Was driving the car and she was running nicely. Glanced down at the instrument panel and noticed that the battery light (and some of the other lights) seemed like it was flashing slightly. Wasn't sure at first since it was a sunny day but sure enough as the sun went down it became more obvious. Eventually SRS would not go off after start up. Car ran fine although did seemed to idle a little roughly for a few seconds right after start up

Did some troubleshooting. Battery was at 12.3V with car off. When running voltage went down to 11.6v. OK, so not charging - after a little thought figured it likely was the voltage regulator. So pulled it off and sure enough the brushes were almost worn away. Felt confident that was the problem so ordered a new Bosch voltage regulator.

Received it today and immediately tried to install it figuring it should be pretty easy. After much cursing failed having damaged the installation around the longer brush etc So come onto Brickboard and spend 2 minutes searching to find the trick to installation. I used the fishing line trick to hold the brushes and install within 2 minutes. So start the car up feeling confident and low and behold same problem. Battery voltage 12.4V +/- with car off. Car starts OK but battery shows 11.6V when running. However, the battery light etc is off with no flashing so something has changed. Maybe since i haven't driven the car the battery hasn't been loaded much so that might hide the problem? The battery may be getting old but still seems to hold charge when I charge it.

So what do people think? Alternator? Battery? Instrument cluster/battery light? Alternator not installed correctly or my hamfisted install damaged the brushes etc. I have cleaned the red trigger wire (?) on the alternator. I'm at a loss and don't want to just throw parts at the problem. Suggestions?

Regards,