!!!Land Rover Electrics!!!

Hiya is there anyone out there that can help me,
My 1987 Land Rover 90 turbo appears to be loosing charge from the battery as it is getting increasingly hard to start her. The alternator is working but the battery does not appear to be charging. I can confirm that it is working by the fact that the lights brighten once the throttle is pressed. All of the connections are working out of the alternator and so far as I can see the fuses are not blown in the front of the fuse box.

Is there any other problems that are causing the problem appart from a blown battery? The car is starting from the battery so I cant see the problem there.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated,
Many thanks,
Hugh.

Hi There,
when you say its diff to start, do you mean slow to turn over or is the engine turning over and not firing up.

Slow to turn over could indeed be your battery, a heavy dis-charge check at any decent garage would confirm if its ok. Or, it could be a starter motor problem, worn brushes.

hope this helps

I've checked the battery and it still has plenty of charge in it and is charging. It is more a case of being slow to turn over and start. It does not matter how much glow plug I use, there is just a difficulty in turning over the engine in the first place. The battery shows 13.8 volts when running and this drops to 12.4 when the engine is switched off. I'm going to check the earths now so if there is any change then I'll post a reply.

Many thanks,
Hugh Peters.

Hi again, Your alternator seems to be within spec the voltage should rise as you increase engine speed, having said that you are right to check the earth straps, but its begining to sound like a starter motor problem.

You wont be the first to suspect and replace a battery only to discover that once the new battery has come down to the normal operating charge that the same fault appears again. Its then that we find its the starter motor brushes.

You can then decide to replace the brushes or replace the starter motor.

I done my own brushes a couple of months ago, they cost £11.00 while the cost of a new recon starter would have been £70-£90.