Battery Symbol

[Hondaman]

I got a intermittent Battery light coming on. It only comes on if I'm at a standstill, but I can get it to go off  if I select neutral. Seems to occur first drive of the day mostly. My local garage told me the alternator was on it's way out, but that was over a year ago... Strange that selecting neutral always turns the light out. The Battery is also less than a year old.

Any ideas anyone?

[alankehoe]

Sounds like the alternator to me mine went at about 200,000 KM and just before it completely died was behaving as you describe. I ended up sourcing a denso alternator for it for a little over €200 

It does seem strange that it has been behaving like that for over a year however but still my bet would be alternator

if you do end up going to replace the alternator beware of spurious parts - 

 

[Hondaman]

Thanks for your quick response. It does seem strange that it has been behaving like this for a year. I had the alternator tested, and it all checked out okay. Strange that neutral turns off the light?

[ColinBarber]

10 hours ago, Hondaman said:

Strange that neutral turns off the light?

When you move to neutral you take load off the engine and the rpm increases slightly - that increase in rpm means the alternator produces more power which is clearly just above the threshold for the warning light to go out.

Either your idle speed is too low in drive (under 500 rpm?) or the alternator isn't working correctly.