GregInJrsy

I have a W203 (US 2003 C230 Kompressor) with 96,000 miles. When starting the car in cool/cold weather (50 degrees F or less) the "Battery/Alternator Visit Workshop" light will come on. Thinking that my battery needed to be replaced anyway, I went ahead and did so. The light still comes, but only when the temperature is about 50 or less. If I turn off the engine and wait (anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 mins) and then restart, no warning light. Leave the car (again in the cool weather for 8, 9, 10 hours or more and I'll get the light again. My mechanic has checked the battery and alternator. Everything seems to check out fine. Mechanics at my job have also checked it.

The alternator is a Valeo, not a Bosch. I've seen similar posts but there's no definitive solution. Obviously I don't want to replace the alternator if that's not the actual problem. Could this be the voltage regulator?

pcasey06

did he perform output test on alternator?

GregInJrsy

I'm sure both mechanics did. I'm also sure that if either one found something that was not normal, they would have told me.

bigspender101

I have the same problem only when its cold out. Let me know if you find what it is?

eesjunin

sounds along the same lines as when the winshield fluid runs low it also show that the radiator fluid is low( which is not) them benzo gramlin under the hood! :0

misterkomp

I recently started getting this problem too. Did any of you guys find a solution to this?

Boom vang

I have this message starting the last couple of weeks. I did replace the battery this week with a new one as it was over 7 years old.

My message is intermittent, sometimes it comes on right away and other times I can drive for 20 minutes and stop and start the car and it does not come on.

I did some checking with my voltmeter and here are the specs at the battery

engine off 12.93v
engine idle 14.08V
engine 2000rpm 14.30V
at the time there was not Alt/Batt visit workshop warning and later the message came on and the values did not change

The Alternator is the infamous Valeo crap that was made in 2003 and seems that there was a bad batch of voltage regs, why if this is known was there not a recall? But again my values seem to be within spec, unless they should be otherwise

Same test but with blower and lights, radio etc all on
engine off 12.93v
engine idle 14.05V
engine 2000rpm 14.26V

These results seem to be all within specs so can anyone suggest what else I should do save for pulling the alt and taking it in for testing as it seems like a job and a half to pull it especially outside here in winter!

eesjunin

Advance auto will test it foryou without removing it. I can tell you thoigh it sounds exactly how mine was behaving... The problem is VR....so either buy a new VR or new alternator... mine alternator was original w 180 k miles so i just blights new one.

Boom vang

I live in Canada so there is no Advance Auto but the local auto electric place that even the Toronto MB dealers send to will test for free. I just am trying to avoid the task of pulling it, they said that they need to bench test it.

the VR is $202 at MB ($182 in the USA) and the auto electrical place said that to rebuild my Valeo would be $269 which I think is worth the extra $67 since all of the bearings and other parts are replaced. Since the MB dealers send it to them speaks volumes (all the MB dealerships in Toronto are corporate run)

my alt has 96,000km on it (60,000mi)

eesjunin

I got a new Duralast alternator for less than 200. Lifetime warranty. 30 mins to swap.

Boom vang

30min to swap, maybe the V6 3.2L is easier to get to as most shops quote 1.7-2hrs to get out the alt in the M271 engine. It is certainly buried down in the engine and have to take off the 'wide band silencer' whatever that is to get the belts off first and the bolts to the alt are lateral, top 2 I can get to but the bottom 2 I have to go at it from below

There is no new $200 alternator for this car in Canada!

nlpamg

sounds like what happened to mine as well.

it got consistently worse. when the new battery was put it, the car felt like it was going to stall and it would shudder on startup. the new alternator fixed the problem. I had a Valeo alternator as well and my mechanic tried to put in a Bosch and the car didn't take the Bosch so he had to get a Valeo...

eesjunin

Ouch...yeah the alt is the last thing on the frontleft of the engine bay and only 2 bolts positioned vertically from each other.. .I digit twice... an hour tops and that's if you are a novice....anyways good luck but inso many words get your alternator or VR changed

contact148

call standard autowreckers east end scarborough thats where i got my used alt (looked brand new around 100.00 LIFETIME warrenty!!) it was off the shelf not the upick yard