 | Home > Maintenance & Mods (L322) > Altenator failure? |
 
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| drivesafe Member Since: 19 Mar 2008 Location: Gold Coast Posts: 126   
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Sorry for the l-o-n-g post but I think you will understand why it's so long. It would seem that Land Rover just can’t make safe Rang Rovers. I had a 2002 L322 Ranger Rover for 5 years and in that time, the front diff failed twice, causing the vehicle to become instantly powerless. The first time it happened, I was on a main road but luckily was able to coast into someone’s driveway, otherwise the RR would have been stuck in the middle of a busy roadway. This situation of unsafe Land Rover vehicles has not changed with later models. My 07 Range Rover Vogue was parked on the driveway outside. My wife goes out to do the daily run to the local post office, about 10KM away. She starts the motor and immediately gets a “Suspension Fault” message. She turns the motor off and comes and tells me what has happened. I go out, start the motor and the message appears, then a few seconds later, it clears and all seems well. I back the vehicle out of the driveway and go for about a 0.5KM drive, and again all seems fine. My wife then drives off with everything “APPEARING” to be OK. About 6KM into the drive, the “Suspension Fault” message reappears, so my wife turns around to come back home. As she was driving on a straight bit of road, going up a steep hill, the motor suddenly stops, and the steering locked but fortunately, because of the steep hill, the RR came to an all most immediate stop, leaving my wife stranded in the middle of the road. A message came up on the centre screen stating “SYSTEM FAILED” and then a whole range of failure messages flashed up on the screen, like “ABS FAULT” and so on, then the screen went dead. All electrical functions had failed. It had just gone dark so with no lights on the RR and as the RR had stopped on a decent hill, just bellow the crest, my wife decided to try to roll the RR off the road. NO WAY. Ever though the ignition was still in the “ON” position, the steering was still locked, and because when she had first come to a stop, she had put the RR transmission in PARK, it would not release and worst of all, because of no electrical power, the hazard lights would not work. This is a busy country style road, right in the middle of peak period with no street lights and loads of traffic. With no lights on the RR, my wife had to get out of the RR and try to wave vehicles down to avoid one of them running into the back of the RR in the dark and to stop them running into on coming traffic if they swerved to miss the RR. My wife had phoned me as soon as the RR stopped so I was there in less than 10 minutes. A woman in a Toyota Prado had pulled up and ask my wife what was wrong, when my wife told her the RR was dead and she could not even get the hazard lights on, the woman pulled in behind the RR with her hazards on. Not going to knock Toyota drivers again! My wife had already phoned the RACQ and as the RR was in a dangerous position, the RACQ operator told her that a tow truck has been despatched as a high priority. The RR was in such a dangerous location, when I arrived, I could not risk trying to sort out what might be wrong with it, I had to help wave down the traffic. I local resident had seen what was going on and bought a torch over to us. Now while there is a safety reflective triangle in the back of the RR and I also carry a safety vest, all kept in with the spare wheel, because there was no power, the tailgate could not be opened so there was no way to get at the safety gear. Then about 5 minutes after I arrived, a Police K9 vehicle came passed. The officer ask if we could roll the RR off the road, we explained the RR was not movable so he turned around and parked so traffic could see the blue and red lights and he then directed traffic from the crest of the hill. It was still to dangerous to do anything about working on the RR and the police officer had to called for another patrol to assist. Three times while the officer was directing traffic, he was nearly run down by idiots who were totally ignoring him. Now this is Friday night on a long week end so you can only imagine how much work the police already had. About 20 minutes later another patrol arrived and set up in the opposite direction. It was at this time that the Good Samaritan in the Prado left. She had helped for nearly an hour and although we thanked her I wanted to get something for her two young children who had waited with her, but she just replied, “If ever she breaks down she just hopes someone helps her”. I was very VERY grateful that she had stopped to help my wife. At this time we received a call from the RACQ, informing us that a tow truck was on it’s way but was stuck in traffic. 20 minutes later the truck arrived and the problem of getting the RR onto the tow truck quickly became apparent. The RACQ tow truck driver gave up and called for a service vehicle. I took off back home, grabbed a battery and jumper leads and came back, arriving just as the RACQ service vehicle arrived. With another battery hooked up to the cranking battery, the motor would turn over but not start, but at least with the brake light circuit working, I could get the RR out of park and release the PARK BRAKE. 2.5 hours after the RR died, the RR was finally cleared off the road. The RR was delivered back to my place where I measured the cranking battery. It had a voltage reading of just 7.58v. All this was caused by the Range Rover’s alternator failing. For something as simple and as common as an alternator failure to be able to cause such a life threatening situation like this, where the motor stalled, the brake booster no longer worked, all lighting failed, including hazard lights, and the most dangerous problem of all where the steering locked while the Range Rover was being driven at road speeds. How on earth can a steering lock apply while a vehicle is in use, and one can only imagine what could have happened if this had occurred on a down hill and/or curved section of road? It appears that the Range Rovers have a design fault that makes them a death trap and this is a warning to others if you find yourself in the same or similar situation. |
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13th Nov 2013 8:44pm |
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| mike & the mechanics Member Since: 08 Sep 2013 Location: Lincolnshire Posts: 178  
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Just done mine myself, new denso Alternater from cf parkinson in grimsby £140 + Vat & took 6 hrs. Def no need to remove rads but you do need to disconect hoses & drop coolant. Took me 6 hrs 0n the floor on max height & drivers arch liner out to aid recovery of dropped bolts on to subframe |
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13th Nov 2013 11:23pm |
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| goldsax Member Since: 16 Jul 2012 Location: leicestershire Posts: 196 
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sorry to hear the issue with your FF.
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14th Nov 2013 8:59am |
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| drivesafe Member Since: 19 Mar 2008 Location: Gold Coast Posts: 126
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Hi goldsax and while I was unaware of the problem till I read this thread, you are right on the money, my alternator failed at around 105,000kms ( a little over 60,000 miles ).
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14th Nov 2013 9:29am |
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| Prop Member Since: 26 Sep 2012 Location: Gloucestershire Posts: 675
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I would be interested to know if the LR replacement and alternative alternators for the TDV8's are actually more reliable than the original 2007 factory supplied, which seem to have a very high failure rate. |
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14th Nov 2013 1:59pm |
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| drivesafe Member Since: 19 Mar 2008 Location: Gold Coast Posts: 126
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My alternator was repaired and reinstalled. Is it likely to fail again or once fixed, is it the end of the problems? |
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14th Nov 2013 8:05pm |
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| mike & the mechanics Member Since: 08 Sep 2013 Location: Lincolnshire Posts: 178
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For the cost of a new denso unit & hassle involved, or labour cost if paying a indy/dealer I would never think it cost effective to repair Worse things happen at sea! Well thats what swmbo said when WRENS came to sea!!! |
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14th Nov 2013 8:39pm |
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| drivesafe Member Since: 19 Mar 2008 Location: Gold Coast Posts: 126
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Hi Mike and at the time, it was just left up to the service company. As above, until I read this thread I was unaware there was an on going 2007 specific problem. 2007 TDV8 Lux |
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14th Nov 2013 9:34pm |
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| supershuttle Member Since: 20 Mar 2011 Location: Lancashire Posts: 3779  
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Obviously a few alternator failures on 2007 TDV8's that's just what I have, ever since I got it this car refuses to start after a few days or even one day if I leave the FBH on for too long. So obviousy reading the forum fills you with dread and paranoia that you need to change the battery (which I did) and it made no difference, buy a CTEK (which I did) and its got me out of jail a few times. Now I think should I change the FSR and replace the alternator as a precaution? or carry on as I have been doing for the last three years and charge it occasionally and use the wifes absolutely faultless (but soulless) Nissan every time we park at the airport for a couple of weeks.
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15th Nov 2013 8:25am |
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| supershuttle Member Since: 20 Mar 2011 Location: Lancashire Posts: 3779
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No replies so I'll ask again in a simpler form to those who have had alternator failure - Does the not charging light come on when it fails |
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15th Nov 2013 4:56pm |
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| mike & the mechanics Member Since: 08 Sep 2013 Location: Lincolnshire Posts: 178
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Mine did not, however after jumpstarting it to get it moved it did. so left me a bit confused as it obviously on being restarted picked up a fault but not before it conked out. hope this helps from my experience |
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15th Nov 2013 6:31pm |
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| goldsax Member Since: 16 Jul 2012 Location: leicestershire Posts: 196
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no light come on.
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15th Nov 2013 10:35pm |
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| paulmoran2 Member Since: 27 Nov 2013 Location: Leeds Posts: 1422 
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Mine went at 75k ( nearly took the battery down too as it was sucking from rather than pushing power to the battery)
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1st Dec 2013 4:44pm |
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| Nomad Member Since: 26 Oct 2011 Location: Ringwood, Hants Posts: 300 
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I've got a 2007 TDV8 with 83,000 on the clock. I'm panicking now |
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1st Dec 2013 4:55pm |
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. Any easy way to check if the alternator is on the way out? Charging voltage on a run currently starts at roughly 14.8/14.9 then drops down to 13.6. Thats on the Bosch S5 110ah battery. Is that normal? 
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