HELP, very confused :-(

[DirtyDale]

Hi,
I have a BMW 323 2.5l V6. Yesterday night, only hours after passing its MOT with only a brake light bulb to change, my BMW decided to have some kind of electrical failure. 1st the stereo started to flash and then the dashboard lights and my headlamps dulled and then it started to have engine power issues.
As it was dark, it got me 1 1/2 miles home and then i parked it up for the night as it was 2 dark 2 look under the bonnet! I came back to it this morning, checking the obvious - alternator, fan belt, fuse board and battery. Everything seemed fine. Although i couldn't find where the fuse to the alternator is located?
She started up first turn and was fine for about 2mins then started to loose power, started to chug, lights started to dim and then came a moderate amount of black smoke. I then turned her off so's not to flatten the battery.
I am now scratching my head in confusion, does anyone have any ideas please?

[Texbeamer]

maybe the battery is going bad.
any dash lights on?

[E39Sport]

Did you do a voltage test? There is no fuse for the alternator and just looking at an alternator won't tell you if it's good or bad. It sounds like the alternator is the issue. Do the voltage test and let us all know

[drz]

I agree that the problem is very likely the alternator. In fact, I would venture to say it is probably the voltage regulator, which is part of the alternator for your car. Take the alternator out and have it checked on the bench at Autozone or any big chain auto parts store that does free testing. Warning: if the problem is the voltage regulator, it may still pass the bench test. I had one E36 on which the weird lights blinking, etc., started happening only after the alternator warmed up, which you can't really reproduce on the bench at Autozone.

How long ago was teh alternator replaced? I would just go ahead and put in a new one.

Good luck.

P.S. (1) Your car has an inline 6 engine, not a V6. (2) There is no fuse for a car's alternator.

[johnnyBgood]

Originally Posted by E39Sport

Did you do a voltage test? There is no fuse for the alternator and just looking at an alternator won't tell you if it's good or bad. It sounds like the alternator is the issue. Do the voltage test and let us all know

+1^............you should be looking for about 13+ volts with the car running......if your voltage test is good, then.............

you could remove your battery, fully charge it & bring it to an Advanced Auto parts store or Pep Boys & have the battery load tested..........if the battery is not holding a charge, a load test will check this.......

How old is your battery? Average battery life is about 4 years, @ most!

jb

[Texbeamer]

and for the record it is not a v6 but an inline 6

[bmwblackknights09]

also test all your terminal conections for any corrosion ive seen this be a simple fix with wire brush before let us know how you get on....


p.s. its a straight six not v6.....

[caodan2010]

fix ur electrical sparks, they are not working great right now from ur descriptions