What is the likely cause?

I was on the longer driver today, about 2 hours after all, and noticed towards the latter 3rd of the journey the battery light was on, then went off after a couple of minutes, then came on again maybe 15 minutes later and stayed on until I got the to destination.

I really didn't want it to be the alternator having died again as I only got in not a year ago. I took a look under the hood as soon as I parked and put the voltmeter on with engine stopped and it read 12.9/13.0v. So fully charged right? I know you should let it rest a while to get a true reading but in time when it has been working normally and checked the voltage I didn't seen it deviated much above the suggested voltages for full charge In fact I have never read it as high as this, usually 12.6 or so but then again I don't usually drive that far and check. If the alternator hadn't worked at all I would be looking at much lower voltages right? It is a normal sealed batter btw, not lifepo4 or the like.

I ran the engine and saw the belt spinning so relieved to see it is still operational. I just read an article which advises to put the voltmeter on when the engine is running, which I haven't done yet, to look for a jump in voltage on the battery to indicate the battery is charging.

Likely causes?

I will also note that it is a new battery, bought only last year.

MOT test is tomorrow so fingers crossed it won't affect that! Have to try and solve it if is going to be an issue, only a few hours! Read more

I'm intending to drive in Germany this summer and need to know how much tread I must have on my tyres. I found an old thread on here that said categorically that a minimum of 3mm is needed, and even if you are on that limit you won't be allowed to drive away

Searching online I find that the minimun legal tread depth is 1.6mm, same as it is here Does that mean the German authorities are enforcing a recommended tread depth and not the legally permitted minimum.... Read more

I am umming and ahhing about this.

The one an hour away is what my mum uses and used them before no problems.

I am wondering if it is better to drive the hour or so back just for the MOT test. Are there advantages to that or should I pick any nearest to current location?

I know the official line is that all MOT centres will test perfectly equally but the word on the street seems to differ. Even besides the MOT they might be grumpy or any manner of other things that would make them disagreeable.... Read more

Hi All

Just a quick one - I brought a new pre reg ‘69 plate in April 2020. It has been serviced and MOT when it should be, the one one being beginning of March 2025. This week the engine light came on and before I knew where I was there was an almighty bang, smoke and a big puddle of oil. Garage has said the connecting rod has gone through the engine/sump. Basically it’s a new engine… if I can find anyone to do it.

Now my questions are:
-should a connecting rod go on a 5 year old car?
-should the garage have picked anything up on the service/mot back in March? They did write on the paperwork whining noise heard - suspect auxiliary belt pulley. Needs further investigation.
They didn’t tell me this just wrote it on the MOT paperwork and handed it back to me. Stupidly I didn’t read it and just assumed all ok and it had passed

Thanks

Vicky Read more

Hi I have a number of ECU errors which are most like related to the MAF sensor. I have replace the air filter and cleaned the MAF sensor with Liquid Moly cleaner.

It has not helped though. Looking at live data from the ECU just gives 0's for the live MAF ... Read more