So, I got the blinking battery light a week or so back, recharged the battery one morning, and confirmed the alternator wasn't charging (11ish volts w/ car on).
Finally got around to replacing the alternator (reman Bosch AL9413X) last night (along w/ CCV, OFH gasket, and Vanos oil ine). In the alternator instructions it stated you need a fully charged battery (12.6v @ 100% or 12.4v @ 75%)
or you risk limiting the life of the alternator.
So I made sure the battery was again charged before I started it. Success! No battery light and voltage in the low 14s with the vehicle on. But this morning, I checked the resting battery voltage and it was 12.1. Started just fine, drove around for a while, and now it's back to resting @ 12.1. I'm sure it'll be fine going forward, but don't want to ruin my newly installed alternator.
Should I look into replacing the battery given that it's only charging to about %50 (per chart) even if the car starts fine? Should I really be concerned about this or is the 12.6v per Bosch instructions just to cover their behinds? Thoughts? Thanks.
