UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Hi, first post - hope this is in the right place!

i bought a 2006 VW Polo (1.4) a couple of weeks ago, has been fine until today.

Admittedly the car was cold (and so was this morning), had just started it, and i had to give it some gas to get out of the way of something.

The battery warning light came on for a fraction of a second. about 1 minute later under acceleration it did it again - blink and you miss it both times.

everything seems ok, i have noticed sometimes at night the lights dip a bit but nothing bad.

the car was sat from November until I bought it....i have a warranty but before i book it in is it likely to be a battery on the way out (not covered) or the alternator.....or just me being careless? i have done about 250 miles in it so far and this was the only time it happened.

any ideas/experience of this?

edit: car has done 30k miles

Hello and welcome, yes this is the right area to post for that car!

It would be too easy to say "check the wires near the connector block at the engine/gearbox joining point" I'd think as that typically only affects TDI cars and I'm guessing your car is petrol engined. There will always be a small bit of "light dimming" when the engine revs are low and you end up demanding some steering assistance. On that topic, are you sure that the charge warning light not coming on when the engine is at low revs and you are demanding a steering input as the steering is electro-hydraulic and needs a lot of power.

So, how to check the alternator, you really need a digital volt meter DVM/DMM and connect it across the battery - with all loads off and the engine not running, you should see 12.4V, with engine running at fast idle and no load you should see 14.6V, switch on the heated rear window and all the lights and heater fan fast speed, the reading should still be the same.

Sorry if you know all that already - that would check that the battery is not faulty and the alternator and its wiring is sort of okay, but if the wiring I've refered to is breaking/broken, the if you start the car up and leave at idle, then switch in the big loads, the battery voltage will not get up to 14.6V.

The 14.6V is a rough guide so might be only 14.2V or even 14.8V.

great thanks - i'm not very good at doing things myself - given it has a warranty it sounds like something i can drop by and get checked - much appreciated!