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[randomspam]

as it happens I do actually have the receipt for the alternator and it says it's guaranteed for 2 years BUT the work was done up on the outskirts of Coventry where I bought the car from so cost of travel/time cancels it out I reckon, plus I have to drive 150 miles with semi working speedo/fuel gauge/ABS/TC.

[Dan McIntyre]

In my experience with the Vectras and with the symptoms you describe it does sound as others have said already as though the alternator is gone - if it's overcharging it will drain the cells in the battery of liquid and fry the battery and can also melt parts of the wiring loom.

Better fixed asap due to the damage that can be caused - on my 1st Vectra when it happened it ended up costing over £300 to repair as the main engine wiring loom had melted and the battery had dried up.

[randomspam]

right, i've watched the DVD 3 times in a row now, I'm still not convinced I should do it myself but questions....

1) Do i have to remove the plenums(?) to be able to access the alternator or can I just start at removing the mass air flow tubes part as shown in the DVD?

2) The alternator is bottom left in the engine bay isn't it, just underneath the other furthest left wheel holding the aux belt?

3) Once I can get to it how do I remove the alternator?

[randomspam]

interestingly I've just driven the car back from work this morning, only 15 miles, a 30 min journey. The issue had completely dissapeared and the car behaved exactly as it should. The one thing I did think of was that it is much warmer this morning than it was last night and it has been for the last 10 days or so since the issue began to appear.

Obviously the problem hasn't gone away but could it be brought on my the cold?

[TheBoy]

right, i've watched the DVD 3 times in a row now, I'm still not convinced I should do it myself but questions....

1) Do i have to remove the plenums(?) to be able to access the alternator or can I just start at removing the mass air flow tubes part as shown in the DVD?

2) The alternator is bottom left in the engine bay isn't it, just underneath the other furthest left wheel holding the aux belt?

3) Once I can get to it how do I remove the alternator?

1) do you have the extended 'droop snoop' plenum, or the shorter one that ends at cambelt cover? If later, you won't need to remove. If extended, I would have though you still wouldn't need to remove, but may dive a bit more room (ie, try with it in place, and remove if it gets in way).

2) looking from front, alternator is bottom left pulley.

3) Soz, don't know...

[randomspam]

latest update in the saga is I tried to drive it to work this evening all appeared peachy as it was this morning. 10 mins in and I got stuck behind some stationary traffic and my headlights switched off and wouldn't come back on then the whole console dimmed until it was unreadable. The engine was still running though, I managed to pull into a sideroad straightaway. Greenflag picked me up and it's sitting outside the house undrivable.

The mechanic put his multimeter on the battery and once he'd given it a charge from his truck we started the engine and watched the battery voltage steadily drop until the car stalled and refused to start again.

So the battery is not being charged by the alternator at all now, could it be something else other than the regulator? If the regulator failed completely surely I would be getting varying ammounts of power rather than 0 that i'm getting now. Could it actually be an electrical fault somewhere, the mechanic thought it might be.

If only I knew a decent garage or auto electrician

[Bernard]

Sorry my friend but it sounds very much like the Alternator.
First check all the main fuses in under bonnet compartment and all the connections at Alternator.
Doubtfull, but have you tried another battery?
Regards Bernard , Auto-electrician

[Markjay]

You initially had very high voltage readings on the battery with the engine running.

I can’t think of an ‘electrical fault’ that will increase the voltage other than Voltage Regulator fault, so in my view this is almost certainly an alternator fault.

As you kept driving the car, there is no telling what consequential electrical damage has since been caused by the high voltage… so at this point everything is possible, including one or more additional ‘electrical faults’.

But I still think that the original problem is the alternator. It will have to come off….

[Markjay]

Sorry my friend but it sounds very much like the Alternator.
First check all the main fuses in under bonnet compartment and all the connections at Alternator.
Doubtfull, but have you tried another battery?
Regards Bernard , Auto-electrician

Hello Bernard, and welcome to the forum - so have you finally given-up on V X O N...?  

[Bernard]

No m8 , just like to Help out when possible

[Hillper]

You must bite the bullet and replace the alternator and battery.

No disrespect intended here, but at present you do not have the experience, tools or space to do this job!  Get to an auto electrician or better still, find one that will come to you.

The alt. will be about £150 ish and an hours labour.  Get the battery replaced too, as it's been repeatedly overcharged and flattened, something lead-acid batteries cannot tolerate for long.

As has been said before, you must do it soon or you could cause damage to the more delicate electrical components.

Please keep us posted and good luck!

[TheBoy]

latest update in the saga is I tried to drive it to work this evening all appeared peachy as it was this morning. 10 mins in and I got stuck behind some stationary traffic and my headlights switched off and wouldn't come back on then the whole console dimmed until it was unreadable. The engine was still running though, I managed to pull into a sideroad straightaway. Greenflag picked me up and it's sitting outside the house undrivable.

The mechanic put his multimeter on the battery and once he'd given it a charge from his truck we started the engine and watched the battery voltage steadily drop until the car stalled and refused to start again.

So the battery is not being charged by the alternator at all now, could it be something else other than the regulator? If the regulator failed completely surely I would be getting varying ammounts of power rather than 0 that i'm getting now. Could it actually be an electrical fault somewhere, the mechanic thought it might be.

If only I knew a decent garage or auto electrician

I think it had been said earlier in this thread that you shouldn't really be driving it in this condition.  I would say you're knackered alternator has killed the battery now as well. Hopefully, it has not done further damage to anything...

[randomspam]

It's quite alright guys, no offence taken, I've been very reluctant to drive the car at all and it's been a total of 4 times since the fault occurred an only whenever it's been an absolute neccessity, starting work at 11pm boxing day anyone?   You may say that is 4 times too many but with it appearing to drive correctly I took the chance.

I was hoping to get it dealt with this weekend anyway I was just trying to arm myself with as much info as possible from here before yesterdays issue happened, I had decided it was beyond me already.

I'll let you know what happens.

Cheers

[randomspam]

Ok, Masterfit have given me a rough quote over the phone - approx £260 and a mobile mechanic is coming to see the car on saturday.  Both he and Vauxhall wanted to know which alternator it is, apparently there are different ones? Which one would a 2000 3.0 MV6 have and how much would should it cost?

Just as a side note I was reading honestjohn and I see there was a TSB in 2001 for voltage spikes from the alternator http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/index.htm?p_make=VAU&h_make=VAU&p_model=%20437

June 2000 recall of V6 models due to crankshaft fault. 2001: TSB about voltage spikes from the alternator damaging the camshaft sensor. This is prevented by unpicking the wiring loom and re-routing the cam and crankshaft sensor cables together around the front of the airbox, keeping them away from the alternator.

From what I've since read about the Crankshaft Angle Sensor on http://www.topbuzz.co.uk/info/crankshaft_sensor/crankshaft_sensor.htm
it sounds very similar

How do I know if a CAS has malfunctioned?

As previously explained, the CAS is vital for the performance of the engine. It supplies a signal back to the ECU so it can calculate ignition timing and the correct fuelling. If the CAS is sending back incorrect data, the performance of the engine decreases significantly, even stop it from working.

However, to overcome this problem, the EMU can use a data map within its memory (which was set by the manufactures) which use some default values to regain correct fuelling and ignition.

But because this data is static and not true live data coming from a CAS, the performance isn't at its optimum. What this means is that the car may feel sluggish, but the car will still work. Also the ECU warning light will be illuminated on dash.

Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

[TheBoy]

On the 2.5/3.0 v6, a knackered crank sensor means the car has a trip on the back of a breakdown lorry. No limp mode for this sensor.