Fitting a New Alternator to P38 4.6 HSE...Help Please!

I need to fit a new Alternator to my 1995 P38 4.6 HSE.

Being somewhat of a novice to these things, please can someone help me with some instructions. I don't think it looks too difficult, but I wouldn't want to do it wrong!

Thanks in advance,

Nick.

ps. I can get the belt on and off........tried with success last weekend!:drum:

Anyone able to give a bit of advice?

I'm going to change it in the morning.

just remove it and replace in reverse order, main thing is not to be scared, you wont break anything!!!

i think there is only two bolts on it as the belt has a seperate tensioner!!!

should be a piece of **** really. you will probably wonder why you were a little hesitant by this time tomorrow night!!!

gd luck

As Gav says, its easy enough, the terminals are odd sizes so you can't get mixed up. One thing though, if you decide to disconnect the battery-recommended to prevent short circuit from the loose leads touching the engine, make sure you have the radio code etc. and you will have to reset the windows and sunroof. However, if you are very careful, you can replace the alternator with the battery connected-no chance of any electric shocks!!!

maybe put some elec tape on the terminals to protect em!!!!

have you done it? hows it gone?

All done...after a bit of swearing! Wasn't too difficult. I had taken the battery out anyway and given it a full charge as the car has been sat in the street for 3 weeks! I have now reset evrything and it all seem to work! Difinately worth doing it my self for about £60 all in, Land Rover wanted to charge me nearly £600 to do it so I am most pleased

Hopefully nothing else will go wrongin the next day or so! I will say my prayers tomorrow!

Thanks to everyone for the help and advice.

Nick.

youve just gone and tempted fate there my old son!!!

you need to walk backward 7 times around the car then break a dinosaur egg on the bonnet to eleviate the P38 beasties!!!

it's not science but fcuk all else keeps em from breaking down!!!

oh and well done, told you a bit of confidence pays off!!! :deadhorse: :tea:

Nothing a hammer couldn't sort out!

OK....job done last Saturday and drove the car all day Sunday and on Tuesday. Then yesterday, the wife was going to work in it when the "Alternator Fault" flashed up again as did the battery light and the dash display flashed a bit. The car stalled and I had to leave work early to rescue her!

RAC dude came out and I told him I had replaced the alternantor so he took some readings and it seems fine. The voltage output is 14.18 volts and it was kicking out 63 amps on tickover. I tightened the bolts that secure it to the bracket. However, byt this stage it had been sitting still for 4 hours and there was no sign of the fault message! I drove it home normally

Any ideas as to what might have happened? Should I take it to a garage and have it plugged in? Might the fault need to be cleared?

Nick.

the fault will only be logged and it shouldn't(although anything is possible) keep flashing a problem that doesnt exist. i would suspect that the cables to the alterator had worked loose and caused this. check also earth to body connections and the battery connections. specifically that the clasp is pushed fully home on the tapered post of the battery. mind you the fact that it didn't lose the eka code after 4 hours would suggest the battery was connected!!

what was she doing exactly when the car stalled.

also did she try to restart the car in the time it took you to get there and rescue her?

I think she was trying to park it! It started when she was queing in traffic in Putney so I said park the car off the red route. It was still registering the fault when I arrived but wasn't when the RAC arrived. I checked the connections and tightened them at the time so maybe this did the trick? I will check the battery connections when I get home tonight.

Cheers!

i know if mine stalls for any reason, usually due to the gas system not bieng cared for by the previous keeper, it has thrown up some very odd stuff, gearbox fault is the most usual for me. there is not fault as such just that its lost power due to stall. i am fairly certain its a loose connection, i would monitor it for now and see if it reoccurs, check any connections that you can see and you may just get lucky!!!

also use the rangie yaself for a while and give ya your car, just to see how it all pears out. you dont want ya wife stranded in the dark.

I've told her to take the bus! I'll have another good look at it when I have some daylight on Saturday.

oowebb said:

I've told her to take the bus! I'll have another good look at it when I have some daylight on Saturday.

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Hi any news on this problem? I have a problem with my DSE that is the same and would like to know if you have sorted it before buying a new alternator.

Thanks Craig

It all seems OK now (touch wood!). UI checked the battery connections and the alternator again on Saturday and have used it 3 times since with no problems. The wife took it to work yesterday without any problems so I hope it was as simple as a loose connection! I think we are going to take it to the country this weekend so fingers crossed!

Nick.

Hi all from Hong Kong. I have used this forum for help on some elec. probs on a customers 98 4.0SE Auto. It has been very useful, thanks.
I may have somthing to offer on the Alt. Fault probs.
I seem to have fixed this one by adding a fused wire from an ign. source, through a
5W 12V bulb then to the D+ terminal ( same one as goes to/from BECM, brown/yellow,
leave connected!) on the Alt. You could also use a relay, I haven't yet!.
This works as a charge light and seems to work fine. The power seemed not to be
enough from the BECM to fire the alt.
I strongly advise you all to try this BEFORE buying a new Alt.
Thanks again for the help, I'm sure I'll be back, my mum in the UK has a 97 4.6HSE with all sorts of probs