Battery died on me whilst driving...

[kangman]

AHHHH a night to remember, so been driving hassle free for the past week or so n then suddenly my head unit starts blinking, the dials dim and loss of power until it eventually pulls to a halt.

Rang my mate who was around the corner luckily, he pulls up jumps it and shoots off as he had to dash. So turned the lights back on and it died yet again.

So i called another mate up who came to my aid and we decided to nick his brothers battery as his car was sitting on the drive smashed (motorway pile up a week ago). I disconnected his battery and the damn thing started beeping Frikin A3!! As it was very late we connected the battery back up to stop it beeping and waking every one in house

Next option was ring another'nuva mate who was still at work so had to wait about an hour til he turned up. finally jumped it and drove it from hayes to slough, the whole journey i was praying to the BMW gods to have mercy on my lil e30 and let it get home without dying.

Get off at my junction and theres F#ckin roads works happening so i had to get back on the M4 and exit the next junction.

OHHH what a shite day..

So what could have been the cause of this??

[G-Bear]

Sounds like the alternator. Check that the earth wire on the alternator is in good order and in tact. If that's okay get a multimeter and get a reading of the alternator itself, I can't remember what reading you should get but I'm sure the wiki pages should have some info..

[G-Bear]

There's some bits here.. I wish had read the bottom bit before I went and replaced the whole alternator..

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... Alternator

[TPS]

Another one for Alternator, It happened to me in a dark country lane one night, stereo wouldn't work, lights dimmed, replaced Alternator, fine after that.

[magpie]

i have a few m40/m42 alternators here all good and fully working.

http://tinyurl.com/m40-42-alt

i can have this with you by tomorrow if ordered today before 12 pm .

[kangman]

Pm me a price magpie, you can be my back up plan

[G-Bear]

Another one for Alternator, It happened to me in a dark country lane one night, stereo wouldn't work, lights dimmed, replaced Alternator, fine after that.

Pretty much the same happend with me. Was returning from a long drive home. My radio went then headlights. I was 10 minutes from home stuck at the bottom of a hill..

I'd vouch for magpie, bought many a item off him, quick and parts always as discribed

[kangman]

Turned the key this morning and it fired up.. should i still get the alternator checked

[kangman]

AHHHH a night to remember,

So what could have been the cause of this??

I'd blame your mates.......

??

[G-Bear]

The battery mainly holds a charge to turn the starter motor when you fire the car up. It's the alternator that generates electricity to power electricals on your car (as well as charging the battery). So if the battery has some power in it. It'll start..

[bmw9818]

get a voltmeter and check for 14v if its anything below its that, usually for your car to die the alternator would be chucking out 10v ish,

this happened to me a few weeks ago at 4 in the morning on the darkest part of the m23 motorway!

luckily i had a spare battery in the boot and a jump pack so i switched it around using my iphone as a light! started it up turned the dash lights all off, window switches etc and drove home v v slowly,

if your radio goes on the blink switch all extra load off, and take it easy with your right foot, the more you floor it engine uses more spark/ fuel pump wants more,

my alt seems to be fine now, however im going to be installing a voltmeter gauge in the car so i can keep an eye on it, seems to be quite a few alternators failing recently!

[spook]

You need that little thing thats held in with Two screws thats sat in the rear of the Alternator.

A voltage regulator