...

[jrabarton]

Hi there, been hanging around for a while now and never really had anything of value to say. However now i need some help/advice.

i have a 97 2.5 tiptronic boxster, and i love it, however tonight as i drove my wife aroundfor an hour or so a weird problem started to happen.

if i revved the car over 2500, i know shocking i would thrash it like that, the ABS and the Battery light came on, when the revs drop below 2500 they go out.

could this be an alternator/battery problem?

cheers

Jonathan

[Lucky]

Could be your alternator is going bad or that your serpentine belt is slipping (due to a worn belt or weak tensioner).

[Dave S.]

I don't know how Boxsters are wired, but I had a similar symptom on another car and it was the voltage regulator in the alternator failing. It tested ok on a bench test, but was in early failure mode. I had that alternator rebuilt and it worked perfectly again.

[pushrodracer]

I just went trough the very same thing.Original alternator stopped charging ABS and BATT light came on,I replaced it with a rebuild unit with a bad bearing which made me think I had a bad ISB . Pin pointed the noise to the alt. Replaced alternator again, this time every time the engine turned over 3K both ABS and BATT lights came on .Now on alternator #4 every thing is back to normal. Silver99

[jrabarton]

thanks to everyones advice so far.

I'm getting a new alternator fitted at the weekend, I'll take some pictures and post them all up too if i remember. although i wont be fitting it myself i'm sure my pet mechanic wont mind me snapping over his shoulder.

[mikehkang]

http://www.amazon.com/Equus-3721-Battery-Charging-Monitor/dp/B000EVWDU0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1283351845&sr=8-3

If the alternator is on its last leg, the battery charge may be low as well.
I have this tool and seems to work as advertised.

[Lil bastard]

Increasingly today, alternators are not meant to charge the battery, they are meant to replace that charge which the battery spent on starting, nothing more. Certainly not to 'deep charge' it. There are so many other electronic compenents in a car today that compete for the alternator output. This makes it more important than ever that your battery is in top form.

A bad battery can ruin an alternator in several ways; It makes the alternator work harder and longer, resulting in 'hotter' than it was ideally designed for. Also, the battery is supposed to act like a buffer to smooth out current fluctuations, if not in top form, it cannot do this and the alternator (or more specifically the diode pack, aka voltage regulator) suffers.

If it were me, I'd really consider a battery replacement along with the alternator.

Cheers!

[jrabarton]

thats good idea, i took the box to the mechanic today and while he was chatting on his mobile, i used his tools to remove the access hatch ( i know him quite well and he is always encouraging me to get my hands dirty) I was nearly taking out the alternator before my wife pointed out i killed a MkII scirocco changing an alternator a few years ago. so i stopped

the alternator will be on the test bench in the morning and shoudl be refurbed by the end of the day.

wooo hooo

now i just need a new exhaust as it started blowing on the way to the garage ....