I was driving to work this morning and my battery light came on. Everything was running fine and when I was in neutral and at idol the light would go off, i was thinking about ignoring it because nothing felt wrong but since the car is still under warranty I took it to Ford. Initially I thought it might be the belt slipping because its raining but they checked the belt and said it was fine. They said it would be either my battery or alternator, they wanted to charge me $70 to figure it out since the alternator is only covered until 60k so i left. I was on my way to an Interstate battery place because they sell refurbished batteries and i thought they could test mine as well and i could easily figure out the problem. On my way there the battery light goes off so I go to work which is a 20 minute drive with no problems.
Sorry for the long story but i am wondering if i should be worried at all or if you think it was just something that fixed itself. My car at this point is stock aside from a SVT steering wheel.
Thanks for the help
Lights that trip normally don't "fix themselves" but what likely happened is that whatever part of the charging system that is failing is still only doing so intermittently at this point.
I would suggest that you have a proper diagnostic done because while a dead battery is easy to replace in a parking lot if need be, a dead alternator really isn't.
Just my two cents
NefCanuck
if its intermittently im guessing that it would be the alternator, batteries usually just die i would think
I've had that happen 3 times on 2 different foci. I take it your driving a 2000 - 2004 model year with a zetec?
if So open your hood under good light, and lean WAY in and look at the wires at the back of the altenator that feed into (it's between the firewall and altenator so it's really back there). look for weathered, or rusting, or wear, or any corrosion on the wires in the back of the plastic clip as they rot there... if you see any wear it's a general sign it's time to replace the altenator wire harness, but Warning to you if you touch the wires they may break off.... and if they do you'll have about a week if your battery is fully charged before you drain the battery as it's one of the wires that helps recharge the battery. I went a few days like this but if the wires break, you can put a little tape there to hold it in place until you can get it replaced.
I'd highly not recommend you try to fix this yourself, as the positioning of the wires and how it plugs in, is in a very okward place, and it's a cheap dealership fix.
So, the Good news is it's only $80 for ford to replace it. I've done it 3 times now, and I can tell you it's something that generally happens every 5 years or so
Mine is a 2007, i have driven it yesterday and this morning with no light coming on so fingers crossed it was just a freak incident
I noticed my battery light coming on like you guys have stated. Thought nothing of it... Then tonight coming home smelt something funny pulled over popped the hood and what do you no A FIRE!!!!! Me being the smart guy I am (not really) used my hand to put it out and really burnt my one finger(go me). After the motor cooled a bit I was looking back were th fire was - altanator power wire - it was all melted and chared, touched the wire and it was extremly loose, mt only guess is the wire was arking well I hit bumps...so yes get it fixed asap!!!!!!!!!!!