Hi all,

L322 4.4TDV8 Vogue 2011

I removed the right hand side wheel arch to tighten a new voss air fitting which was leaking. To do this, I used gap iid several times to increase the vehicles height with the air suspension, and that one corner especially, but I didn’t run the engine whilst doing so, so I imagine I used too much battery power. I have seen “Low battery power, please start engine” for as long as I can remember but was assured battery is healthy be a mechanic who tested it.

After putting the wheel arch liner back on, I got a system charging fault within a couple of minutes of driving. I tried clearing faults, but they returned. The car died after 10 minutes of driving with every error code possible. The battery was at 5.6v when I checked the next day with a multimeter. The rescue guy was able to jump start it with 2 large jump packs but naturally it died again shortly after. He didn’t test anything before declaring its the alternator. Im hoping it’s not, but accept it’s likely if its never been changed, car is on 108k miles.

Does anybody know if I may have inadvertently broken some ground connection or something else when removing the wheel arch liner?

Could the low battery / poor battery be causing it by not taking the charge?

What can I test to rule out any possible issues other than the alternator itself and how would I test the alternator itself is faulty?

I (think) I have checked the earth connection at the front of bumper and it looks solid if I’m looking in the correct place, picture attached.

Is there anything else around that wheel arch liner I could have disturbed when I dropped the whole arch down to the wheel?

I have attached relevant gap iid codes screenshot.

Any help would be appreciated,
Many thanks,
Shane

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12v is classed as a dead battery. What you're describing voltage wise is a battery thats so dead you need a new one.

Running the car won't charge it. You need to remove it and get it on a proper charger, but at that voltage, most chargers will refuse to even try charging the battery.

Sounds like you need a new battery in anycase, once you do, you can then check if it is charging. Just use a multimeter to measure volts, and it will be around 14.5v if the alternator is charging it.