why do they break down at the worst moment

so ive had my p38 nearly a year and its due mot in a couple of weeks. thought id get it in early and took it on Saturday just gone. it passed one advisory which is a tyre with low tread. so I went to bed last night at 6.30pm got up at 11.30pm cos was starting work at 12.30 am. went out started car not a problem went bag into house got my back switched the lights off locked the door got in car and set off. thought my dash lights were a bit dim but thought nothing of it. got half a mile down the road dash lit up like a Christmas tree all sorts of messages on dash i.e gearbox failure traction failure and car died. the time 11.50pm outside temp 1 degree c country road no road lights and car wouldn't restart. had to ring the wife she not happy with me now. managed to jump the car off and get it home. she then had to take me to work. I suspect the alternator has packed in but talk about bad timing. oh and I was late for my delivery as well what a great start to the week

It's the worst moment because it's broken down . . .

A

Alternator or belt.

waddy1200 said:

so ive had my p38 nearly a year and its due mot in a couple of weeks. thought id get it in early and took it on Saturday just gone. it passed one advisory which is a tyre with low tread. so I went to bed last night at 6.30pm got up at 11.30pm cos was starting work at 12.30 am. went out started car not a problem went bag into house got my back switched the lights off locked the door got in car and set off. thought my dash lights were a bit dim but thought nothing of it. got half a mile down the road dash lit up like a Christmas tree all sorts of messages on dash i.e gearbox failure traction failure and car died. the time 11.50pm outside temp 1 degree c country road no road lights and car wouldn't restart. had to ring the wife she not happy with me now. managed to jump the car off and get it home. she then had to take me to work. I suspect the alternator has packed in but talk about bad timing. oh and I was late for my delivery as well what a great start to the week

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Punished for not paying attention

maybe so druim but it was 11.50pm with not much sleep. just out of interest how long do you think it would take to discharge a battery with the lights on heated screen and heated seat on. I blame my wife cos she used it sunday afternoon

waddy1200 said:

maybe so druim but it was 11.50pm with not much sleep. just out of interest how long do you think it would take to discharge a battery with the lights on heated screen and heated seat on. I blame my wife cos she used it sunday afternoon

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Depends on the size and condition of the battery, but add all the ECU's to the above and it would not be very long unless it was a big, nearly new, fully charged battery.

thanks datatek. this one is going to have to wait till the weekend as im away all week in my truck which is a pain cos it doesn't leave long for me to check it out properly and get parts for it

waddy1200 said:

thanks datatek. this one is going to have to wait till the weekend as im away all week in my truck which is a pain cos it doesn't leave long for me to check it out properly and get parts for it

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If, as is likely, it's the alternator, you can get an overhaul kit for not a lot of cash comprising regulator, diode pack and brushes.

really well I never knew you could get those. might go down that route cos ive priced them up for my model of p38 and they come in around 300 quid

Where would you get such a kit. I have an old one here that i could do to fix.

Cheers

try ebay or island 4x4 etc. At least your heated seats work lol. my drivers one does and passenger dont. Aint told the spouse that lol

apart from the alternator and battery the only thing that doesn't work on it is the cruise control which ive never got round to fixing yet

3extruckers said:

Where would you get such a kit. I have an old one here that i could do to fix.

Cheers

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Try Google.

waddy1200 said:

really well I never knew you could get those. might go down that route cos ive priced them up for my model of p38 and they come in around 300 quid

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Is it the diesel? If it is I found the BMW one is exactly the same and unbelievably it cost half as much 2 years ago.

finally got home Saturday morning alternator was only kicking out 11.2 volts. new alternator and battery on and its kicking out 14.6 volts and 14.5 volts under load. now I can go back to what I was going to do this weekend and that's refurbing the triple sorts I bought for it to get it off these stupid 20 inch alloys.

Grrrrrr said:

Is it the diesel? If it is I found the BMW one is exactly the same and unbelievably it cost half as much 2 years ago.

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Try vauxhall omega the 2.5 diesel had the same engine too

waddy1200 said:

finally got home Saturday morning alternator was only kicking out 11.2 volts. new alternator and battery on and its kicking out 14.6 volts and 14.5 volts under load. now I can go back to what I was going to do this weekend and that's refurbing the triple sorts I bought for it to get it off these stupid 20 inch alloys.

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What are the 20"s?
Are you gona sell um?

yeah ill be selling them cant remember what they are called but they are original range rover wheels thought. paint is flaking a bit but no kerbing or gouges. 3 of the tyres have 6mm of tread on them the other has 2mm of tread on them. just looked at what they are and they are 7 spoke comet alloys

waddy1200 said:

yeah ill be selling them cant remember what they are called but they are original range rover wheels thought. paint is flaking a bit but no kerbing or gouges. 3 of the tyres have 6mm of tread on them the other has 2mm of tread on them. just looked at what they are and they are 7 spoke comet alloys

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Asking for viscous destruction

you lost me there druim