Land Rover Repair: 1998 Range Rover 4.6L HSE charging probelm, starter solenoid, tensioner pulley

Question
Transfer overheat light on, engine check light on, service light was on and is now off after the following repairs: Pressure washed engine prior to starting repairs (had a had time keeping the vehicle running right after and for a couple of days. It was had to start an had to pump pedal to keep running until it warmed up). Replaced Intake manifold (due to major leaks)and valve cover gaskets, replaced battery, alternator, lead wires, plugs and plenium tubes. Unfortunately, the alternator is not putting a charge into the battery. Unsure if getting through BeCM?? or where ever. We do not have a OBDII unit to check codes and their is no dealer within 150 miles. Drove vehicle at night and battery went dead and had to be towed back to our shop. A qualified mechanic has been helping me out. What would you suggest? Your help would be greatly appreciated.  

Answer
Hi Barry,

wow!  That's was some repair work you've done.  I hope it did not take too much of a bite out of your wallet!

I have to ask this...did you feed the serpentine belt correctly on the pulleys when you changed the alternator?  I've seen seasoned pro's feed the belt incorrectly and swear that it "looks good".  However, the tensioner pulley could not tighten the belt because the feed was done incorrectly.

Next question:  When you pressure washed your engine, did you wrap all your electrics in plastic?  Again, I've seen shops wash a LandRover engine and not wrap/seal the electrics (alternator, fusebox, coilpack, etc.).  When it came time to start the engine, it would drain out the battery because the alt was soaked as was the starter solenoid and the spark amplifier module.

Last question: was the alternator replaced BEFORE or AFTER the engine was washed?

So, check to determine how your serpentine belt is being fed thru the pulleys, dry out all your electrics with a good hair dryer ( you could be grounding out thru some water contact somewhere?) and if you have a need to read the OBDII codes, go to your nearest Advance auto parts store.  Usually, they are good enough to read your codes (if any) for no charge.  Its a nice service they provide (at least the ones I've been too).

Here is a great site to verify how the serpentine belt is fed on your particular engine:

http://www.roverparts.com/techtips_main.html

Scroll down to the Range Rover section and look for your engine type (GEMS or BOSCH).

Best of luck,

JohnMc