Hey everyone, I'm new to the forum and an new Discovery owner and I have an issue I need some help with. Its a '96 Discovery and the alternator is not charging the battery. It has a new battery, new alternator and when they are together the alternator does not charge.

If I remove the screw from the fuse box that connects the alternator to the battery it puts out 14v. I even removed the alternator from the car to have it tested and it worked too. The moment I put the screw in to charge the battery it cuts to 12v and eventually the car dies.

The starter on the car was wired with a switch so you didnt use the key to start it. It will not start with the key. I have put a new ignition switch on it trying to figure out why they previous owner did that and still not sure.

My guess now is that the neutral safety switch is bad and some reason not sending the signal to the alternator to tell it to charge. Anyone have any ideas or maybe a way to get the alternator to actually charge the battery? I can live with starting it with a switch but if the neutral safety switch is some reason causing it not to charge I can go ahead and replace that. Please help me out everyone!

 

Gas or diesel?

Sounds like wiring nightmare

 

It's a gas and the wiring is just rigged for the starter and easily removed.

 

Brazilian does your alternator have three posts? Sounds like you may have them crossed.

Edit: I reread your post and it sounds more complicated then I originally thought.

 

Yeah it is a 3 post. Basically just once I hook up the alternator to the battery is when it doesn't charge. I'm hoping if I fix the starting issue it's gonna fix the charging issue. There is a reason someone did the starter like that.

 

It ended up being just a bad alternator that tested good. Put one from a junkyard on it and it fixed the problem.

 

Sounds like bad diode(s) in the alternator, puts out the right voltage with no load but can't drive current and collapses under any kind of load. Box store rebuilt. ?

 

The guy bought it online somewhere. It had the issue when I bought the truck.