Darren S
ClioSport Club Member
Chaps,
Apologies for the long post, but I'd welcome your thoughts on the following.
I had an incident tonight driving home from work. Noticed that on starting the car (despite me having been out in it at lunchtime) - that all the electricals were 'sluggish' in some way. The dashboard clock looked dimmer, the wipers swung their arc slower than before, but I thought it might have been down to the drain on the battery initially with it being cold, the AC on, etc.
Anyways, I set off and get's halfway over Grane Road (for those that know it) and I get a slight burning smell in the cabin. The Focus in front of me had just booted it and I thought it could be that - but the smell persisted enough for me to think it was coming from my car. I got to the other end of Grane and on one glance in the mirror, noticed via the headlights behind, that my car was smoking a fair bit. I pulls over and noticed a small cloud of grey smoke coming from the grille and bonnet area near the driver's side headlamp. I lifted the bonnet and a bit more wafted out, but with the torch, I couldn't see where it was coming from. Very briefly (as in about a second) both the STOP and SERV lights flickered on before I switched off the engine - but I haven't seen them since.
I got it to Tesco's to pull up and leave the engine off for a few mins. About 15mins later, I risk starting it and it catches straight away - not labouring or struggling at all. With the torch around the headlight area, again I can see nothing - but I still got a faint whiff of that acrid burning smell.
I decide to risk driving home from there (90% motorway and about 15 miles distance) and I get back ok. Again, the wipers and headlight flashing were all dulled and dimmed - as was the boot light when I opened it. A small amount of smoke wafted up from that corner and there's now a small whine from the engine bay when the car idles. Other than that, she drives normally.
Combining all these points, my amateur mechanics suspect that the alternator is either knackered - or on its way out? I have a multimeter here that I could use (if anyone would be so kind to guide me on an alternator test!) - but does that seem a plausible cause for the problem? Initially I was really worried that it maybe the belts, but I don't 'think' that it's either of those.
If anyone has any suggestions, that would be great. I think she'll be heading to the Birchdown lads very shortly anyways....
Cheers,
D.
Apologies for the long post, but I'd welcome your thoughts on the following.
I had an incident tonight driving home from work. Noticed that on starting the car (despite me having been out in it at lunchtime) - that all the electricals were 'sluggish' in some way. The dashboard clock looked dimmer, the wipers swung their arc slower than before, but I thought it might have been down to the drain on the battery initially with it being cold, the AC on, etc.
Anyways, I set off and get's halfway over Grane Road (for those that know it) and I get a slight burning smell in the cabin. The Focus in front of me had just booted it and I thought it could be that - but the smell persisted enough for me to think it was coming from my car. I got to the other end of Grane and on one glance in the mirror, noticed via the headlights behind, that my car was smoking a fair bit. I pulls over and noticed a small cloud of grey smoke coming from the grille and bonnet area near the driver's side headlamp. I lifted the bonnet and a bit more wafted out, but with the torch, I couldn't see where it was coming from. Very briefly (as in about a second) both the STOP and SERV lights flickered on before I switched off the engine - but I haven't seen them since.
I got it to Tesco's to pull up and leave the engine off for a few mins. About 15mins later, I risk starting it and it catches straight away - not labouring or struggling at all. With the torch around the headlight area, again I can see nothing - but I still got a faint whiff of that acrid burning smell.
I decide to risk driving home from there (90% motorway and about 15 miles distance) and I get back ok. Again, the wipers and headlight flashing were all dulled and dimmed - as was the boot light when I opened it. A small amount of smoke wafted up from that corner and there's now a small whine from the engine bay when the car idles. Other than that, she drives normally.
Combining all these points, my amateur mechanics suspect that the alternator is either knackered - or on its way out? I have a multimeter here that I could use (if anyone would be so kind to guide me on an alternator test!) - but does that seem a plausible cause for the problem? Initially I was really worried that it maybe the belts, but I don't 'think' that it's either of those.
If anyone has any suggestions, that would be great. I think she'll be heading to the Birchdown lads very shortly anyways....
Cheers,
D.
