Possible alternator Problem?

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
L

Llew

New Member
Posts
65
Location
Gosport
We are currently 2 weeks into our overland to Malaysia and are in Hungary for a few days. I think that my alternator is possibly on its way out and thinking I should replace before we start getting to very remote areas. The charge indication on the dash is no longer going above half way on the guage even after long trips on the road but battery light goes out after starting.( the battery indication shows 24v but vehicle only has one battery, may have been conversion at some stage in vehicle life as originally was red cross spec vehicle.) I have a split charge, at the moment it is purely a manual one, removed the relay split charge when thought it was not energising properly to charge second battery. jsut looking for advice. I got spare rectifier assembly. can auxiliaries overload alternator? any advice would be helpful

thank lew
 
Llew said:
We are currently 2 weeks into our overland to Malaysia and are in Hungary for a few days. I think that my alternator is possibly on its way out and thinking I should replace before we start getting to very remote areas. The charge indication on the dash is no longer going above half way on the guage even after long trips on the road but battery light goes out after starting.( the battery indication shows 24v but vehicle only has one battery, may have been conversion at some stage in vehicle life as originally was red cross spec vehicle.) I have a split charge, at the moment it is purely a manual one, removed the relay split charge when thought it was not energising properly to charge second battery. jsut looking for advice. I got spare rectifier assembly. can auxiliaries overload alternator? any advice would be helpful

thank lew
Click to expand...

Is the charge reading voltage or ampage? Have you double checked the reading with a multi-meter?
 
havent got as far as multimeter yet, will check it out tomorrow. but checked before we left and all was fine, guage was reading fine as well and when charged was showing well over the half mark. was getting well over 13v.
 
forgot to add it is a j reg 200tdi, and the auxilliaries I was refering to in the first thread was what I have running off the extra battery.
 
Llew said:
havent got as far as multimeter yet, will check it out tomorrow. but checked before we left and all was fine, guage was reading fine as well and when charged was showing well over the half mark. was getting well over 13v.
Click to expand...

If the battery voltage drops much below 12.5 volts your landy should fail to start. As it is still starting and you make no mention of it being slow to turn over I suspect that your gauge may be misreading. A quick check with a multi-meter should putthe record straight.

My Nanocom was showing that I had a possible alternator issue. I had it in instrument mode and it was giving me a slightly erratic reading fluctuating between 13 and 13.6 volts. After checking the voltage at the battery , jump socket and dashboard I found that I actually had 14.3 volts.:rolleyes:
 
check the battery with the multimeter you are looking for 13.6v to 14.4 v.
Forget what the gauges are reading(they might be faulty) check with the multimeter.
Even with all of the electrivcs on lights,heater etc you should still be over 13.6 volts
 
Checked with multimeter, got 12v before starting and at idle got 12.6v. Engine starts fine, hopefully it is just the guage that is reading incorrectly. couldnt check above idle as no one around to increase revs while checking with multimeter.
 
12.6 is low. Cant you sit in the drivers seat and look at the mulitmeter ont the passanger seat ?? I get 14.1 volts on idle
 
Llew said:
Checked with multimeter, got 12v before starting and at idle got 12.6v. Engine starts fine, hopefully it is just the guage that is reading incorrectly. couldnt check above idle as no one around to increase revs while checking with multimeter.
Click to expand...

You should be getting somewhere around 13.8 to 14.5 volts with it on idle. It does indeed sound like your alternator is on its way out.
 
vehicle crammed in hotel car park at moment we off to Romania tomorrow, the place we staying in has land rover distributor there and I will have space to get to everything. so will look at getting parts there. do you thinnk it will be the whole thing or get away with rectifier assembly? Got spare one of those already but cant remember which one I got.
 
Llew said:
vehicle crammed in hotel car park at moment we off to Romania tomorrow, the place we staying in has land rover distributor there and I will have space to get to everything. so will look at getting parts there. do you thinnk it will be the whole thing or get away with rectifier assembly? Got spare one of those already but cant remember which one I got.
Click to expand...

It sounds like you should get away with just fitting a rectifier.
 
will give that a try as soon as we stop in Romania, hopefully will get away with that. thanks for all the help
lew
 
Checked it all before we left, Charge guage now reading back to normal levels and when running above idle at about 1000 - 1200 rpm voltage up at 13.6V. Still a worry why guage level dropped so low while running.
 
Another query I have is with the kenlow fan setup. Thought vehicle was running hot, but when checked wiring to Kenlow fan noticed that fuse holder and spade terminal were melted, but 30amp fuse hadnt popped. Put a 20A fuse in but popped after a few minutes. Does any one know what should be the correct rating is for the fuses. It seems a very heath robinson affair who ever fitted it as it is all just cable tied in the engine bay with no waterproofing, relay is rated at 35A. Relay operation cct has a 15A fuse which seems high for a relay cct. any info would be a great help.
 
Fuse depends entirely on how much current (amps) the fan draws.
Relay switching circuit should only be a minute amount, a 2 amp fuse should be fine.
Without knowing how your fan is wired, it is almost impossible to say.
Does the fan turn freely?
 
Found out that the fan wasnt centred properly and blades were touching side of housing. Think this was the cause of drawing high current. When running now seems to be drawing about 13 amps still not sure if this is too high? THis may tie in with the alternator problem, I think that the alternator is not producing quite enough and over time during a long drive it slowly drags down the battery. as voltage fine just after starting but seems to drop off as travelling. Vehicle always starts immediatly. When we stop for a few days in next spot I will try change the rectifier on alternator and seem if that is an improvement.
 
cooling fan burnt itself out. And Kenlowe fans arent very well known in Bulgaria. Got to Land Rover parts place and they were very helpful and ended up driving me all over Burgas trying to find a replacement fan. Ended up getting a fan from another type of vehicle got no idea which one, from a second hand parts dealer. Managed to jury rig it for now, It works but would be better with a greater volume of air moving across it. I wanted to return to the original fit with viscous couple and fan but they didnt carry stock for that and I would have had to wait for it to be sent from the UK.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
Disco 2 TD5 New alternator not charging (solved)
Replies
2
Views
978
Abaddon
A
BlueDefender87
Ignition cut out (click) on TD5 split battery system
Replies
5
Views
907
BlueDefender87
BlueDefender87
K
Freelander 2 (LR2) New Alternator Faulty after one year.
Replies
6
Views
1K
Nodge68
Nodge68
andyfreelandy
Freelander 1 Exciting drive when not wanted. Alternator failure.
2
Replies
23
Views
2K
andyfreelandy
andyfreelandy
Neptune1922
Disco 2 At the moment following a new chassis on Feb 1st I now have quiescent problem.
Replies
7
Views
519
Neptune1922
Neptune1922
Back
Top