The station run, the CPZ and a battery that never catches up
A lot of Morden driving is built around the Northern line. Cars do a short hop to the station or to a relative's drop-off point, then sit for the rest of the day, and with controlled parking zones M1 to M4 limiting all-day parking near the centre, many stay parked at home on the St Helier estate's long avenues. Either way, the pattern is the same: lots of starts, very little steady running. A healthy alternator needs time at decent revs to put back what the starter motor takes out, and on a two-mile trip it simply doesn't get it.
That's why many Morden owners first notice a charging problem as a car that won't start after a few days, rather than a warning light on the move. The alternator may be producing some output but not enough, perhaps because a diode has failed or the brushes are worn, and short trips never reveal it. A run out past Morden Park and Morden Park House on the A24 might mask it for a while, then the next cold snap brings it back.
We don't assume. A proper charging test tells us whether the alternator reaches its correct output under load, whether there's ripple from a failed diode, and whether the battery itself is holding charge. We also check for a parasitic drain, because a car that goes flat while parked isn't always an alternator fault. Once we know, you get a written quote. If it is the alternator, we fit an OE-specification unit with a new auxiliary belt and retest before you collect it.
The route is Morden Hall Road to the Morden Hall roundabout, then the A239 east into Mitcham, Cranmer Road and Carshalton Road south over the railway to Hackbridge, about 4 miles. If the car won't start in the morning, we can collect it from Morden instead, and the repair is covered by our 3-month workmanship warranty.