Strange poltergeist electrical problems??

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GetRid

New Member
Posts
16
Location
Darkest Cumbria
Hello all, hope your genius can help me.

My 1994 3.9 Vogue SE is having fits with electrics. Battery warning light flashing, rev needle doing crazy sh1t everywhere and sometimes it just conks out!

I have had a tame mechanic check voltage here, there and everywhere, checked the ground cables which seem to be ok, as in not corroded or falling off.

Sometimes I get a dim head light, sometimes it behaves properly like this afternoon. It so hit and miss at the moment.

I am guessing it is something to do with water splashing on something breaking the power because wet weather its worse, well a nightmare!

Can anyone give me a glue where to start cos I don't want to "get rid" like everyone keeps telling me.

New components in the last 2years:
Starter motor
Coil pack
Exhaust Cats
Shed load of welding
Alternator
Valley gasket
Reconditioned MAf
K & N Aircone thingy
Pipes and things
Brake bits various
And coil suspension
And water proofing the drivers footwell

Sounds about right for a 1994 with 135000miles?

....I'm skint now and barely keeping it together....... :(
 
When you had a load of welding done do you think that may have caused some wire insulation to be burnt away causing short to ground when wet. also when you had the drivers footwell done was any chemicals spilt on the sockets and plugs on the Becm? :)
 
Sounds like the fusible links are failing.They are made into the loom on the battery pos cable from the battery lead back through to the bulkhead.
Very common fault.
 
Today it did not rain but after 10mins driving the electric poltergiest was back.
I have checked as much conections as i can but still something is angering the electric gods!!

I discovered that both head lights were dim then a bit of a hit and a wiggle they went bright again. Could rotten headlight wires being buggering up everything?

If so would a HID kit be a worth while fix?
 
Today it did not rain but after 10mins driving the electric poltergiest was back.
I have checked as much conections as i can but still something is angering the electric gods!!

I discovered that both head lights were dim then a bit of a hit and a wiggle they went bright again. Could rotten headlight wires being buggering up everything?

If so would a HID kit be a worth while fix?
Best ensure you fix the electrical issue first before modifying....

I would not consider your headlights giving you the other issues, but sort that out first then see if you continue to get gremlins...once you have sorted them out, you can consider the HID upgrade...
 
Right, without going into total Tourette's I have had another attempt at locating my intermitent electrical ****tyness. All wires to The alternator are solid except the top one is frigging hot. Am I right in assuming this ain't right?

Any thoughts again oh wise ones...... Cheers
 
Certainly doesn't sound right....no wires should be hot to touch and certainly not 'frigging hot' thats for sure....

What colour is the wire and where does it go....??

Anychance of you adding a photo on here of the wire...???
 
Here goes:

not bad pictures considering it's pitch black out there!
The top wire thick red is Hot, looks singed

alt1.jpg


alt2.jpg


alt3.jpg


Hope these are helpful
 
Either the crimp connector has corroded causing a high resistance betwen the cable and the crimp, or the nut holding the crimp to the stud is not tight, or you have an intermittant failure in the alternator itself which is shorting the battery.
 
I think it is actually a brown colour (according to the circuit diagram anyway) and it is the main feed to the battery and the 100A maxi fuse for the power distribution....

How old is your battery??

If it is quite old, then it could be drawing excessive amps to try and charge it fully, causing this cable to get really hot....

Datatek I believe is an electrical genius, so he could have more of an idea....

But my initial thing would be to shunt test the battery to ensure it is up to snuff....the next thing to do is to start pulling fuses and testing the circuit power (amp) draw to see if something is pulling excessive amps....

Hopefully a more electrical genius can give you more of a clue than I....
 
I think it is actually a brown colour (according to the circuit diagram anyway) and it is the main feed to the battery and the 100A maxi fuse for the power distribution....

How old is your battery??

If it is quite old, then it could be drawing excessive amps to try and charge it fully, causing this cable to get really hot....

Datatek I believe is an electrical genius, so he could have more of an idea....

But my initial thing would be to shunt test the battery to ensure it is up to snuff....the next thing to do is to start pulling fuses and testing the circuit power (amp) draw to see if something is pulling excessive amps....

Hopefully a more electrical genius can give you more of a clue than I....

Unless the battery has an internal short it is impossible for the alternator to put out enough amps to heat the cable to that extent. Heating is usually caused by high resistance connections or the battery being shorted to ground.
 
A village elder took one look at the photos and cursed quite loudly about the f";king p1ss poor crimp, as it's nearly 2am
I will continue this when I is less ****ssssed cheers gurus!
 
I had the same problem on the wife's '99 4.6. Same hit and miss loss of Electrics. Last time it happened it was 4am and I lost everything on a country road. No lights, no abs - I can still hear the sceech of the tires as ibraked in total darkness.
Anyway the fault was the stud that the main power cable bolts onto in the fuse box. It had broken off causing a high resistance joint which from time to time would just disconnect and leave me with no Electrics. I was able to repair the connector in the fusebox following the info on rangerovers.net. I think new fuseboxes are hard to come by.
 
:frusty:

Took the leads off the Alternator cleaned & replaced - no probs there
Took the Fuse box to bits - no probs there
Took the ground lead off the battery cleaned checked - no probs there
Tried differnet ground locations from battery too - no probs there
Took it to an even tamer mechanic - he repeated these tests and then said "Alternator fooked"

As i drove back home I enjoyed the magic of fading/dimming headlights and slurring engine noises, plus the rev needle going nuts and battery light flashing.

It has to be the Buggering bollox Alternator. (Are these gold plated and expensive?)

Bollox, bollox, bollox, bollox etc...:mad::5bbeatdeadhorse5:
 
:frusty:

Took the leads off the Alternator cleaned & replaced - no probs there
Took the Fuse box to bits - no probs there
Took the ground lead off the battery cleaned checked - no probs there
Tried differnet ground locations from battery too - no probs there
Took it to an even tamer mechanic - he repeated these tests and then said "Alternator fooked"

As i drove back home I enjoyed the magic of fading/dimming headlights and slurring engine noises, plus the rev needle going nuts and battery light flashing.

It has to be the Buggering bollox Alternator. (Are these gold plated and expensive?)

Bollox, bollox, bollox, bollox etc...:mad::5bbeatdeadhorse5:
Engine Electrics - Island 4x4 - Specialists in Land Rover and Range Rover Parts and accessories for all models. UK and worldwide mail order.

Not sure which you got 65A or 80A....price difference is quite a bit depending on type....

Island4x4 are very good on price

You could try www.mm-4x4.com or Paddock Spares....
 
Re: Strange poltergeist electrical problems?? CURED!!!!!

Cut up and re-soldered main Brown wire. then
Stuck a new Alternator in it!!!

3 weeks of scary unstable driving cured by a decent mechanic. So previous garage will not be getting my hard earned again!

It works for now, Thanks for all the Help people & Happy Crimbo:

Just a a few more things to straighten out:

Heated seat
Heated windscreen
Passenger door latch
Rear lamp guards
SRS Light

:D best car in the world now.....

getrid.jpg
 
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