Thread: DEAD D4

Originally Posted by BobD

I think it is age that is the problem, not distance, so 2010 models are starting to fail, hence why I replaced mine.

I suspect its more of how often the alternator has to charge at high capacity as that's what stresses the diodes. Long runs don't stress the diodes nearly as much per km travelled due to lower current being generated once the battery has recovered. It still comes down to how many starts though which roughly equates to age if used daily.

Originally Posted by Graeme

I suspect its more of how often the alternator has to charge at high capacity as that's what stresses the diodes. Long runs don't stress the diodes nearly as much per km travelled due to lower current being generated once the battery has recovered. It still comes down to how many starts though which roughly equates to age if used daily.

I don't want to risk another slanging match, but it would be good to know if this vehicle has a dual battery system? It really would be good one day to do a survey and find out once and for all if solenoid type DBS's do contribute to alternator failure.

Originally Posted by Silenceisgolden

I don't want to risk another slanging match, but it would be good to know if this vehicle has a dual battery system? It really would be good one day to do a survey and find out once and for all if solenoid type DBS's do contribute to alternator failure.

Correlation does not equal causation. A survey doesn’t prove much. After all, I wonder what percentage of ownership is represented on the forum?
Finally, no one has even confirmed it has an alternator issues - even that’s reaching!

Originally Posted by Silenceisgolden

I don't want to risk another slanging match, but it would be good to know if this vehicle has a dual battery system? It really would be good one day to do a survey and find out once and for all if solenoid type DBS's do contribute to alternator failure.

Traxide D3-BS with SC80 from memory Greame.

Scott.

And yes mainly short trips, charged overnight once a month.
Scott.

Originally Posted by Silenceisgolden

I don't want to risk another slanging match, but it would be good to know if this vehicle has a dual battery system? It really would be good one day to do a survey and find out once and for all if solenoid type DBS's do contribute to alternator failure.

My son's 2009-build 3.0 D4 has had a VSR fitted since new and has now done well over 200K on the original alternator. However he has a 220A version (4.4 TDV8) waiting to be fitted.

My D4 has a Traxide USI 160 for the Optima battery and also charges the caravan Lithium batteries from the Traxide Anderson Plug via a 40A Enerdrive DC2DC charger in the KK and has done many tens of thousands of km doing this with no alternator issues. As mentioned in my post above I recently replaced the alternator while other work was being done that made access easier, to ensure reliability on remote trips. My alternator is obviously working hard charging the Optima and providing 40A to the caravan (more like 45 to 50A through the Anderson Plug) plus all the other stuff that it runs and it was fine up to 240,000km and still going strong. It has been used for touring, towing and off road for most of its life and not a lot of short trips around town.

Originally Posted by BobD

It has been used for touring, towing and off road for most of its life and not a lot of short trips around town.

Hi Bob, your alternator worked fine for 240,000kms without failing.

Yet my RR alternator failed at 97,000, and this is in a vehicle that was so unreliable and unusable that I never bothered to fit a dual battery system in to it prior to the failure, and because it is so unreliable, it has done few long trips but a hell of a lot of short trips.

Fits right in to what Graeme was saying.