Thread: sdv6 alternator failure

Originally Posted by Silenceisgolden

I also wonder why some alternators fail and some don't. These days practically everything is made by robotics and there are normally no quality control variations from part to part. So if one fails and others don't, it seems likely that failure is due to some environmental differences.

The biggest environmental difference would happen when dual battery systems are installed. This would be compounded when there are more than one auxiliary batteries as each one can draw quite a high current. Multiple batteries obviously will be much worse.

Well I installed a dual battery system after having an alternator failure.

My 07 RR was so unreliable and literally unusable, from the day I drove it out of the showroom, that I never bothered wasting my time fitting a dual battery system to it.

Then when the alternator did fail and it became obvious just how much of a problem alternator failures were in Land Rovers, I installed a dual battery system to give me some backup if the alternator failed again.

Not having a dual battery system fitted to my 07 RR made no difference to the cause of the failure, but had I had a dual battery system fitted, I could have at least been able to get the heap off the middle of the road and probably had enough reserve power to get it home.

Originally Posted by Graeme

Install a dedicated alternator cable with a resetable CB so that even if the CB doesn't trip then at least the alternator can be quickly disconnected from the battery. If only 1 diode goes short circuit then current draw of only about 1/3 of the alternator's max o/p occurs so a CB is unlikely to trip. Grentarc's D4 has such a cable & CB.

I have done this with my D3 . I had a mini fuse and went as low as 80 amp , I then installed a 75amp Resettable CB and found that was to small.
I now have a 100amp resettable CB and have had no issues. I also have a in cabin battery monitor for both batteries .

When I done my timing belt I installed a new alternator and kept the old 1 as a spare , but I like the idea of being able to disconnect the alternator very quickly if a fault occurs.

Cheers Ean

This is a good read about trying to make the alternator failures a bit safer.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/projects-t...-cable-d3.html

Tim,


How did the 210 A CVSR go? You said in the link that you would report back on it.


I had a 12 month old battery drop unexpectedly to 6V over night in Katherine a couple of weeks ago for no apparent reason. Obviously the USI 160 wouldn't connect to the second battery due to the low voltage but when we used jumper leads from a Toyota it did connect and started the car OK. (It wouldn't turn over with just the jumper leads) I drove to Darwin without switching the engine off and got a new battery from the LR dealer but they didn't have time to fit it. I drove around for a couple of days with no problems until I got around to fitting the battery. No problems on the trip back to Perth with the new battery installed or since. I had an Optima battery running the Waeco in the car and we charge the Kimberley Karavan via the rear Anderson plug of the Traxide kit with a Redarc 40A DC-DC charger while driving.


Could this sudden battery voltage drop over night when only running the Fridge from the second battery be something to do with the alternator? My D4 is up around 220,000km. If it did cause the problem it then fixed itself and is now charging perfectly. I should point out that we had just travelled the Great Central Road, Birdsville Track, Savannah Way and two days before we went from Cape Crawford north on the Roper River Road, which was so rough that we turned around after 80km and decided to take the bitumen to Stuart Hwy to prevent damage to our three vehicles and the KK. I thought these rough roads must have damaged the battery at the time.

Hi Bob and this is purely an assumption, but as you posted, the rough roads may have loosened plates in the battery.

While very rare, it is something that can happen.

If you alternator was the problem, again as you stated, it would not have fixed itself.

As for the 220,000kms, milage is not one of the contribution factors that causes the discussed problem with the LR alternators.

From memory mine went at 96,000 and this seems to be a common milage point but some D4s go in as little as 40,000 will an RR L322. the alternator had been fine till well over 200,000 but still failed in the same dangerous way.

I have decided to keep my RR as is ( unusable ) till I decide whether to take legal action against LR and as such, I have not installed the CVSR.

It may be totally unrelated but when I first got my "belt noise" I was driving next to shed ( that amplified the sound) and through a pot hole that seemed to cause the noise.

The sound then went away after a week or two but ended in total failure of the alternator a week later.

The pot hole, in my mind, played a part... I hadn't mentioned it before because it seemed silly.

I'm happy it was just the alternator, and nothing more serious. This has been my first breakdown, after 5 years and 145,000 km, and even then I got home, to recharge.

I must also note that I run a engel fridge 24/7 and DRL's with a lot of stop start work so it could be me abusing the batteries and charging system that caused my failure?

Hi keel, loading the alternator does not appear to be a cause for the failures.

As I posted, mine had had very little load put on the alternator, yet is still failed spectacularly.

But I have many D3 and D4 owners who regularly tow camper trailers or caravans and a good number of these do a lot of free camping, so they have to work their alternators pretty hard, and this does not seem to bring on an alternator failure.

In some of these setups the alternator is charging the cranking battery, an auxiliary battery and 2 or 3 house batteries in their camper trailer or caravan, and these high current loads don't seem to be a problem.

Went to go out this morning and the 2010 3.0 D4 would not unlock. Had to take the Toyota Startlet as we had an appointment , thinking I need a new battery in the remote. After getting back I could just hear a faint click when I tried to unlock, so probably not he remote key. I used the emergency key for the first time ever and got the passenger door open. no alarm. Popped the bonnet and the measured the battery. 5Volts. Disconnected everything to see if it was the alternator pulling the voltage down. It seemed battery recovered to about 8 volts when the main starter/alternator cable was disconnected. Reconnected and went to 5 volts again, so was pretty much convinced the alternator was pulling it down. Put the battery charger on and the battery was about 12.5 after a couple of hours. I put a clamp meter on the main starter/alternator cable and volt meter across the battery and reconnected the thing to the battery post just to make sure it was the alternator. Well no voltage drop or current via the alternator. Connected the rest of the power connectors and still no voltage drop. Started the car and alternator charging at 73amps at idle.

So a bit of a mystery for the moment. I am pretty sure the alternator was affecting the voltage (5v /8v change) when I connected/disconnected with nothing else connected. But I have learned over the years you cannot be sure 100% about what you think you did.

Any chance a diode would stop leaking after it cooled down?
So for now I am fully charging the battery to see how it goes over night.

I have started looking at alternator options in preparation.

The parts LR013847->LR065866->LR072756 seem to be for the D4 3.0 and is DENSO DAN1105 but seem to be 150A.
Does anyone have confirmation/info about this?

The parts LR034013->LR072764 are for Discovery 4 and is DENSO DAN1112 which is 180A. (Is this the 5.0L ?)
Has anyone used it for the D4 3.0L

Originally Posted by Graeme

Justin (Grentarc) found DAN1112 which appears to be the appropriate 3.0 D4 180A with free-wheeling pulley. It has an end B+ stud but that shouldn't be a concern.

Regards
Gerry