Battery Light

[onidub]

It's been awhile since I drove my car or did any major maintenance to it. Over the weekend, my Battery light came on, and shortly after my check engine light came on.

I opened the hood and found battery corrosion, cleaned it off and to be safe just went and bought a new battery. A couple of hrs went by and then the check engine light came on.

I took the car to autozone to pull up the code, it came back (I can't remember exactly) but it said it was too lean. Checked other forums and the web and some people said that it was my MAF sensor or my O2 sensor.

Later I found my intake hose was ripped (repaired that) and decided to replace my belts (due to a chirping noise).

After everything was done.... no more chirping, check light never came back on, however my battery light stays on. It will turn off but a second later it will come back on.

Was wondering if anyone else had this issue? Or recommend anything? Sorry for being so long about it, but wanted to provide as much info of what I tried up front.

 

[MaxPower]

The battery light indicates the charging system is faulty and that the battery is not being charged. You probably have to replace the alternator.

The battery, when fully charged, probably has about 30 minutes of reserve power after the alternator fails, just enough time to take the car to a shop to get the alternator fixed. If you've been driving the car around with the battery light on, before you drive to a shop, you should fully charge the battery to avoid shutting down on the way and having to tow your car.

 

[lucas123]

1. try first change the IAT sensor, this is installed in the same place
of MAF,

I have the same trouble on my fs engine, the IAT sensor was changed
and the battery light is off,

2. If the change of IAT not work, test the charge of alternator

good luck

lucas

 

[onidub]

I drove about 15 min on the highway and the battery light was on, once I got off the highway the battery light went off... I stopped by Autozone to test out my alternator, and the it read fine. He notice some corrosion on the battery cables but he said just pour some coke on it. The rest of the way home the battery light was off.

 

[CheeseHelmet]

Did you tighten your alternator belt properly? If it's too loose that could cause the random charging/not-charging.

 

[slavrenz]

onidub,

First of all, you wasted your money on a new battery. When the battery light comes on, it means that your current battery is no longer being charged, not that the battery itself is toast. And don't listen to that idiot from AutoZone - water and baking soda gets rid of corrosion, not Coke.

As for your battery light, there are a couple of possibilities. The obvious is that either your alternator is bad or the alternator belt is loose. I would go to another auto parts store and get a second opinion on your alternator, and make sure that your alternator belt is absolutely tight.

The other thing that was mentioned above was your Intake Air Temperature (IAT) sensor. This thing is plugged into your air filter box next to the MAF. For reasons beyond me, whenever this sensor is disconnected, the battery light will come on. Since you seem to have had some other issues in this general area, I would inspect this sensor and its connection to make sure that everything is seated and secured properly.

 

[marianne246]

My 1997 mazda protege had a corroded wire on maf sensor which caused battery light to come on and alternator to stop charging found this after buying a new alternator and paying to have the ecu checked so always check everything