I've been reading various posts about a dud alternator but wanted to verify that this is the problem.

A week ago I drove the car 15 miles and half way through my journey back home the amber engine light came on. Having meant to take the car in to the garage this week I didn't and today I returned to the car, opened the windows with the key fob and got into it. Opened the door and a warning chime sounded then all power vanished.

Opened the bonnet just to check the obvious and the battery connection seemed fine so I just called out the RAC. They were there very quickly and connected their power pack. When they did this here was the slightest sign of a dashboard reading but so faint it was barely visible and quickly vanished. He connected the jump leads to his van and bingo she started.

After reading the current he diagnosed the problem as a faulty alternator which is what I had predicted having read other posts on here previously. The current was 148 varying to 168 if my memory serves me right. So having got the car started I asked him if he could run a quick diagnostics check to see if he could determine what the amber light could be.

After connecting his diagnosis machine this reported "car running too rich" which I said wasn't true as there haven't been any problems and the car purrs along. So this was causing the amber light to appear seemingly. Then I said maybe there had been a malfunction as sometimes happens and the error wasn't correct. The mechanic did say that if the alternator was dead as it seems to be this could well cause the light to appear as a result of the low voltage.

Does all this make sense and ring any bells with you guys? Also is the alternator relatively easy to replace or is it a bumper off job?

All opinions and advice would be valued as always.

I can't reconcile your alternator being "dead" if it's giving out 148-168A.
The amber warning light may be nothing to do with the alternator.
Your RAC man is probably correct with his fueling comment.
The battery charging light is red.
If your red battery charge light isn't lit up it indicates your alternator is giving out voltage in excess of the battery voltage.
Before jumping to conclusions and spending a lot of money you really need to have the battery voltage checked with the engine off and then checked again with the engine running at about 2000rev/min.
You should expect the battery voltage to be about 12.6V and then approx 14.0-14.4V with the engine running.
You might be lucky, you may simply have a duff battery.

I think the light was lit up red when he got the car started. Also the air bag and ABS lights stayed on for about 15 minutes then they all went off again.

The battery was replaced only 2 weeks ago Asti went flat and I just assumed it had come to the end of its life.

As soon I got the car back home I left it running for a bit then put it in the garage. As soon as I turned the engine off no power whatsoever so I now have the battery on trickle charge.

Maybe I was wrong about the reading but I'm sure the mechanic said that the reading shouldn't be fluctuating like that.

I think you should probably get the alternator checked out as charging at up to 16.8V sounds a little high. The alternator output should hover around 14v.

If it is charging at 16.8v it will cook your battery and probably is not good for the rest of the electrics. Could be a blow regulator on the alternator. 56 TDV8 Vogue SE
9 Freelanders, 2x 2002 TD4ES, 2001 TD4, 2002 1.8GS, 2000 XEDI, 2x 2000 1.8ES, 2004 1.8 & 2000 1.8 GS (rolled)
91 Lotus Carlton (sold)
90 Lotus Elan (BRG)

Thanks guys. This is going to sound mad but I had a brain storm and decided to check the battery connections yesterday afternoon.

The battery was recently replaced and whoever fitted it hadn't tightened the nut on the black terminal tightly enough. This has probably been working loose over the past month and yesterday it just failed to make contact. The red one was all fine.

Lateral thinking and advice from this forum has made me a happy boy and the Rangie is no longer in the dog house?

Now where's that call out engineer...