On the way home from work this evening my dash and headlights gradually grew dimmer and dimmer the only warning lights that had come on were my hicas and antilock warnings, when I accelerated the engine was stuttering and when I turned the engine off there wasn't enough life in the battery to turn the engine over, however when I went out and tried it again about 2 hrs later it fired up straight away. Anybody had this or any idea's what it might be.

Alternator not charging, you where running on battery only, well until the charge ran too low.

 

Charge your battery and then you can start the car and do some tests, you need to check what the voltage is at the battery with the engine running at idle without any load and then with load on ( lights and blower fan)

 

Voltage should be between 13.1 and 14.1 less than 13 is bad, a loose belt would squeel, check the "engine cont" fuse in the black relay/fuse box on the passenger side inner wing under the bonnet, and check for loose battery conections

 

If the output is low or non then it could be a replacement alternator time.:mad:

 

Jeff TT

Right think I've found the problem, checked the alternator output reading 9.6v so took it off had it checked by an auto electrician who came back with no probs with it reinstalled reading 13.1v fan belt started to squeak so thought i'd tighten it a bit more as it had gone slack even though I had just tensioned it on closer inspection found that the fan belt had a lump in it where it had started come apart so off to get another one tomorrow fingers crossed this will cure the problem bit weird but simple solution Now all I need now is a simple solution for my mitsubishi an i'll be laughing but this ones looking like a new injector pump and the local dealers quoting 1200 quid recon