Thread: I must be insane

Well the entertainment has started. I thought I'd take the rangie for a drive and see if the bushes made it drive better (absolutely no difference).

I thought it was strange I had no tacho.... then noticed the charge light was on .... Yes the fan belt is still turning. I guess I'm searching for a replacement alternator now ... Obvioulsy my wife thinks it's 'cos I worked on it.... As things only break when I touch them

Does the tacho sensor output stop working on the altnerators when they die? or have I somehow knocked a wire off by working on the suspension ... from underneath (hey this is me, anything is possible ).

seeya,
Shane L.

Well I gave the alternator a couple of whacks iwth a rubber mallet and it's started to work again (man, listen to the alternator belt squeal now). I'll order in a new replacment before the car leaves town.

I've finished the bushes on the passenger side so moved to the center rear brake light. The globe was fine, but there was no voltage at the wires to the globe .... BUGGER!

So where does the wiring branch off from the rear lights too the middle light? I pulled both rear lights back out again but couldn't find any sign of the extra wiring.

Ok, last resort is the manuals. I had a friend lend me some factory manuals a couple of years back (I actually forgot I had them until I bought this car). They cover this model with the center brakelight in the back.... and helpfully show how to change the globe ( ) but haven't actually added the bloody thing to the circuit diagram (really helpful that).

So I figured there had to be a plug in the roof lining at the rear glass so you can remove the glass and unplug this stuff. I dropped the rear corner of the head lining down and found these



Looks like an after thought added at the factory ( plugs into the factory harness). I slashed it open..... You know I reckon it's a noise suppressor. Talk about bizarre. The injection computer should be heavily shielded and protected from noise which leaves ..... The radio Why would the rear window need such an exotic looking noise supressor, you have central locking and a brake light .... and rear demist Anyway I unplugged this sucker and bypassed it... Nope no brake light.



I did however find I had voltage there, so there is a wiring break in the wiring betweent he plug and window. I found the wire broken ( cut looking almost) in the plastic wiring guide the wires run too the glass through (bypassed with the yellow wire in the piccie).

That's everything done (fingers crossed) for the roadworthy short of degreasing the engine (very, very, very last thing I'd do .... 'cos I'm sure it'll weep everywhere within a short time again).

I figured I better tighten the very loose (squealing ) alternator belt. And noticed a melted wire at the back of it .... so I pulled the split conduit harness off so I could see what sort of mess the wiring was in.



It's just the one wire .... that goes nowhere. I bet it once went to a noise suppressor. I thought I better make sure everything still worked before I snipped if off ................. the car started, ran for 2seconds and died

So I spend a good bloody hour trying to get it to run again No wires were off, no hoses bumped off, there was power at the coil, both gas and fuel it wouldn't start or run on. At one point it started (for no reason I could tell), ran for about 10seconds that stopped again like I'd shut the ignition off. There was definately no sensors unplugged, so hoses off, no umeasured air leaks downstream of the map sensor .... No reason at all for it not running that I could tell.



I'm pretty dumb and slow .... so it took some time to occur to me what was going on .... It suddenly decided it was going to run again.... see that wiring there. What else is there other than the alternator wires ?? YEP, the wiring over to the hall effect sensor in the dizzie. Now it decided it was going to run again, I moved this wire near the alternator. As soon as I got it within 1cm of the altnernator the motor died and refused to restart ... Yep, you got it, how dumb am I. The alternator is a 3phase AC device and will be quite noisy.... and the wire over too the hall effect sensor isn't shielded. So if it gets to close to the alternator the ignition module throws a fit and dies ..... and takes quite a while to "uncrash" itself so the motor will run again.

Why do I always have to learn everything the hard way

My wife could hear it dying and refusing to start out there .... so I walk inside "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE THE CARS ALONE. We get a car that finally works in the house, and you mess with the thing until it's broken like every other car you own "

seeya,
Shane L.

1. The alternator in your picture looks to be a Bosch replacement for which the regulator and brushes are a 5 minute replacement job, it is held to the alternator back with two screws. No need to buy a new alternator. They should be available at any car parts store or auto electrician or ebay.

2. There is no hall effect device present anywhere in your distributor, it has a magnetic pickup. The white wire with a black stripe is the negative coil wire and also the ECU feed for the injection timing. Parking it close to the alternator does indeed induce signals in it but its the injection ECU that gets too many pulses.

Have you tried reading a workshop manual about it first?

Originally Posted by bee utey

1. The alternator in your picture looks to be a Bosch replacement for which the regulator and brushes are a 5 minute replacement job, it is held to the alternator back with two screws. No need to buy a new alternator. They should be available at any car parts store or auto electrician or ebay.

2. There is no hall effect device present anywhere in your distributor, it has a magnetic pickup. The white wire with a black stripe is the negative coil wire and also the ECU feed for the injection timing. Parking it close to the alternator does indeed induce signals in it but its the injection ECU that gets too many pulses.

Have you tried reading a workshop manual about it first?

Hee,hee.... I assumed it was a hall effect sensor in there as the wires go straight from the dizzie -> coil. The injection must use the coil pulses ? It should have ran on gas if it was the injection getting scrambled either way. I guess that means there is no TDC sensors on this then It's bizzare that a 90's model vehicle would be using such a obsolete/outdated way to run the injection.

Still, they should have used a shielded wire ! I'll pull the alternator off and sort it out when ( if ) I can get it through the roadworthy. I hadn't even looked close enough at it yet to see it's brand. If it is a bosch, parts are readily available and cheap from the local auto electric place.

Yep, I have the manuals here .... Really useful they are too

seeya,
Shane L.

Well it passed. I gave it a good wash underneath last night ... then drove up there this morning and pulled up around the corner and crawled under it to give it a final wipe .......... To find it still bone dry Bloody ripper.... no doubt it'll be oily in a months time, but for one of these things I'd consider that "leak free".

It was amusing to hear him say "Gee's you actually did the work I requested, a lot of people don't bother or just clean it and try to argue with me it's ok". So I said ..... "Well now you mention it .... those bushes were fine.... ".

The photograph caper really is a load of bull****.

seeya,
Shane L.

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

Well it passed. I gave it a good wash underneath last night ...

Glad it worked out for you. When i was getting a roadworthy on my Series 3 i did the same thing, although the guy came to me instead. Leaky swivel seals.

Also my rear bushes looked like this

You can't get those mobile RWC blokes in Vic, I used to use one of them when I was still living in Brisbane, much easier and most times they would pass first time round.


I will say safety certs on old Rovers are a lot easier to get up north then here with all the photo crap that Vic Road require. The key to getting an old Rover passed is find a tester that isn't a tool and has some basic understanding of British engineering!!!


Trav

Originally Posted by The Mighty Range Rover

Glad it worked out for you. When i was getting a roadworthy on my Series 3 i did the same thing, although the guy came to me instead. Leaky swivel seals.

Also my rear bushes looked like this

I've got no qualms with them finding buggered bushes like that I've missed. The front swivels are weeping on this one. He must have seen it .... and ignored it. The mechanic there must know rovers "they all leak". He probably didn't have to take photos of inside of the wheel from underneath though.

If he'd been an asshole he could have filled rheems of A4 paper with crap like:
-locks don't always work (central locking)
-torn door seals
-rear tailgate seal not fully engaged
-windows not always working (I still need to pull all the switches apart and clean there contacts)
-drivers side electric mirror not working
-1million and one oil "weeps" ... NOT leaks, weeps.

You should see the picky bull**** some pick. I'd probably use this guy again.

seeya
Shane L.