Lighting Issue

[kiwi]

Not sure how to sort this one.

Driving home tonight and have noticed this before on those rare occassions I drive in the dark. The headlights seemed to be flickering, not out completly just diming for a fraction of a second making them look like they were flickering. My passenger noted that the dash lights were also diming/flickering slightly.

Now the problem is when I stopped the flickering goes. Its like a vibration flicker! Fault somewhere just not sure where.

[mat_fenwick]

Can you jack it up securely and have it idling in 5th to recreate some of the vibration? It might be a bugger to find otherwise.

[Dollywobbler]

I'd be checking the earth for the battery as a first measure. Terminals clean? Any corrosion on the earth strap?

[Tim Leech]

Is the battery light coming on at all on the dash?

[kiwi]

No dashboard warning lights and as for jacking it up....and letting it run in 5th. That means clocking up miles and they cost money here to do on a Diesel (Road User Charges we pay by the mile)

Does sound like an Earthing fault or loose wire. I can see it being one those annoying ones to sort out.

[Tim Leech]

It could be an earthing issue as mentioned then I imagine, it has been known for alternators to put out too much power (our 1991 TGD did that and kept blowing fuses and bulbs).

[kiwi]

Interesting I had a blown headlight bulb the other day I replaced, might just be coincidence.

IF the alternator is throwing out to much power would an alternator from a petrol 19 work with the Diesel 19? I am covering my basis as I know the TZS Aircons have more powerful alternators than the 19TRS and 16RS alternators I have floating around.

[electrokid]

Worn brush(es) in the alternator could cause this, or dirt on the slipring, or slipring worn eccentrically.

[Tim Leech]

It took AGES to find out why this was happening as the car at the time was probably less than 2 years old. The radio kept loosing its code to as the fuse in the back of that kept going.

Worth checking to see what the alternators throwing out voltage wise?

[kiwi]

Ask again if the Alternator at fault would a alternator from petrol BX19/16 work? I know the ones with aircon are more powerful not sure about diesels still learning.

[mike22861]

The alternator on my 19 TGD (XUD9 engine) is different to the one on the Gti the fixings are different. a diesel should be easy to source any of the citroen peugeot xud9s cant imagine a 2nd hand one being expensive or swap the brush pack first probably dirty worn brushes tho i'm more inclined to check the earth wiring first on the Gtis the alternator has a seperate earth wire its not unknown for the terminal to break off the wire at the engine end.

[mat_fenwick]

A diesel alternator will probably be harder to source over there though. As I recall, the diesel alternators generally have a slightly lower output than the petrols. I can't remember whether pulley sizes are different to give the same alternator rpm at the (lower) max engine rpm though.
I've fitted a diesel alternator onto a 16v engine with no issues. But I would suggest doing more investigation before swapping parts.

[JayW]

All the alternators have the same voltage output, it's just the amperage that varies. IIRC you should be gettind 13.8-14.4v with the engine running.

As for fittings, i couldn't comment! Though i'm pretty sure Mat's right about the pulley sizes.

[smiffy1071]

I'd put money on it being the alternator telling you it's on its way out. I had this happen to me for a couple of weeks, before it failed 200 miles away from home!