Charging system on the blink (was: V-Belt not tight enough?)

[Steve Dambrowski <steved@panix.com>]

Car: Audi 4000 CS Quattro (1986)
Miles: 123,000

  Ok, I tightened the v-belt, and it doesn't seem to have fixed the problem.

 The voltmeter is currently reading around 12, down from 14/15 where it 
normally reads at. (I did charge the batter over night last night) When 
it first dropped down to 12 on Wed, no warning lights came on. As it 
continued to fall, both the brake and alternator lights came on. Now, 
with the battery charged, they still come on, but not full strength. They 
are brighter when I'm just parked, but as I'm driving, they are hardly on 
at all. (But they are on) 

  Any guess as to what the problem is? Is there a way to check to see if 
the alternator is bad? Wouldn't it give any warning signs as it was 
going? Or would it just fail like that?


                 STEve



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Internet - steved@panix.com         http://www.cyberenet.net/~steved