If you find your car is not starting, or starts then dies, you may be looking at either a faulty battery or alternator.  Checks are straightforward to do at home so you can at least have an idea of what the situation is with your vehicle.

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Is my problem the battery or the alternator?

Your battery supplies electricity to the starter motor which gets the engine running, the turning of the engine enables the alternator to charge the battery.  Run through these simple checks, they may help you figure out which part of this system may be at fault.

 

Simple Checks

If a jump start gets your engine running but it won't start without a jump the problem is probably your battery.

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Checks for your battery:

- Dim dashboard lights

- Gauge/light showing low battery*

- Power heavy items are slow/laboured: electric fans, windows, wipers

- Jump start get it going, but it won't start again

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Checks for your alternator:

- Headlights and interior lights dim/brighten with lower/higher revs

- Interior lights get dimmer the longer the engine runs from starting

- There's a smell of hot rubber and/or electrics

- Battery starts the car sometimes but not others/regularly fails*

*These symptoms can be common to battery and alternator

 

Call us, talk through your car's symptoms, we'll offer you advice and help over the phone if we can.  Otherwise, book your car in and we'll get your car working again.