As if we didnt have enough things to work on, started up the Rover this morning and the cute little battery light is shining bright. Let it run for about 20 minutes and the light stayed on but everything functioned fine. Turned it off and started it up again and the light stayed on. Gave up and drove the Volvo all day and returned home, tried the Discovery again and this time the light did not come on. Let it run for about 15 minutes and turned on every possible thing and the light stayed off.

To me it sounds like an alternator beginning to crap out but as usual I have no clue when it comes to Land Rovers.

I can grab one at the junkyard but wanted to make sure the battery light in these isnt one of those things that just light up for no reason.

 

when my alt went out it just shut down

got a new one at oriley for 160

my light never came on

 

see https://landroverforums.com/forum/ge...ghlight=tester

A. Don't buy from auto parts store, high failure rate on reman units with China parts, local indy shop can rebuild for under $100 usually; or dismantler, or salvage yard.

B. Tach may quit also. Can be bad with or without light displayed. Can be belt route.

C. Test volts with meter, truck off = baseline fo say 12.6 - Turn on lights, should not go below 11. Crank truck, should come back up to 13.8 - 14.2 with no load, a little less as loads increase. WIth everything turned on should still be above 13.

D. Wires to clean are battery terminals and the two big ones in front of the the underhood fuse box.

 

hi, just happned somethign similar to me, and the belt on the alternator was a little bit lose, i also took the alternator out to give a mantainance change the brushes and cleaned a little, everything seems fine and it just cost me 50 bucks, maybe you can check it

 

See Land Rover Discovery OEM Magneti Morelli Denso Alternator Voltage Regulato, you can see the small brushes in the picture, as they wear down, they can reach a limit where they touch, don't touch, etc.

 

For a alternator, if needed, that you can depend on, go to British Parts of Utah and buy thier's, pay a little more but they don't have the failure rate most rebuilts have.
No if it is the battery buy one with at least a 800 CCA rating or higher.

 

After looking at it and thinking a bit the belt seems suspect to me. It's routed correctly but it old as crap so it needs to be replaced anyway. Couldnt grasp paying what people are asking for a genuine Land Rover alternator (afterall its an alternator not a transmission) so I drove down to the junkyard and pulled one off of a Rover that I know for sure is in working order. For $15 I figured it was worth the drive, got two condenser fan motors as well so gas money was well spent. Anyway I'll toss the belt on when it gets here and see what happens, in the mean time I'll clean all the connections and hope the light doesnt come back on. As of now everything is in working order so I'm clueless as to what tripped the light yesterday morning.