FocusCanada Forums

Like the title says my battery light stays on. Goes off right after I start then the light comes back on. The heater motor even hesitates a bit. Any ideas? Could it be the altenator?

I would say check your battery wires B) .

coolsvt,Feb 4 2005, 05:23 PM Wrote:I would say check your battery wires  B) .
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Did that. Everything looks good.
It is going to the dealer tomorrow. Hope they can figure it out. They are not SVT Certified.

Sounds like your battery is toast and/or alternator.

I've only had experience with one alternator failure. It wasn't a gradual thing instead it just went tits up all of a sudden. Based on that I'll guess your battery is going.

EDIT: It wasn't on the Focus that the alternator failed by the way, it was a ten year old car with 250,000km. That in it itself is another reason not to suspect the alternator, it is not the sort of thing that "should" fail on such "young" cars like your Focus.

hope it get fixed.

If it is the alternator atleast it will be under warrenty.
I can't see it being the battery as it started everytime and it even started with the remote.

Typically the alternator can fail immediately or over time. When you rev the engine does the battery light come on then?When I mean rev, anything over 2500rpm when driving. Maybe even a little higher. If it is off at this point and comes on, it is either the belt slipping or the alternator.

I know this because the truck is getting a new alternator this weekend. Lucky me and my POS.

When my battery went, it gave no warning whatsoever. Driving the car, everything was fine (no warning lights.) Parked the car for 25 minutes, click-click-click-click, battery dead. :iono:

The light stays on all the time. Doesn't flicker.....just stays lit. The car starts fine and everything else works.

pull the dash apart and take the light bulb out ... no more battery light staying on.

could it also be the alt over charging the battery and causing the light to come on? if you have a multimeter or some type of volt gauge .. stick it on the battery witht he car running and see what its reading

It is at the dealership they figure the alternator. They are going to hook it up and see if it throws any codes and hopefully I get it back today.

Well the verdict is in ..... car needs a new alternator. Old one is only working at 90%. They had to order one and will be in on Tuesday.
This sucks because I can't go anywhere with my car in case something happens to it.
Does anyone know it the alternator on the SVT is different than a regular Focus? The dealership didn't have an answer for me when I asked.

how much is your stereo drawing power wise?

heavy use of a stereo and accessories with an underrated alternator can shorten the life of an alternator.

SVTZX503,Feb 5 2005, 01:39 PM Wrote:Well the verdict is in ..... car needs a new alternator. Old one is only working at 90%. They had to order one and will be in on Tuesday.
This sucks because I can't go anywhere with my car in case something happens to it.
Does anyone know it the alternator on the SVT is different than a regular Focus? The dealership didn't have an answer for me when I asked.
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Do you have your car, or is it still at the dealer?

I had a really delayed appointment to get mine replaced, and I needed to drive my car everyday, and I was fine.

Do you have your car, or is it still at the dealer?

I had a really delayed appointment to get mine replaced, and I needed to drive my car everyday, and I was fine.
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They gave it back to me and told me not to go anyplace far with it. :(

As for the stereo system... I do make it pound but not all the time. I did ask about but again they had no answer for me.
I am thinking of upgrading the battery because of the system and the alarm/remote starter but I'm not sure if that would help.

SVTZX503,Feb 5 2005, 06:22 PM Wrote:They gave it back to me and told me not to go anyplace far with it. :(

As for the stereo system... I do make it pound but not all the time. I did ask about but again they had no answer for me.
I am thinking of upgrading the battery because of the system and the alarm/remote starter but I'm not sure if that would help.
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Upgrading the battery will definately help. Also if you haven't done the magic 3 mod yet, then thats another cheap solution you can do to aleviate the stress off of your alternator.

Magic 3 consists of replacing the following 3 wires from the stock 10 guage wire to either 4 or 0 guage

Battery Ground to chassy
Battery Positive to Alternator
Engine Ground to Ground

In my transam I was getting some serious voltage drops when my stereo would hit hard. I replaced the 490amp battery with a redtop 1000amp battery and my stock 75amp alt with a powermaster 140amp alt and still the draw would cause large voltage drops. After doing the magic 3 upgrade, the voltage drops were next to none on my cars volt meter. This might be a good idea in your case. Consider it.