Leesha

K so can someone tell me what it means when a battery red light goes on on my dash?? It goes on and off since they changed my battery.

It's not the oil light & I just added more coolant & oil as my oil was low. So can someone shed some light on this... no pun intended.

BG-8

The battery light indicates a battery charging problem.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question324.htm

Footman

iTrader: (2)

Check your terminals.

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

c'mon Leesha, this is covered in the owner's manual.
as others have mentioned, this is a system charging issue. Seeing as how you just had a battery replaced, I would start there.

The terminals could be loose on the battery or there's a chance it could be your alternator.
If the battery light stays solid, you might run into what happened to me. https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/p2503-think-my-alternator-dead-162635/

Leesha

Hope this is not the case. Thinking not as the battery was just replaced by the dealers. So I mad an appt. and will have my baby checked out.

Thanks for the links guys. Will be back with details on Tuesday.

Btw faster to ask u guys than to check my manual.

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

I would check the battery terminal connections. They might not have tightened one sufficiently.
If the connection breaks contact that could throw a CEL.

Leesha

This is what I originally thought but never did check them out. I will check the connection out later. Thanks...

Leesha

Soooo I checked the connection and it is not that. I will find out Tuesday I guess. Would the alternator be covered by the warranty?

Mazurfer

Leesha,

It would only be covered under the bumper to bumper and you are outside of that I believe???

Did you pull both battery connections off and clean the terminals and posts, or just make sure they were on tight?


This could be a case of where the alternator was going, drained the original battery, so they replaced that(with the one you have now), and never did check the alternator.

I'm going to simplify here, but...............
If you have someone close by with a meter(or even yourself), you can do pretty much a simple test of the alternator by starting the car and measuring the voltage across the battery.
It should read about 14.2v(or a little less) with the car running. The old school way was to start the car and then remove the positive lead from the battery. If the car keeps running then it's not the alternator. The car runs off the alternator when it's started and not the battery(for the most part). The battery is really only used to start the car.

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

13.9v to 14.2v

Mazurfer

Picky, Picky!
Guess I figured if she had it read and came back to say........."13.9v", we would've then said........that's okay!

Guess I should have written it out more precisly(for anybody's future reference)....I think it was her legs that momentarily grabbed my attention and made my mind wander from the task at hand!

Bullitt

iTrader: (7)

That pun was so intended.

Mazurfer

^...............oh crap! It actually wasn't, but I left myself open on that one didn't I.

Leesha

Glad to know that you were using your hands.

Thanks for the advice. I will ask the dealer what the reading is and then get back to u guyz on that. I don't have a meter. Maybe my dad does but he is in Belize. So I'll have to wait till Tuesday. I'm to scard to try the old school way so Tues morn is only 2 days away.

Will be back and thanks guyz..

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

I just didn't want her to panic if it came back with less than 14.2v

Main thing is , is it putting out voltage.

Leesha

Ok so the Battery test read & there were no codes. I will have to bring it back when I have more time for them to look into it.

SOC: 12.49V
Measured: 664CCA
Rated: 550CCA

So what do you all suggest as no codes were found yet the light still came on at highway speed of 130km for about 3 secs. ???

Footman

iTrader: (2)

12.49V is low.

Huey52

iTrader: (2)

^ Yep, coincidental with batery replacement to be sure but the alternator charging output as already cited should be in the 14V ballpark.

BG-8

Why is that low? I think the test was done when the car was off, so 12.5V is a fully charged battery. If the test was done while the car was running, then 12.5V is low (mine shows 14.33V with the car ON), but I don't think they do that.

Problem causes:
Battery (as you already changed so that's probably not the problem)
Alternator (check the battery as the car is running, should be 13.4V-14.4V)
Loose connection
Bad Cables
Loose Belt

Check all of those and you will fix the problem.

Leesha

That is the reading I got from the dealer. Called and of course they are closed at 5pm and can't take my call considering it is 5:04!!

So www.exide.com is the machine I guess or service they use to test it. Not sure if it was done when the car was on or off.

Will take it to my regular dealer at my next oil change and have them look at it for me. Will call tomorrow and find out.

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

What's this , flashing red light in Leesha's car ? Has to be some kind of hotness warning -surely ........

schnipster

albiet a 'real' issue lol, i have never seen so many replies.....lol leesh you could ask these guys how to open and close your door properly and they would be sendin you "how to" videos hahahahahahahahah...thousands of them...

Cdn Cat

Leesha, I had similar problems with my MX-3 last year and it turned out to be a worn pully. I have a meter if you want to check the voltage running and with the engine off. Pm me with a time that works for you.

Leesha

Sure I work till 5:30 we can check it out after. Pm me your number and I'll call u after work.

LoL about the replies. Yes I love the help. Can't stand driving my car knowing there is an underlying issue.

Brett: For real this time!

Ya so I have other question like silly ones that will make u guys laugh cause I don't want to get my manual and read it...

Which one is the rear defrost and which one is the front windshield. Please draw a pic. I normally just push one of them and do the trial and error thingy.

But for now the battery light is my main issue. It comes on for 3secx or so... then goes off. May have 3x a day sometimes only once. Normally when the car is warm and I'm going 130+km but has done it at all speeds also.

BG-8

I see what's going on....... you are trying to see if "schnipster" is right. and if we'll start doing videos/pictures about your defroster? Correct...? or "schnipster" is getting in my head?