My car has done a strange thing on 2 occasions this week. I committed the cardinal sin of washing the car on Friday but didn't take it out for a spin after to dry out the brakes.
The first time I used it was Monday and when driving off, I thought the wipers were quite slow. No warning lights were on but the voltmeter indicated only 11.5V. There was no difference even when I revved the engine. I decided to turn back to swap cars and just then the voltage then moved up to 14V as per usual and everything was back to normal. I used the car the whole day and there was no further problems. Voltage remained rock steady throughout the day and yesterday.
I didn't use the car today until this evening. It had been sitting the whole day outside and it has been raining the entire day. When I started the car this evening, the same problem occurred again. It lasted about 2 minutes like on Monday. The voltage sat at 11.5V with no difference when I revved the engine. I sat in the car with the engine running at idle to see what happens. Basically the voltage flickers between 11.5 and 12V and then after about 2 minutes, it climbed to 14V and all was back to normal again.
I wanted to see if this has ever happened to anyone else especially after washing the car or leaving it outside in the rain. I haven't had time to plug it into the diagnostics to see if any faults are logged. I suspect low voltage will show up in some modules. I wonder if the alternator was soaked by me washing the car that caused the problem.
The first time I used it was Monday and when driving off, I thought the wipers were quite slow. No warning lights were on but the voltmeter indicated only 11.5V. There was no difference even when I revved the engine. I decided to turn back to swap cars and just then the voltage then moved up to 14V as per usual and everything was back to normal. I used the car the whole day and there was no further problems. Voltage remained rock steady throughout the day and yesterday.
I didn't use the car today until this evening. It had been sitting the whole day outside and it has been raining the entire day. When I started the car this evening, the same problem occurred again. It lasted about 2 minutes like on Monday. The voltage sat at 11.5V with no difference when I revved the engine. I sat in the car with the engine running at idle to see what happens. Basically the voltage flickers between 11.5 and 12V and then after about 2 minutes, it climbed to 14V and all was back to normal again.
I wanted to see if this has ever happened to anyone else especially after washing the car or leaving it outside in the rain. I haven't had time to plug it into the diagnostics to see if any faults are logged. I suspect low voltage will show up in some modules. I wonder if the alternator was soaked by me washing the car that caused the problem.