Hi there, I've got a manual bmw e46, year 2003, n42 engine, about 95.000 miles. I can't figure out why the alternator is kicking in so late. When I start the car, the alternator is barely charging the battery to not drop 11,9v. This will slowly go to 11,8v and so on. If I use the car accessories the battery will drop down eventually. Then after half an hour it's going to 14,2 v, when this starts I can hear the engine struggling a bit, or it's slowing down, something like this, then it will run normally. What is happening?
truthfully replace the battery probably have a bad battery if not replace the alternator but a bad battery will do exactly that it will take quite some time for it to charge up and get voltage running
Thanks a lot for your answer. Also I don't know what to say about alternator diodes.