Looking for some advice, re: Battery good, but rover dead

[Codename Duchess]

Hi all,

Just out of curiosity (And the fact that I need my car running again)

Is it possible that a bad alternator could cause my LR3 to not respond at all?

I know the battery is good, but there's no life whatsoever. I did smell a burning smell for a few days beforehand, so I'm guessing the alternator may be out?

However, it worries me that there is literally no life in the car, even with a fully charged battery. No door locks, no nothing.

Normally I'd tinker but it's frickin' cold out there!

Thanks

 

[aarosiro4002]

Similar problem. Make sure your connections are good and tight. If the computer sees a low voltage it will shut everything off to save the system.

 

[roverman]

I replaced my alternator around 100k, threw every code in the book as it was going. That's a definite sign.

 

[Codename Duchess]

OK, grabbed a new alternator, and all is well. She's throwing an airbag light now, but I'm not particularly worried about that.

I'd like to post how I went about swapping the alternator, as I've seen many different methods online.

1) I jacked up the car and removed passenger wheel.

2) Removed the lower front plastic guard in the wheel well so I could see the alternator from there. This is the little one that has 4 plastic tab thingies.

3) Removed top cooling fan shroud.

4) Loosened the belt tensioner for the accessory belt (Right hand side one, not the one by the fan) This was done with a socket and using the tire iron type thing as a bar extension. I needed someone to hold on to it as I slipped the belt off the alternator.

5) Undid the alternator bolts through the access hole made by removing that bottom front panel. I did briefly have to lift up the edge of the bigger wheel well guard to see a bit, but I did not have to remove anything.

6) Undid clip and terminal nut off the alternator, and then it's all downhill.

What I did NOT need to do:

Remove the cooling fan

remove any skid plates

Take off any belts

 

[Codename Duchess]

Problem is back!

(Hopefully someone is reading this )

Here's the scenario. Car is stone dead. If I try boosting it with a negative lead to the battery post, no dice.

If I boost it via a chassis ground (A few bolts I found near the front) it works great, however once I d/c the cables it will die. I can actually run the car more or less fine with a jumper cable from battery negative to chassis ground rather than through the ground cable.

Sounds like a bad ground cable? However it does seem to check out on the volt meter.

Sound familiar to anyone? What boggles me is it worked fine for a day or so and then suddenly crapped out again.

 

[roverman]

I can't help with the diagnosis, but there was actually a problem with the battery ground cables - at least on early LR3s. I had mine replaced around 70000-75000 miles. There's a fella on the next thread up who could buy your spare alternator, lol.

 

[Codename Duchess]

I'm going to buy a new ground today and see what happens.

I'm so sad I missed driving it today in such an amazing snow day!

 

[Codename Duchess]

So I ended up replacing the ground cable.

Used a ratchet extension, and now she runs with zero issues aside from the airbag light that won't go off.

 

[roverman]

Glad to hear. Enjoy!