Well after a number of fine years motoring incident free our MY14 Laredo Diesel has decided to display this nice little message this morning. Battery Save Mode which shows up in stored messages. Did a quick advanced search which didn't bring much up
I was around the corner from home and noticed that my intervolt DC DC charger was stating main battery was only on 11.7 volts so decided to head home. Pulled out the multimeter and confirmed 11.7 volts on battery. Disconnected second battery tested slightly lower at 11.5 volts.
ran the car again and noticed I am not getting any voltage off the alternator. Yep one of the smart ECU controlled ones however it doesn't appear to have failed as spectacularly as others have on the forums. Car still runs with lights all working, touchscreen all gauges and even ignition switched power outlets that I had read often disable in Battery Save Mode.
My question's are
Is there a way to test the alternator is receiving a signal from the ECU to start or do what it does?
Is there a way to confirm the alternator is faulty versus the battery?
Anyone that has had battery or alternator failures had to replace the PCM as well?
Currently have battery on charge and will see if it accepts and or holds voltage and go from there however would suggest its bad as its a six year old original battery.
Was 11.7 at the time recharged battery now and sitting at 12.4
Just had battery world test the 6 year old battery which is still producing 680CCA which he said was good (I don't know)
Does the smart alternator receive a control signal from the ECU or is it purely a diode based system that operates according to thermal load through the alternator?
There is what looks to be a single small cable going into the alternator as well as your main red charging and black earth strap. Just wondering if this small cable is a control signal or similar.
I can understand the reluctance to throw parts at it but nearly or no one has ever complained of a dud alternator control logic/circuit but there's many complaints of dead alternators.
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Battery Save Mode ???
