alright so im not the best with electrical stuff so i have a question.... one night my car starts perfectly fine... the next morning all i get is the " CLICK " when i turn the ignition over... i jumped my car and took it the local autozone and had a load test and etc. done both the altenator and battery passed the tests BUT im not sure if the drive to the autozone could have affected the results.... but to the title, tonight while i was driving home from work i noticed that my volt meter was jumping between 11.5v to 15v almost lightning fast i have never seen this before... i had the alternator replaced 2-3 months ago and the battery i got new with the car february of 07... i would appreciate some feed back from some of you smart people
many thanks!
Zuehl

 

It sounds like your alternator has a voltage regulator problem. Most alternators should run around 13 to 14 volts and it will change a little as you add electrical load. Otherwise there might be something shorting or heavily loading the electrical system intermittently - is your key switch sticking like mine is?

My A6 has a toasted alternator from a sticky key switch (wife left the starter on for about 15 minutes). I had 17volts for a short time and now just 11.87 (battery voltage).

Hope this helps,

Pat

 

my ignition doesnt stick like yours but a voltage regulator problem seems the most likely i just thought my alternator would last more than 3 months.... this makes another repair to my ever growing repair list in the past four months ive spent over 3600 on repairs.... thanks for the insight
Zuehl