QuestionHey John - Installed a new alt. on a fully charged battery and the tach now registrars about 200-250 rpm w/o movement unless I turn the car off - then it returns to zero? The battery was just a little over-charged when I started the car. Could that be the reason it is not working; in that the regulator is not "asking" for any power to be dilivered? Is it time to head to the LR dealer? Livin' the Disco life in Falls City, Oregon! thanks!
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Followup To
Question -
Hey John - Just bought my first 97 LR Disc. SE7 - About three hours of ownership my tachometer seemed to have died at the same time I saw all kinds of lights show up on my dash ( SRS, battery, picture of a trailor?) - when I turned off the heater, head lights and radio, the warning lights went off - next stop I made, the car wouldnt restart so, I have killed one battery - I replaceed that battery with the best deep cycle battery available - that lasted about three days and then the same thing with the warning lights and no restart after shut-down (never did see the tach work after battery replacement). Now, the battery is dead again. I was quoted a fair price for a after market alt. w/ a life time waranty from a national parts house ($240.00 @ 95amps)...Am I on the right track? Could it be something other than an alt going bad? I have read some of your other advise and you sem to know - thanks a million ( which I hope this is not going to cost me...) Darrin.
Answer -
Hi Darrin,
Your problem originated with a faulty alternator. Once you lose your tachometer, your alt is no longer working. Since it cannot charge the battery, all functions begin to fail and eventually you loose your battery.
It is very important that you have the best battery you can afford to keep your alternator from failing. Now that you have purchased a new aftermarket alternator, have your 3 day old battery recharged (deep cycle) and you should be ok. The company that offered the life time warranty on that alternator is including a great deal for peace of mind.
Judging by your question, I think the problem was just another LR alt that failed. Some other LR models complain of ground fault problems but I have rarely seen this with Disco's.
I too hope that your repair woes are kept to a minimum.
JohnMc
NB: just an after-thought...If you just purchased the Disco and had the failure, did you go back to the previous owner and ask for help in this matter? If it was a dealership, some states and provinces have laws that require them to offer at least 30 days of warranty coverage. Unless you waived this right when you signed the purchase contract. It is sometimes called the 30 days or 30 feet warranty.
Regards,
JohnMc
AnswerHi Darrin,
check the way the serpentine belt is fed around the pulley wheels. Its very possible that you did not feed the belt correctly and the tensioner is not giving the alternator the pressure that it needs. In other words, the belt could be slipping around the alternator pulley and that is why it is so low. Fix it fast before you kill another alt.
Regards,
JohnMc
