Sunday night, luckily at home, battery light comes on....Damn!!
Anyway trying to organise it going for repair at my mechanics place which is 50km away, charged the battery, and a spare, and I was going to chance driving it there.
Yesterday started the car, to shuffle about on our drive...smoke starts rising out from engine bay!
Switched off, still smoking..waited 3 minutes, and disconnected the battery, which I believe is now knackered.
Question: I am now trying to arrange transportation to my guys place, but I will still have to start the car to move to a position for collection, when I do this it will cause a short in the alternator again, will this cause any damage to anything else,
What are my options?

Another 2007 TDV8 Alternator bites the dust - you're luck it lasted this long.....

Basically what's happened is the diodes have gone - then it turns the alternator into a motor - but one that can't move, hence the smoke - and it will continue to try until your battery is flat.

Disconnect the battery - it may not be completely dead, recharge it - then connect it for the short time you need to move the car.

That's what I did when mine went - also used the recovery mans booster pack.

Cheers Alastair
I know it's done well, now on 90k!
Glad I was home when it went.
Just worried if it will damage anything else when reconnected.
All parts ordered ( original ) alternator £617!!! Plus 4 hours labour, my guy has done a few of these.

Alistair wrote:

Disconnect the battery - it may not be completely dead, recharge it - then connect it for the short time you need to move the car.

Disconnect the alternator before you reconnect the battery. When they go dead short they will take out your wiring loom in seconds.

You are making me nervous now!
This is getting complicated...
How do I do that?

A dead alternator in my experience will drain a fully charged battery in minutes. I did something similar. Recharged and drove it. But I didn't have any smoke. The alternator is on the driver side under the coolant tank. Have a look for a cable. ______________________________
Vogue tdv8 08MY poverty pack - wow

As above, under the expansion tank. Large cable on the alternator, a thick one so it's easy to see. Remove this before reconnecting the battery. The thing is that when they go faulty they tend to tun into a 3 bar electric fire so they draw more current than the cable can handle and it all gets a bit warm.

There is a picture here, although this is for a TD6 it is largely the same. Top right of the page is what the back of the alternator looks like, just disconnect the wires shown by the arrows. EDIT: AND TAPE THEM UP BEFORE YOU RECONNECT THE BATTERY.

Click image to enlarge

Thanks so much mate, will have a look later.
Car is being collected Monday, hopefully should have back Wednesday.
It's just when you disconnect the battery on these, you're screwed to do anything.
Can't turn the ignition key, can't get into glove box etc.
And when connected, you sit there watching it smoke away for 3 minutes, until you can disconnect again.
Don't you just love them?

Going to try to disconnect the alternator today,
Which is the best way to get to the connection, is it even possible without removing the alternator first?

Can anyone advise on what to do?
Car is being collected Monday morning, at the moment it's in my garage with the battery disconnected.the problem I have is that I need to reverse the car out, and get it to the top of my long driveway for collection.
In order to do this, even if I don't start the engine, I still need to turn on the ignition to undo the steering lock, which needs power to unlock, as soon as I connect the battery, it has a dead short with the alternator, and starts smoking, just really concerned that I will cause more damage.
I have had a look, and can see no possible way of getting to the connections at the rear of the alternator, especially with the position of the car.
Is there not a fuse or similar that I could pull out to disconnect the feed to the alternator?
Or do I just take a chance, and drive the bloody thing up to collection point, wait 2 minutes, and disconnect battery?
What is the worst that could happen, and What would you guys do?

No question, I would disconnect the alternator. Yes it's awkward to get to but it is completely necessary if you want to avoid potential wiring damage.