Intermittant Battery Light

OK, on the way home last night I noticed that my battery light would come on when I was stopped with the car in gear. If I put it in park or nuetral it would turn off, and if I tapped the gas just a little it would turn off. After a little while I started getting an electrical smell through the a/c vents. The smell lasted for about a minute, then just went away and the battery light stopped coming on. At no point did the check charging system warning pop up and when I ran the system check it said everything was fine.

Could this be as early sign of a failing alternator? Or is this just some kind of weird anomoly? The car's a '95 with 120k miles and I believe it still has it's original alt.

RE: Intermittant Battery Light

it could be the alt going, it could be the battery going. But that electrical smell make me think it might also have been something shorting out, and it may have stopped when the fuse blew. Check for blown fuses, and did anything stop working recently? Also, if you go to autozone they should be able to run a check on your battery and charging system for free.

RE: Intermittant Battery Light

Well thats exactly how my alternator went. I smelled something that reminded me of scorched wires. Then a few min later the battery light popped up and then 30 miles later my car ran out of juice. Alt was gone.

RE: Intermittant Battery Light

Thanks. I checked all the fuses, none were blown and nothing has stopped working yet. At least the alt is much easier to get to on this car than on my Cougar.

RE: Intermittant Battery Light

Really strange, cause about 4 weeks ago, my battery light came on and never went off. Now it just stays on. There was no smoke or smell that indicated anything burning. Could it be the voltage regulator going out?? I've ran a check on the computer, everything says OK, and am beginning to think that its just the light itself. Regardless, I'm going to have it checked out. Will let you know what the diagnosis is. If anyone has any comments on why the light would come on and never go off please feel free to comment.

Steve

RE: Intermittant Battery Light

The only way the battery lamp is illuminated is if current is flowing through the circuit. The circuit is wired so the 'output' of the battery and the 'output' of the alternator are balance. If they are out of balance, the battery is loosing charge or overcharging.

Barring any wiring faults you are either undercharging or overcharging with the battery lamp illuminated. You're on borrowed time.