Thread: Alternator Failure?

Good news!

The wait was not long and the email I missed with the shipping so apologies there folks.

Denso alternator charging at 13.6 volts. Compared to OEX 14.9 ...

Moral of the story; not only does a poor man pay twice but so does an impatient one!

Mind you I did ask my friendly sales rep at Ashdown Ingram "is it good quality?" Of course he said yes...

No more OEX parts for me!

By the way I think it took longer to try to make the positive battery terminal tight then it took to change the alternator...

Originally Posted by tiojeffe

Good news!

The wait was not long and the email I missed with the shipping so apologies there folks.

Denso alternator charging at 13.6 volts. Compared to OEX 14.9 ...

Moral of the story; not only does a poor man pay twice but so does an impatient one!

Mind you I did ask my friendly sales rep at Ashdown Ingram "is it good quality?" Of course he said yes...

No more OEX parts for me!

By the way I think it took longer to try to make the positive battery terminal tight then it took to change the alternator...

As I understand it there was nothing wrong with the OEX alternator - it was just not suited to your vehicle - or am I missing something here.

During this thread you have not mentioned what model Disco or what engine. I assumed a D3 with TDV6 and I guess so did most others.

I just looked at the OEX catelogue and they do not list an alternator for the TDV6 at all and for the petrol 4.0 V6 lists two different alternators (one early and one late) and a different alternator again for the V8s.

I suspect you just got the wrong alternator.

Garry

Hi Rich 84, Where did you purchase you Denso from?

What a circus. After a few weeks of on and off whining, I had the D4 half out the garage, listening to the alternator with a stethoscope. After starting and stopping a few times, the D4 became hard to start, would not start and everything went black. Total failure, and a puff of smoke from the alternator. Well at least I had confirmation of the problem source.

Then the circus began, as even with the handbrake disengaged and the transmission in neutral, the vehicle refused to move. This is now 8.00pm and I cannot even get the garage door closed.

I am making an assumption, but it seems that if you have an 'E' diff ( fitted to mine ) it can/will lock up when there is loss of power. I had to jack the rear end up and use rollers under the rear wheels to slide it rearwards out of the garage.

Tomorrow the hunt for a replacement alternator begins. Here's hoping nothing else is damaged. I noticed there was a short across the battery once the alternator had failed. Hopefully I got to it in time. It seems to be responding to a charge.

Sorry a bit late to this thread, but I have had the same experience. This is a major design fault with this car and should never have been allowed to happen.

I saw the alternator light come on and kept driving to home and was getting the burning smell. I got home and turned the car off and went inside to check AULRO saw that leaving the battery connected would drain the battery, but by the time I got out there the main battery was flat. When the flatbed came it was so dead we couldn't shift the car into neutral or release the park brake to winch it up. Pulled the emergency park brake release, and then jumped from the second battery just to get enough juice to put it in park.

Upshot was
New alternator
New main battery (killed one was only about 3 months old)
New Llams unit (as old one was killed somehow in the repair process. Greame was a legend in supporting his product on this one, thanks Greame)

Terrible design and dangerous if this happened in a remote location.

Originally Posted by ADMIRAL

even with the handbrake disengaged and the transmission in neutral, the vehicle refused to move. ....I am making an assumption, but it seems that if you have an 'E' diff ( fitted to mine ) it can/will lock up when there is loss of power. I had to jack the rear end up and use rollers under the rear wheels to slide it rearwards out of the garage.

It seems more likely that the park brake was still applied. The e-diff would have had no reason to be locked and even if the e-diff was locked the vehicle would still roll unless trying to turn significantly.

Will you be installing a dedicated and appropriately fused alternator power cable to prevent a repeat occurrence?

I'm keen to avoid meltdown when my alternator kicks the bucket ... Can you explain what you mean Graeme in simple terms (ie like I'm five !) ? Would you suggest something preemptive noting my charging system has just turned 10 ?

Thanks in advance !

Originally Posted by Graeme

It seems more likely that the park brake was still applied. The e-diff would have had no reason to be locked and even if the e-diff was locked the vehicle would still roll unless trying to turn significantly.

Will you be installing a dedicated and appropriately fused alternator power cable to prevent a repeat occurrence?

Logical practical useful post!