Corroded Battery TerminalsĬorroded/ loose battery terminals can cause a whole range of peculiar faults on your vehicle. Most garages will have an appropriate battery tester however and will carry out the test for a small fee. A simple multimeter will not always indicate a shorted cell within a battery. In order to diagnose this fault, you will need to take your battery to get tested. This fault may also be shown by your vehicle being slow to start, especially on colder mornings. A shorted cell in your battery could prevent it from accepting the electrical feed from your alternator and, therefore, will not be getting charged. Faulty BatteryĪnother common problem that would be indicated by your battery light illuminating whilst you’re driving is that your battery may be faulty. In order to determine if your dash cluster is faulty or not, you will usually have to have it bench tested by a specialist. Usually, with a faulty dash cluster, you will also notice other faults such as faulty odometer readings or other illumination lights when they shouldn’t be and vice versa. Faulty dash clusterĪlthough this fault lies towards the more uncommon end of the list, it still happens frequently enough to make it onto here. If any are found, repair and run your vehicle to make sure the battery light extinguishes after starting. Next, carry out a visual inspection on the actual wire to check for corrosion or breaks in the cable. Carry out a visual inspection on the block connector fitted on the alternator’s back and make sure a good connection is visible. If no fault is found with these, then you will need to check this wire next. Have your battery and alternator tested to make sure that they’re both operating as they should be. The easiest way to determine this fault is the process of elimination. This wire will often be connected to the alternator via a standard block connector and will then run either directly to your dash cluster, or it will run through an ECU. The wire that feeds your dash cluster is often only a small 15 amp cable, making it prone to wear and corrosion. This is a fault that can be a bit more tricky to determine, but I have seen it happen many times.
CAR BATTERY INDICATOR DASHBOARD HOW TO
You can find more information about how to diagnose and check your alternator here: Alternator symptoms 3. They will often have a specialized tester that will be able to easily diagnose your alternator for you at a small fee. This is quite a technical diagnosing process, however, if you’re not comfortable working with electrics on a running engine then take your vehicle to a local garage.
From faulty diodes to broken windings, they will all cause your alternator to stop charging at the current rate that your vehicle requires.
Your alternator is a fairly complex unit with multiple internal components that could go wrong. So, if your serpentine belt seems to be fine, the next component we look to is your vehicle’s alternator. You can find more information about how to diagnose it here: Serpentine belt symptoms 2. Top Tip: Make sure you remove ALL debris from the old belt that may have gotten lodged in various parts of your engine bay as this could cause you problems down the road if it gets caught in pulleys or cooling fans. As long as your vehicle hasn’t been driven for a prolonged amount of time without a belt, you should be able to get away with just replacing it and driving as normal. The process for diagnosing this fault couldn’t be simpler, carry out a visual inspection on the engine and it should be immediately obvious if your belt has snapped.
If your belt has snapped, you will usually also notice a couple of other symptoms to indicate this, such as loss of power steering and loss of air conditioning. Your vehicle is smart enough to recognize this as a fault and tell you through the battery light. If your auxiliary drive belt has broken, then it’s no longer able to spin your alternator, meaning there is no electrical charge being generated in which to charge your battery. This is by far the most common reason for your battery light to illuminate whilst your driving. Broken Auxiliary Drive belt (Serpentine Belt) Here is a more detailed list of the most common causes of why your battery warning light is on while driving. While these are just some of the most common ones, there are many more. There are actually quite many things that can cause your battery light to come on. In rare cases, a faulty dash cluster or a bad car battery is to blame. It can also be because of a faulty or worn alternator or the wirings to it. The most common reason for a battery light on while driving is a broken auxiliary or serpentine belt. Conclusion Causes of Battery Light On While Driving