Volkswagen Passat Forum banner

Alternator light accompanied by "Thunk" and jolt

971 views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  Simon9008 
#1 ·
I browsed searched this site for a while and couldn't find anything which matched my situation, maybe someone can help me out.

So there I was :driving: cruising along the interstate coming back from camping when my alternator workshop light started beeping urgently. This didn't freak me out as much as the "THUNK" which followed, or the way my car jolted.

At this point all the lights on my dash were on. All the gears, airbag, turning signals, you name it, they were on and the car was beeping like crazy. I felt like I was crashing a spaceship or something.

It was a really busy stretch of road but I kept my cool and mostly coasted into the closest exit. I was able to give it some gas and and the vehicle responded normally (I think), but I didn't want to push my luck so I just pulled over in the dirt turn-off.

I shut 'er off, popped the hood and checked for the usual suspects. All the belts were in place, nothing was on fire, and I couldn't see anything that wasn't where it should be.

So I tried to start the car up again, but I only got dash lights and clicks when attempting to turn over. So I paid $80 for a tow-truck.

I jumped my car when I got home and let it run for a while as I took another look under the hood. Everything looked and sounded fine, and there were no aggressive beepings from the dash. My roommate wasn't home and his car was in the way, so I was unable to take my wagon for a test drive right then, but when I tried to turn it on after work this afternoon, the battery was dead again.

Obviously I'm going to check to see if the battery is dunzo, and I'll scrub the corrosion. But what worries me is the aforementioned "THUNK."
Would a bad battery be responsible for a thunk and jolt?


Any insight would be much appreciated.

-Simon
 
See less See more
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top