Yesterday my car turned on the red idiot light in the shape of a battery. I could see in the battery charge gauge on the dashboard that the battery voltage level was lower than usual--I was able to drive it home, and I've had the battery hooked up to a battery tender ever since.
My current thinking is that the issue is with the alternator, but would love to hear it if you guys think it could be different. Sorry for the LONG story, just didn’t want to leave out any detail/clues that might point to the issue.
So here are all the facts that I think may help with the mystery:
Vehicle info:
2006 LX470
Battery - Die Hard Group 31 (14 months old)
Stock alternator
Superwinch EP9.0 (9000 lbs)
Some of the facts:
1) No issues with battery/alternator observed prior to this incident
2) 7 days prior I had used my winch to help pull out roots from a fallen tree. Some of the pulls were quite hard (I was always using a snatch block.) All told, I would say there were 3 full-cable length hard pulls, and 3 full-cable length light weight pulls
2.1) Car was running during all pulls
2.2) 30% of the time I was manually giving more gas to help alternator give more juice
2.3) Winching was complete without drama or incident
3) Car was run several times in the subsequent days, including 70 mile highway drive, and several 5 - 10 mile local drives
3.1) Vehicle always started without hesitation (i.e., at this point nothing pointed to a problem)
4) ~3 days prior, I started to pay attention to a new “whining” like noise after vehicle start up. It was not very loud, but enough to get my attention. I couldn’t quite tell if it disappeared while driving, but I could definitely pick-up on it every subsequent time I started the vehicle.
5) So yesterday we go to pick-up a christmas tree (4 adults + 2 kids in car) (~20 mile drive each way). On the way to christmas tree farm, same whining sound as before when I start the car. When we get there, I lower the car to “L” mode in AHC to make it easier for me to get the tree on top of the car.
...all is fine until:
6) I start the car at the christmas tree farm and ask AHC to return to “N”. Now I don’t remember if the battery warning light was on prior to me asking for the “N” height, or in conjunction. This all happend in 1st two seconds of me starting the car. Either way, idiot light is now on AND the car will not rise from “L” to “N” (this is with 4 adults + 2 kids + christmas tree -- though I have non-AHC torsion bars and springs in the system, so it usually can handle the weight.)
So at this point (on the 20 mile drive home) I start paying close attention to what is going on. Things I noticed:
7) The new “whining” sound was now gone.
8) Engine RPM had no visible impact on indicated battery voltage (based on dashboard meter)--if I remember correctly, in the past revving the engine would cause the needle to slightly move up (as one might expect)
9) The indicated voltage was falling ever so slowly as the drive progressed
10) When we got home, I measured the battery voltage with volt meter at 11.21 volts with car not running.
10.1) I put the battery tender/charger on the battery (did not disconnect battery from car)
10.2) 9 hours later, battery showed 11.80 volts (car not running)
10.3) Another 12 hours later (next morning) battery indicated 12.1 volts at the battery when not running
10.3.1) Inside the car, measured through the cigarette lighter, 11.8 volts with car NOT running
10.3.2) Inside the car, measured through the cigarette lighter, 11.4 volts with car running at idle
10.3.3) Inside the car, measured through the cigarette lighter, 11.2 volts with car running at 3k RPM (reverting back to ~11.4 volts when RPM fell to idle, and then back to 11.8v when engine was turned off)
All these indicators make me believe that the issue is with the alternator, but the winch usage so recently before made me wonder about the battery...
Thoughts?
And a follow-up question: if the issue is with the alternator, what are the changes of me driving to a dealer 60 miles away without getting stranded on the side of the road?
My current thinking is that the issue is with the alternator, but would love to hear it if you guys think it could be different. Sorry for the LONG story, just didn’t want to leave out any detail/clues that might point to the issue.
So here are all the facts that I think may help with the mystery:
Vehicle info:
2006 LX470
Battery - Die Hard Group 31 (14 months old)
Stock alternator
Superwinch EP9.0 (9000 lbs)
Some of the facts:
1) No issues with battery/alternator observed prior to this incident
2) 7 days prior I had used my winch to help pull out roots from a fallen tree. Some of the pulls were quite hard (I was always using a snatch block.) All told, I would say there were 3 full-cable length hard pulls, and 3 full-cable length light weight pulls
2.1) Car was running during all pulls
2.2) 30% of the time I was manually giving more gas to help alternator give more juice
2.3) Winching was complete without drama or incident
3) Car was run several times in the subsequent days, including 70 mile highway drive, and several 5 - 10 mile local drives
3.1) Vehicle always started without hesitation (i.e., at this point nothing pointed to a problem)
4) ~3 days prior, I started to pay attention to a new “whining” like noise after vehicle start up. It was not very loud, but enough to get my attention. I couldn’t quite tell if it disappeared while driving, but I could definitely pick-up on it every subsequent time I started the vehicle.
5) So yesterday we go to pick-up a christmas tree (4 adults + 2 kids in car) (~20 mile drive each way). On the way to christmas tree farm, same whining sound as before when I start the car. When we get there, I lower the car to “L” mode in AHC to make it easier for me to get the tree on top of the car.
...all is fine until:
6) I start the car at the christmas tree farm and ask AHC to return to “N”. Now I don’t remember if the battery warning light was on prior to me asking for the “N” height, or in conjunction. This all happend in 1st two seconds of me starting the car. Either way, idiot light is now on AND the car will not rise from “L” to “N” (this is with 4 adults + 2 kids + christmas tree -- though I have non-AHC torsion bars and springs in the system, so it usually can handle the weight.)
So at this point (on the 20 mile drive home) I start paying close attention to what is going on. Things I noticed:
7) The new “whining” sound was now gone.
8) Engine RPM had no visible impact on indicated battery voltage (based on dashboard meter)--if I remember correctly, in the past revving the engine would cause the needle to slightly move up (as one might expect)
9) The indicated voltage was falling ever so slowly as the drive progressed
10) When we got home, I measured the battery voltage with volt meter at 11.21 volts with car not running.
10.1) I put the battery tender/charger on the battery (did not disconnect battery from car)
10.2) 9 hours later, battery showed 11.80 volts (car not running)
10.3) Another 12 hours later (next morning) battery indicated 12.1 volts at the battery when not running
10.3.1) Inside the car, measured through the cigarette lighter, 11.8 volts with car NOT running
10.3.2) Inside the car, measured through the cigarette lighter, 11.4 volts with car running at idle
10.3.3) Inside the car, measured through the cigarette lighter, 11.2 volts with car running at 3k RPM (reverting back to ~11.4 volts when RPM fell to idle, and then back to 11.8v when engine was turned off)
All these indicators make me believe that the issue is with the alternator, but the winch usage so recently before made me wonder about the battery...
Thoughts?
And a follow-up question: if the issue is with the alternator, what are the changes of me driving to a dealer 60 miles away without getting stranded on the side of the road?
