My charging warning light comes on intermittently. When the charging light comes on the handbrake warning light comes on at the same time and the DTRL (Canadian model) don’t work. Sometimes when I switch the headlights on the charging light comes off and sometimes it doesn’t. I am not sure if it’s alternator, loose connection or something else. Any idea?

 

Yes, the brake and the battery light came on.... when my alternator went bad.

I was like huh? battery and brake? Got outta the car and checked for brake leaks.... i thought the ebrake was up. Anyways, I kept on driving coz i was like 30 mins from my house....

Man on man... the car died just down the street from my house. But sure to get it checked. You would need to replace your alternator. I did and fixed the problem.

I'm thinking that when I clean my engine bay, I sprayed the alternator a few times too many with the water hose.

Good luck.
Anthony

 

It's the alternator. Classic/typical symptoms.

 

Very simple but check to make sure your battery cables are tight and making a good connection. I had one come loose on a former car after working on something and forgetting to tighten it up... causes the same symptoms. Yes, but typically its the alternator going out if not the battery cables.

 

If you have a volt meter you could do a little test. Before you start you car, take a reading of the battery. It should read around 12 volts. Start your car and see if the voltage goes up or down. It should go up to 13-14 volts. If it drops below 12 volts then chance are you may have a bad alternator.

 

I agree with everyone else: It's the alt. If you want extra confirmation, stop by Auto Zone or Advanced Auto Parts or any other local auto parts store, they should be able to check your charging system for free (battery and alt).

 

I was puzzled why the brake light is on. If it’s normal symptom than I will replace the alternator. The problem was that whenever I was going to test the alternator is was working. Last week I was driving thru Austria on autobahn with lots of tunnels. The charging light came on and I was afraid that the car will die in the tunnel. Luckily I made it home.

 

i have an alternator out of an 02 with 29k miles on it that i purchased thinking that mine had gone bad. turned out to be a bcm issue. pm me if you wanna make a deal. i believe it will fit your 01

 

so...who would pay for the shipping?

 

Thanks for the offer but I already got one from eBay for $72 plus $60 shipping (3 days from California to Central Europe isn’t bad). Local dealer wanted approximately $1,700 for the alternator alone.

 

the buyer would of course.

 

$1700?!?! that is just insane!

 

What is a normal price to have the alternator replaced? I just got a call from a friend of mine who has a 2003 I35, said he took it to Goodyear this morning and they told him that his alternator "might" be bad and quoted him $1200 to replace the alternator. I told him to call around and I thought he should be able to get it replaced for $500 or $600 max.

I've replaced about 4 on my 95 and can't imagine it would be much different on an 03 i35.

 

we only get 1.5-2.0 hours for an alternator at my place. labor rates between 80-100$ an hour, plus parts-400-500$. i would say no more than 700$ for the entire job.

 

Ironic how this just happened to my 2000. Started last night when my car died on me on the 60 freeway after acting eratic in the afternoon ( lights blinking then going weak, loss of power ). After we tested the charging system, we confirmed it was the alt. Replacing the alternator as we speak which was rebuilt and purchased for $220, $130 for labor so $350 plus tax.

I'm glad I found this discussion today!