So the old girl - 2011 4.4 tdv8 Vogue - is off to the garage to have a new alternator fitted

BIG QUESTION - How far could I drive on battery power alone? The garage is 8 miles away

The battery is brand new, AGM, fully charged.

Of course I'd drive during daylight with everything electrical being switched OFF

WOULD I MAKE THE 8 MILES? ..... or do I get a low loader?

Thanks folks 2011 TDV8 4.4 Vogue SE

I’m in exactly the same situation 2012 Westminster 4.4 tdv8

When the alternator in my L405 Supercharged went, I got stranded on the M25. I got approx 6-8 miles before i needed a new battery. Basically it took 6 proper jump packs to get me 40 miles. I drove until a jump pack died then I conked out, reconnected a new jump pack and drove like hell again. I can confirm its not good for your nerves, but the mantra drive as fast as you can works in this instance, although I wouldn't recommend it!!

By the way when the L405 dies, you loose pretty much all assistance for everything, steering and brakes etc, and it happens pretty quick even with everything turned off. It's quite scary, you lose the dash at around 3 miles and then it all seems very surreal and quite spooky.

I speak from experience as mine failed on the M25 and the RAC were at least 18hrs before recovery despite being on the side of the M25. So my friendly Indy got me back to the garage that way. It was way quicker than waiting for recovery.

In heign sight quite good fun!!

In answer to your question, you might just make it depending on traffic conditions, but if you have a jump pack and jump leads take it and save a fortune on the low loader or phone the rac if you have home start and get them to recovery you, you have the luxury of being at home.

Been waiting almost two weeks to get mine done going in on the 27th to my local independent specialist 2012 Westminster 4.4 tdv8

If the alternator is shorting to ground then the battery will last only a few minutes. I installed a separate alternator cable via its own fuse in my L322 so that I can isolate the alternator yet still start the engine the next time the alternator fails.

I used to have a 52 plate Peugeot 206CC ( I know its not the same as a Rangey!), but there was a problem with my alternator as I used to get a random 'Battery Charge error' notification. I could usually get it back home, however one day I was travelling to Chipping Norton where the company I was working was to pick up a new laptop (WFH), and it gave the warning message, I carried on for a couple of miles then the fuel and temp gauge started going haywire, followed by a slight misfire, then a bigger misfire.

I turned around and started back home having got about 25 miles from home and had to keep my foot to the floor doing about 25-30 mph with a horrific misfire.

When I got it to our local mechanic, the exhaust downpipe had fractured with the force of the misfire ( he fitted a new alternator), but what was even more scary was the fact that the isides of the Cat had melted completely!

Seems that when you have a misfire, unburnt fuel gets pushed through the Cat, and with the high temperatures in the Cat the fuel ignites and forms its own little blast furnace and melts the contents of the Cat.

So if you do have an alternator fault and detect any sort of misfire I'd stop and not push it! I did and it cost me a new alternator and exhaust downpipe plus new Cat!

Just to add a bit of background to the story ........

The RR gave me about 30 second warning that something was amiss before dying. I knew the battery was low on voltage because the usual round of faults lit up the dash .... "ABS fault", Gearbox fault", "no forward alert2 etc
These cars really don't like a voltage drop.

The strange thing was it would not start from a boost pack or a jump start .... absolutely no response. It has been "jumped" previously, no problem.

I'm going to assume that because the alternator had died completely and hence zero charge possible for the "dead" battery that there is some sort of ECU feedback that will not allow it start if the charging system (in this case, alternator) is faulty ????

Has anybody heard of this before ????????

The only way we got it to move was a brand new battery and it fired up straight away ..... enough to drive it 3 miles home. 2011 TDV8 4.4 Vogue SE

Again, it was with my Peugeot.
One morning I started it up and it immediately died, tried again and died (this was before the events above).
We have Green Flag on the car but not home start so it cost me about £150 to get home start out.
What he did was disconnect the battery, touch the terminals together to reset and clear all the ECU's and in started.
Personally I think because the 206 was parked on the drive next to our old L322 4.4 petrol, the range rover had been giving the Peugeot some tips on what to do to extract more money out of us.😄

You may be right there Paul

An ECU rest on the RR follows much the same procedure ..... disconnect terminals from battery, leave for 10 mins, and then touch terminals together.

May have been able to jump start it after this procedure but if the alternator isn't charging the battery it's a pretty futile exercise I reckon ..... you're still going nowhere until the battery is fully charged ... and then you're not going too far anyway on battery power alone  2011 TDV8 4.4 Vogue SE

UPDATE ...... Fully charged AGM battery got me to the garage

Im not sure I did the reputation of fellow RR drivers much good ... Apologies guys

8.5 miles ..... no lights, no indicating, no braking, no heating, no radio etc etc

BUT .... we made it !!!!!!

The sense of utter elation was soon diminished when the reality hit of a £730 repair bill  2011 TDV8 4.4 Vogue SE

Crusty21 wrote:

The strange thing was it would not start from a boost pack or a jump start .... absolutely no response. It has been "jumped" previously, no problem.

I'm going to assume that because the alternator had died completely and hence zero charge possible for the "dead" battery that there is some sort of ECU feedback that will not allow it start if the charging system (in this case, alternator) is faulty ????

Has anybody heard of this before ????????

Crusty21 wrote:

UPDATE ...... Fully charged AGM battery got me to the garage

Im not sure I did the reputation of fellow RR drivers much good ... Apologies guys

8.5 miles ..... no lights, no indicating, no braking, no heating, no radio etc etc

BUT .... we made it !!!!!!

The sense of utter elation was soon diminished when the reality hit of a £730 repair bill

i was in an L320 and managed 7 miles

but tbf i didnt realise the alternator was dying so I had all sorts on, heated seats/lights etc etc Its actually a sport

Not anymore, 4.4 TDV8 now