Electrical Issues..

[JoshFair]

Hey guys, as some of you may know my golf has been out of action for the past month or so.. first it was the coil.. so i replaced that.. then the day after replacing the coil myh car wouldn't fire, almost like a flat battery.. it would roll and jump start but regardless of the amount of driving around i did, it would not charge..
i have had it looked at briefly by 2 seperate auto electricians, and one deemed the battery to be fine - no problems there.. and the other ran tests and ruled out the alternator - no problems there.. when tested with the multi metre, the battery said it was fine at 12.*** valts.. b ut when i would try and turn it over, the valts would drop to 6 or below.. the only thing i can think of is that maybe i have the wrong gauge wiring from the battery to the alternator? maybe that is causing the kink in the hose? as the alternator and battery are working fine alone.. but not as a team?? let me know your thoughts..

[Peter Jones]

Check the earth cable from the battery -ve to the body and gearbox. If those connections are dirty or loose they'll drop those sorts of numbers under load.

[Valver.]

the only thing i can think of is that maybe i have the wrong gauge wiring from the battery to the alternator? maybe that is causing the kink in the hose? as the alternator and battery are working fine alone.. but not as a team?? let me know your thoughts..

Firstly, Pete's suggestion is good

Next question: Have you changed the battery cable since you've had the car? If not, it's very unlikely to be the problem like you suggest, as any voltage drop caused by low amperage cable will cause problems almost immediately.

I reckon your battery is dead - particularly if it was 'dead' cranked many times over when your spark dropped out and you were trying to start your engine. A basic lead acid battery is hardly resilient to consistent cold cranking and they'll only really withstand one or two full recharges before they die (from which point, they basically won't recharge).

As a side note, I used to distribute EFI to some of the auto elecs in Launie and there ain't much talent there! Did the first guy even load test your battery? [You're best going to Carswell's if you want someone with clues].

Go and get yourself a decent AGM (absorbed glass mat) battery and it will last a lot longer, saving you money in the long run. Also, get your multimeter out again and check the charge rate from the alternator. Also check the basics like the battery terminals - a loose terminal can cause no end of problems and should be a starting point with anything like this