spitting battery

[novalew]

hi all

its not a nova but if anyone could help

just driving my car (astra mk4 1.6 8v) and lost power steering and dash instruments, was just down the road from my house so i drove it back and opened the bonnet to find stuff spitting out of the top of the battery, i know the battery is fried but is this common or is there another underlying problem?

thanks for the help

Lewis

[swedge]

regulator on the alternator buggered? could be overcharging the battery

[novalew]

is this a case of checking the voltage coming through or getting a new alternator?

[swedge]

you can check the voltage coming from the alternator with a multimeter

do your lights get brighter or anything when you rev the car?

ive had this before but luckily i noticed

is your alternator earthed properly?

[Curtoise]

you need to have a check for all conectors on the alternator, happend when wiring in my engine. turned out it slipped round and was touching the casing of the alt.

[novalew]

i gave checked the voltage while running and it is 20v which is huge, i've checked the wiring as much as can see and it seems to be ok, does the alternator earth off the case using the brackets?
is it new alternator time?

[marc69]

This happened to me years ago in a 1960 morris mini but.....afte 150 miles the battery almost melted as it was in the boot (yes close to the fuel tank).
It was a regulator but it was cheaper just to get a new altenator and battery.
I unwired the altenator and drove the other 50 miles on the remaining charge in the melted battery.

[novalew]

just been out got a alternator and battery so i will let you know how it goes

[novalew]

all sorted sourced batt and alternator and its all good, 14.5 charging voltage ;0)

thanks for the assistance

[Bubba]

that was lucky. mine did this on my cav but at 27v O_o

[swedge]

your missing the alternator earth cable that comes of the top bolt hole on the alternator to the cam box