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[woodbine]

Hi.. this last week I've been having fun starting my car. I know nothing so am going to have to find a helpful garage but wanted to ask the experts before I end up with someone changing allsorts and bankrupting me , any advice welcome..

last Tues I drove 15 miles , on my return was  fine starting. Back home , stopped for petrol and would not start ( on the forcourt too  Nothing had been on.

AA man jumped it straight away , tested it and said it was a tad low in charging . Left it 10 mins and did a battery test where it cranked(sp?) for about a minute so loads of juice gone in.
He says battery is OK so may be intermittent alternator fault.

I had to go 90 miles on Friday...tried to start the car yesterday and totally dead again, jumped to get home and flat again today.
Guy who jumped it said it was charging fine so not alternator...No warning dash lights coming on .

Sorry to go on so long but my question is.....

Is it the battery or will I change that and then be told it's the alternator....I feel paranoid but as the AA man said it tested ok I don't want to waste money.

Thanks for reading

[Omega man 2]

First of all try the paperclip test and see what codes you get

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1152601768

[crazyjoetavola]

Woodbine, have a look at Kevin Wood's excellent run-down on the charging system  It will help you get to the bottom of your problem

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1225724099

You'll have no difficulty with the guide as it's so straightforward.

[KillerWatt]

Last car I had that used to randomly go "dead" (ie, no dash lights, etc) turned out to be nothing more than a loose battery terminal.

If you have access to a multimeter, a good alternator will give anywhere between 13.8V and 14.4V at the battery terminals at 2000rpm with the headlights switched on.

[Entwood]

After the car has been running for about 15 minutes feel both terminals of the battery. If either one feels warm/hot then it needs a good clean up and a check for security of the connection.

HTH