4.4 TDV8 alternator failed P065A 150K kms

[Graeme]

I had hoped that these alternators would last longer than those fitted to the 2.7, 3.0 and 3.6 engines but apparently not, as mine failed at 150K which is very similar to the 90-100K miles in the UK for these alternators. Like the reported other failures of the 4.4's alternators there was no draining of the battery so the vehicle is still being driven short distances between charges. I'll determine what failed in case it can be repaired to keep as a spare.

A Denso DAN1110 will be fitted rather than the very expensive genuine LR which is also Denso. The belts, the tensioner, all idlers and the water pump will be replaced at the same time hoping to avoid any related failures for the next 150K kms.

[shack]

150 thousand km is actually a fair way.

When you consider the load and poor operating conditions they work in I would have thought that about par.

A mate just had one done on a 79 series, don't think it had got too 150, and I think the bill with a couple other little jobs.. Was about $1100.

[Graeme]

I expected at least another 50K as my son changed out his 3.0 D4's somewhere north of 200K. However the windings are exposed to whatever gets thrown up from under the front so possibly just the brushes, as there was a hiccup a few days ago that cleared on a restart at the time.

[Mjak42]

Have fun changing that Graeme, I have 189,000 klms was still working fine but changed it as preventative maintenance, how they got some of those bolts holding the shroud in, ended up with a few scratches up my arms, lol the turbo boost valve down the bottom I just took the 3 bolts out and just removed the larger short hose by the radiator, then you can just move it out of the way, smallest g clamp with small smooth piece of wood for small belt start it up at 12 o’clock turning pulley clockwise must hold and keep belt on top pulley, it tries to come off. I made a tool to hold fan pulley out of 4mm flat bar. I got my alternator from Island 4x4 in the uk for £189 and £100 shipping arrived at my door in 7 days.

[Graeme]

I'm waiting on a shipping cost update from Island 4x4 since adding a water pump.
An ex-mechanic who I know would use a small (3/8" or 1/4" - I can't recall) air ratchet on hard to access smaller bolts whereas my 1/2" air ratchet is often too big.

[Mjak42]

Water pump.. good idea. I went to change thermostat and found both the tabs that hold thermostat in were broken, had to buy the entire housing which I will swap over at a later date

.176581

[Graeme]

There are several items on this engine that can only be purchased as a complete assembly, such as the top radiator hose assembly and the complete vacuum pipe c/w solenoids. At least the oil cooler housing gaskets are available, including recently changed part numbers which hopefully means better gaskets.

[Graeme]

This afternoon the alternator upped the ante by going short circuit, draining the battery rather rapidly, shutting down systems over the next few minutes until the faltering engine didn't have the power to climb a slope on my driveway so it was switched off. The aux battery was switched online which allowed the car to be restarted and get another km to my nearest shed at which time the engine was switched off, the aux disconnected then a lead removed from the main battery.
I had always intended installing a dedicated and switched alternator cable to be able to disconnect a failing alternator so cutting off the alternator cable from the starter cable became the first step, so as to allow the battery to be reconnected at which time it still had a little charge. A charger was connected for a short while then the vehicle driven under cover where the charger was reconnected for a couple of hours. It will be reconnected in the morning to allow the batteries to cool overnight. At least it can now be driven in an emergency.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Holy **** Graeme,, thats a real show stopper..

any signs beforehand?

[Graeme]

A couple of days earlier there was a charging system fault message which cleared on a restart.

At least the short circuit didn't drain the battery in seconds, taking more like 5 minutes and allowing the engine to be restarted with the aux connected. I noted that the resettable CB for the AGM deep cycle aux was very hot when being disconnected but its voltage restored immediately whereas the AGM starting battery only slightly recovered so may not survive, but looks promising so far.

[Graeme]

Have fun changing that Graeme, I have 189,000 klms was still working fine but changed it as preventative maintenance, how they got some of those bolts holding the shroud in, ended up with a few scratches up my arms, lol the turbo boost valve down the bottom I just took the 3 bolts out and just removed the larger short hose by the radiator, then you can just move it out of the way, smallest g clamp with small smooth piece of wood for small belt start it up at 12 o’clock turning pulley clockwise must hold and keep belt on top pulley, it tries to come off. I made a tool to hold fan pulley out of 4mm flat bar. I got my alternator from Island 4x4 in the uk for £189 and £100 shipping arrived at my door in 7 days.
I did much the same, although I removed the other 2 hoses from the valve after the fan was removed to make it easier to keep the valve out of the way, but erroneously refitted the top intake and coolant hoses before refitting the top valve hose so had to backtrack a little. It was too dark to work underneath on the shroud and valve so finished the top, only to remove it all next day. Adding to my time spent was a brain fade trying to undo the left-threaded fan the wrong way, eventually re-assessing when my efforts were fruitless.
I had obtained a brass fitting to replace the little plastic tube that is prone to breaking off the top coolant hose and sure enough it snapped while removing the air intake hose. I already had a 1/8 BSPT tap so had purchased a 3/8" hose tail fitting which worked well. I replaced the plastic hose with rubber. I'm quite relieved that the plastic tube now can't break at an inopportune time. I'm considering replacing the other side one too even though those aren't known for breaking, although being a bleed line the hole diameter in the plastic is considerably smaller than that of the brass fittings.
The starting battery doesn't seem to be dead yet but a new one is on hand, probably required when cooler weather arrives if it lasts that long.
I didn't think to buy coolant so changing the coolant is a job for the next day or 2.