2005 Land Rover 130 Pickup Turbo Diesel. Second battery under front passenger seat. Manual transmission. Snorkle. Steering wheel on right.

This truck is in Uganda in the middle of no where and I'm here in the States texting my friend, trying to get her help. I was there for 6 weeks this summer so I did witness some of it first hand. Here is what I know....

In late July this truck started to have a progressive series of electrical problems. First the sport lights wouldn't work. Then the radio wouldn't turn off. Then the dash lights wouldn't work. Then the fuel gauge showed completely full for a few hours even though the tank wasn't full. Then all of a sudden the gauge showed completely empty. At this point it is about 2-3 weeks since the problem started. Finally the vehicle died when we were driving... like it was starving for fuel. The battery wasn't functioning well enough to turn it over for some reason... so we pushed it and started it by popping the clutch. It ran a few more minutes and then died out again. I have since come back to the states the first part of Sept but the vehicle still isn't working. The owner hasn't been up to the village in the bush where it is for a couple of weeks so after this point she has no first hand knowledge except that the mechanic they took up there said they replaced the wiring and the batteries but it still won't work. They are telling her that they think it could be the burglar alarm shut off that keeps the vehicle from driving that is causing the problem now. She a public bus on her on her way to Kenya for parts because she is sick of waiting for something to happen. She doesn't know what parts she is getting but just trusting God. Soooooo.... I know... sort of detailed but sort of vague. I have sent a text to her driver in the village to see if he can give me more details. Hopefully he has airtime on his phone so he can get back to me. I want to find out if it will turn over or not. Or what else it is or isn't doing.

Initial thoughts or suggestions? I have attached a picture of the vehicle from my trip.

 

There is no problems with fuses blowing. When I was there everything was taken apart to look at the wire going from the fuses to the steering column and then through the firewall in to the engine compartment. We didn't find any places that looked like they were rubbing or shorting.

 

I'm as religious as the next man, but she should have done some diagnostics before heading off for parts.

On it's face, it sounds like a low battery or low charging voltage issue. Obviously, we would need to measure the battery's unladen voltage, and the charging system voltage while the truck was running to rule that out, and then go from there. If the charging system voltage isn't over 13.6v, the alternator is a likely culprit.

This is of course barring things like loose or broken grounds, dirty/ corroded battery terminals or cables, loose connections at the fusebox or starter, and so on.

Good luck with it.

 

Yeah... I hear ya. Though what sucks is the roads have been washed out so she hasn't been by her truck since the 10th of September.

But the truck won't start... and they just put in a new battery. Like I say, I'm waiting for her driver to get back to me to see what they have done. They had to bring a mechanic from the town 5 hours south to even get anything done. The vehicle is dead in the water practically in the middle of no where.