I think my alternator is showing up failure symptoms, but still doing ok at the moment..I noticed that in these few days of driving, the light of the dashboard meter panel and HU sometimes together flicker on and off in a split second, but seems fine most of the time..there was 1 occasion in past few days, the same flicker happened which caused my audio actually stopped momentarily and the engine is very close to shutting down, but all recovered and back to normal stable condition after 1 or 2 second..

once back home, i checked the wirings.. Battery terminals are still tight, wirings connected to the terminals are also tight and not loose..alternator is still charging the battery at 14.2V, no problem, but this does not rule out the possibility of alternator failure as I suspect that my alternator may be only partially good and fault at other areas.

another symptom which raised my concern on the alternator failure, is the alternator whine on my ICE is much louder if compared to few months back..I had created another thread (Link to thread) on my alternator whine problem few mths back, some of u may have known my problem last time..my problem was not solved yet since then, but I have masked the whine by lowering the amp gain till to the point that it is barely noticeable..from that day until today, my amp gains are still at very low level, but recently the alternator whine is getting more noticeable.. another thing is i felt the SPL (sound pressure level) of my ICE have been reduced by a tiny bit, not sure if my mind is playing tricks or not..usually i play at HU volume 24 (out of 35), but these few days I increase it to at least 25 or 26..

any opinion on my above comments?

BTW, any myvi owners here changed their alternator before? What's the price of original Perodua alternator (Denso)? How is the performance of other aftermarket myvi alternator such as Bosch and APM? any other brand? have u guys heard of MSD racing alternator (was recommended by my ICE installer last time)??

This post has been edited by taaron: Oct 24 2011, 07:07 PM

I dunno about your ride... but the last time my ride had this problem... alternator was ok... send for a ECU re-tuning... everything went fine after that...

and the alternator... MSD alternators... yum yum...

my ECU can't be tuned, only way is to reset it by unplugging power source..but i believe reset my ecu will still be the same, i'm suspecting the alternator is showing signs of pre-failure symptoms..

seems like you're positive on the MSD too, that shall be my next upgrade then (high possibility )

any possibilities with aircond compressor?

not sure bro..i could not think how does the aircon compressor resulting in my problem..may you explain how could the aircon compressor affect in such problem?

btw, my aircon is fine at the moment..one thing for sure, let's say if i listen to my ICE without aircon, the alternator whine is much softer, but once I turn on the aircon, the alternator whine loudness will be increased..however, i thought that maybe becoz turning on the aircon will therefore demand extra current from the alternator, that's why i am more on suspecting the alternator..

if alternator prob ur battery should compensate, wont hv going to die then recover symptom. Check ur earthing.

if the air cond compressor is causing the additional drag to your engine... then the alternator will be dragged into the whole symptom as well.. because the pulleys and the belts are all connected together... pulled by the engine...

something like that... technical stuff... not really sure how to explain...

crazie read my mind....

in normaly case with noise, aircond and lights on will make it noisier. because your alternator are having heavier load.

in your case, i think got 2 possibilities. 1 is aircond and 1 is alternator..better you try to do this.....

1. start car
2. unplug battery negative terminal
3. if car still running, turn on your ice and turn to moderate level..(not blasting!!)
4. turn on headlight and aircond, if still running go step 5. if not then alternator kong
5. see the voltage of the amplifier terminal.( if voltage <11.5 means the alternator got prob. if more than 11.5 means it's ok)
6.try for longer time like 30min to 1 hour. if engine stop means your alternator kong. if not, better check aircond compressor.

yes, particularly if driving during night time with HID, aircond and ICE on, the alternator whine loudness increased, so it is no doubt something is wrong with the alternator.

I would love to try the methods earlier by unplugging battery negative terminal while engine running, but wouldn't that will cause damage to other electronic stuffs of the car (ecu,ice,etc..) due to possibility risk of voltage spike?

really hate this problem ..i could tolerate with the whine, but the other symptoms really put high alerts on me due to risk of breakdown while driving (safety issue) and risk of damaging my deep cycle battery which don't come cheap..

bro sct has a point too which I think it is worth checking again all other wiring points, previously I only checked batt terminal points..

anyway, anyone knows the market price of ori P2 Denso alternator, and other aftermarket alternator (Bosch, APM, etc)?

mudah