i have just had my altenator changed and my p reg escort van battery keeps draining ive also had a new battery what do you think is happening

tarrant, January 2010

hello i had this exact same problem with my escort van if you follow the negative lead from were the battery sits to the gearbor you willl see that it is bolted to the gearbox remove the negative wire of the gearbox and give it a good clean ensurining that there will be good conection also there are 2 different power ratings for the altinator

dave, January 2010

May have absolutely nothing to do with it but for the sake of a simple light bulb... from Wikipedia...

The field windings are initially supplied via the ignition switch and charge warning light, which is why the light glows when the ignition is on but the engine is not running. Once the engine is running and the alternator is generating, a diode feeds the field current from the alternator main output, thus equalizing the voltage across the warning light which goes out. The wire supplying the field current is often referred to as the "exciter" wire. The drawback of this arrangement is that if the warning light fails or the "exciter" wire is disconnected, no excitation current reaches the alternator field windings and so the alternator, due to low residual magnetism in the rotor will not generate any power. However, some alternators will self-excite when the engine is revved to a certain speed. The driver may check for a faulty exciter-circuit by ensuring that the warning light is glowing with the engine stopped.


Good luck...

Peccavi, January 2010

put a meter across the battery terminals with engine off and note voltage.start the van and test the voltage.if the reading from the running engine is higher and reads about 13.7v+ then the alternator is charging.if this is ok you need to put a current tester in series with the battery and see what is being draw from the battery when stood

steve, January 2010