Car battery charging warning light stays on for 30 seconds to 1 minute

lchhung · 01-01-2017 9:30pm #1

Hi,
My Toyota Yaris 2008 1.0L has shown battery warning light 2 weeks ago. The light stays on and flash for 30 second to 1 minute after the engine has started in the morning of after the car has parked for several hours (cold engine). I checked power by multimeter. It has shown around 12.4V for battery alone and around 14.3 V immediately after the alternator operated. Which means that both battery and alternator are in good shape. My battery is 3 days old only, as I replaced it because of the warning light. But, it does not solve.
Does anyone have any idea about that ?
Thanks,
Hung

KK4SAM · 01-01-2017 10:11pm

Is the belt tight enough ?

georgefalls · 02-01-2017 10:20am

Auxiliary belt needs changing, or tightening.

lchhung · 02-01-2017 5:09pm

Thanks KK4SAM and Georgefalls.

I am not sure the belt is a reason and how it should be tighten, as just got this used car last 3 weeks and don't know well about car. But, I feel tension of the belt might not be really good, as I can easily press it down.

I will bring my car to a garage after tomorrow and update after it has solved.

lchhung · 04-01-2017 11:06am

I took my car to 3 different garages. Two of them check the power by their voltmeter and the power is perfect for alternator and battery. Tension is also fine. After checking for sometime, they said don't know why and need to leave my car there for one or two days for fully checking.

Another garage, without checking, one guy here said that because of alternator has gone and need to change or fix, and he will cost me ERU450 for new and EUR 250 for fixing, and take 4 days for sending the alternator to somewhere for fixing.

I know that power is charging to the battery although the warning light is dimming with a very weak light flashing. This checking done by myself and two garages using voltmeter. So, it should not be a problem of the alternator, right? If the alternator has gone, it will cost me too much. If that, then bad news

Do you have any other idea?

Thank you,

NickNickleby · 04-01-2017 11:26am

Hi Ichhung,

Have a read of the attached webpage. It sounds just like your problem. Easy fix is replace alternator. Cheap but awkward fix : do what this guy did.

Cheers
Nick
link : http://steampunkworkshop.com/toyota-yaris-battery-light-repair/

By the way, in the link above, there's no actual problem apart from the light coming on. It seems that the charging system was working ok. Perhaps yours is too.

lchhung · 05-01-2017 4:41pm

Thank you! I will check this.

lchhung · 06-01-2017 6:44pm

Dear All,

I have solved my problem and found exactly what was this.

My warning light stayed on for 30 seconds to 1 minute when the cold engine started because of the regulator was gone.

One of my senior colleagues at NUI Galway found the problem, and he took me to a mechanics to replace a new regulator and then to test the alternator to make sure the alternator will work properly.

My alternator was made by BOSCH so that my new regulator also should make by BOSCH.

Total cost I paid is 86.6 EUR (56 EUR for the new BOSH regulator + EUR 20 for labor and over EUR10 for VAT).

You can purchase a regulator yourself if you are sure that your alternator is still alive so that the cost would be EUR40 only.

Thank you,
Hung

Car battery charging warning light stays on for 30 seconds to 1 minute

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