{"id":3891,"date":"2021-12-10T11:55:28","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T22:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/?p=3891"},"modified":"2021-12-10T11:55:28","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T22:55:28","slug":"experts-guide-to-that-battery-light-on-your-dashboard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/experts-guide-to-that-battery-light-on-your-dashboard\/","title":{"rendered":"Expert\u2019s guide to *that* battery light on your dashboard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We\u2019ve covered off what\u2019s going on with all those lights on your dashboard<\/a> in a little bit of depth before, but today we thought we\u2019d get into the nitty-gritty. 

Under each of those lights, there\u2019s a tonne of information that you could potentially read into, and so we thought let\u2019s start with the beating heart of your engine, the battery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your battery light will illuminate when there\u2019s a major issue with your car battery\u2019s charging system.  If it comes on while you\u2019re on the road, the best thing to do is get out of the traffic as soon as possible and switch off the vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you choose to continue down the road, you might only be running off battery power \u2013 which isn\u2019t infinite, in fact, quite the opposite \u2013 and stranded in the middle of the road, or worse, in the middle of an accident.  Yikes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you can\u2019t find somewhere to pull over, then make every effort to bring your battery usage right down.\u00a0 That means turning off electronic devices like the radio, headlights (if it\u2019s daytime!), the air conditioning unit \u2013 as well as your phone charger, auxiliary devices and so forth.\u00a0 They all put added strain onto your battery and you\u2019ll be losing power quicksmart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The battery light can mean your alternator isn\u2019t working<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The most common reason your battery light switches-on is due to the alternator.\u00a0 Basically, your alternator isn\u2019t giving the battery any charge \u2013 actually, it isn\u2019t giving charge to any of its reliant systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This could be because the alternator’s regulator has failed, or the serpentine belt that powers the alternator has become loosened or totally detached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another reason for the battery light switching on is <\/strong>that the battery itself has failed and is not letting the alternator charge, a slight difference to the above because the issue is the battery, not the alternator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Losing your power steering can also alert you to a battery issue, where the steering wheel becomes stiff \u2013 there\u2019s no power being sent its way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, keep an eye on your temperature gauge as another symptom of battery issues can be your vehicle overheating when the water pump is being driven off the same belt.\u00a0

Most faults that cause the battery light to illuminate will necessitate the assistance of a professional to diagnose and fix, since there are numerous dangers associated with the charging and electrical systems that, if not addressed properly, can result in damage or possibly death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember, My Auto Shop is always here to help you navigate any battery issues, or anything else.  Head over to the service area<\/a> to get started, and we\u2019ll do the legwork so it\u2019s easy for you to keep your car battery operating at its optimal level \u2013 so you don\u2019t need to worry about the light coming on! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve covered off what\u2019s going on with all those lights on your dashboard in a little bit of depth before, but today we thought we\u2019d get into the nitty-gritty.  Under each of those lights, there\u2019s a tonne of information that you could potentially read into, and so we thought let\u2019s start with the beating heart […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-3891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3891"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3893,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3891\/revisions\/3893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3891"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=3891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}