Symptom: washed engine - now alternator intermittently over charging, lights go bright and engine labours every 20secs or so when battery light comes on. Engine power loss under load.
I gave my engine bay a quick rinse down a couple of weeks ago, I've done this dozens of times before without an issue but this time I was heading away and the car wouldn't be started for another 5 days = cold sitting water.
When I came back my battery light was on and the engine sounded slightly labored like the alternator was working over time and I figured it will just be topping the battery up after sitting...
I took it for a drive and the light would go on and off but got less frequent, but now the engine would lose almost all power when under load like setting off from the lights and would take a few seconds to pick back up, which I had to be light on the throttle and fether the revs up. Revved out perfectly fine in neutral/park though.
The battery now showed red or 'replace' so I took it back under warranty but the multimeter test showed it to be fine.
They swapped it anyway and I just fit it but the car still intermittently shows the battery light (every 10-30secs) and when it comes on the engine drops revs a bit like it's laboring and the headlights and dash cluster lights brighten significantly, then back to normal again when the battery light goes off...
Could this random overcharging be a sign of a bad alternator? My guess is water could have sat in it for a few days and caused damage
I gave my engine bay a quick rinse down a couple of weeks ago, I've done this dozens of times before without an issue but this time I was heading away and the car wouldn't be started for another 5 days = cold sitting water.
When I came back my battery light was on and the engine sounded slightly labored like the alternator was working over time and I figured it will just be topping the battery up after sitting...
I took it for a drive and the light would go on and off but got less frequent, but now the engine would lose almost all power when under load like setting off from the lights and would take a few seconds to pick back up, which I had to be light on the throttle and fether the revs up. Revved out perfectly fine in neutral/park though.
The battery now showed red or 'replace' so I took it back under warranty but the multimeter test showed it to be fine.
They swapped it anyway and I just fit it but the car still intermittently shows the battery light (every 10-30secs) and when it comes on the engine drops revs a bit like it's laboring and the headlights and dash cluster lights brighten significantly, then back to normal again when the battery light goes off...
Could this random overcharging be a sign of a bad alternator? My guess is water could have sat in it for a few days and caused damage