Alternator is dead…car shut off with the dash lit up like a Christmas tree. Jumped it and wouldn’t stay running without the jumper cables. The jumper cables were
very warm when taking them off the battery. While investigating, saw these wires were brittle and broken. Assume these are fuel injector wires? The vehicle ran smoothly and mileage was great prior to alternator dying. Thoughts on these wires?

 

looks like mouse chews

 

I cannot recall what those wires are, I would make two short jumpers twist tie them together and test start it.

Do you have any DTC codes that you can share with us to help us further your diagnostic quest?

Jeff

 

Haven’t done any diagnostics tests yet with the GAP. Was going to replace the alternator first and make sure I don’t have a major short somewhere. On vacation right now with my family so I won’t get to it for a week or so.


any alternator brand suggestions? OEM from Atlantic British is spendy.

 

Denso is “known good” and the original manufacturer. The Denso part is DAN991.

 

Thanks for the heads up on Denso.

does anyone know what wires these are for in the pic I attached in the original post?

 

They’re wires going to the engine knock detonator sensor plug… I think. The connector looks correct but you’re supposed to have four wires (two per sensor).

Ideally you’d would want to fix the wiring or replace the whole thing but it’s not exactly cheap, the complete thing is part 4603186.

 

There are 4 wires, just can’t see them. They have broken at the plug and wire harness wrap. There are a total of 4 plugs on top of engine - 1 at each side front and back. This is on the passenger front side of the engine.

 

Update: I put my battery on a battery charger and it kept tripping the 10amp breaker on the charger. Tested the battery and got 8.4V so it seems I have two bad cells. It’s an interstate AGM H8 battery 2 years into a 3 year old warranty. I’ll replace it and test the alternator to make sure that’s still good.

could be an easy fix in the end…not counting the broken wires mentioned above.

 

Update:
I didn't have time to replace the battery yesterday so I kept it on the trickle charger. After 12 hours it's stuck at 11.2V - possibly 01 bad cell.

Meanwhile I connected jumpers from my jeeps battery/ground to the LR3 battery leads. With the jeep running I put the Rover into ignition position II, cleared codes and released parking brake. I could monitor the jeep battery via the GAP tool and it stayed in the 14V range (I assume the reading came from the alternator wire harness). However, the jumper cables were getting pretty warm. Turned everything off and disconnected the battery lead from the Rover alternator, let the jumpers cool down and reconnected jumpers between the Rover and Jeep (Rover alternator disconnected from battery lead). Cycled through key position I, II, and turned engine over. Read codes and monitored the Jeep battery voltage for 5 mins. Jumpers stayed cool and Jeep battery stayed in the 14V range. 01 code was present (P062600) - not sure if this is related to the jeep battery/alternator being out of range for the Rover or a legacy code from the initial failure.

It appears I have a shorted alternator and possibly a battery with a bad cell. Not sure which failed first - battery or alternator. Chicken and egg situation.

Picked up a new Denso alternator (P/N 2100569 - new OEM replacement) from AutohausAZ for $250 not including shipping. I'll be changing the water pump as well...dripping coolant from oil cooler - source of drip seems to be coming from water pump.