Hey all!

I received my 2006 LR3 as a Christmas gift last year (I know, right?!) and I love it! But I could really use some help from those with more experience on what might be wrong with it.

The first day I drove it the battery light came on (solid) and went off intermittently. The engine was LOUD, like the fan was stuck on high, and the idle fluctuates between 800 and 1200 RPM.

All of these symptoms would stick around and then mysteriously go away - no light coming on/off, engine idling correctly, fan appropriately off, only to reappear at random times.

Took it to a LR dealership who charged me $250 to tell me they couldn't find the problem. My father took it to another LR dealership local to his area and got the exact same results. He then took it to a shop where they removed the alternator and bench-tested it for 2 hours and found nothing wrong with it.

I've been driving it for a year and 15,000 miles with this problem and I'd really like to get it fixed. The battery light/idle/fan issue has not gone away for about 3 months and frankly, I'd like it drive as it should. I feel as if I have less power when these symptoms are present.

Has anyone heard of this before? I have found only two posts about it on the internet at-large and one said alternator/harness and the other said voltage regulator as the culprit. All I know is I am NOT going back to a LR dealership (they happily gave me a $6k estimate for other repairs my LR 'needed' while telling me they couldn't fix the battery light) and my mechanic doesn't know much about LR's but is willing to learn (which sounds even MORE expensive?!)

I would be grateful for any advice or guidance.

And Happy New Year!

 

1. Go by Walmart, and buy a less than $20 plug in battery tester. Plugs in lighter. See https://landroverforums.com/forum/ge...ter-pix-44317/. This will allow you to monitor electrical system, and when problem happens you can write down the voltage. Should be 13.8 - 14.2 when running with no AC on. Usually the battery light being on is a bad sign.

2. Loud engine noise might be electric fan that provides boost cooling for AC and overheated engine coming on. You could plug in a scanner or an Ultra Gauge, and see what coolant temperature was present when this is happening. Many vehicles, including Rovers, use the electronic engine coolant sensor to tell the engine computer the interior water temp, and the computer and other modules perform all sorts of tricks based on that data. If the sensor is bad, or the wiring conector is trashed, you can get bogus readings and results. As an example, if your scanner showed engine temp of 200 degrees, and suddenly went to 250 or -40, the engine computer would make adjustments, even though it is not logical for such a rapid change to happen.

 

WTF is wrong with freaking dealers.

If anyone had read their bulletins they would have seen the bulletin about the fans and the battery light coming on.

They relays in the alternator go bad. replace the damn thing and be done with it. the system sees an issue with low voltage so it activates the fan.

I did tons on those motors.

 

Thanks for the replies! I'll take it in this week and get the alternator replaced, then. It's got 95,000 miles on it so hopefully a new one will take me another 100k.

Needs to go in anyway, engine light came on last week (le sigh, I will not complain as it was a free car, I will not complain as it was a free car, I will not complain... ). Hell if I will ever go to another LR dealership again, though.

I will report back on the alternator results for internet posterity!

Thanks again!

 

One thing you might want to consider is investing in your own code reading scanner, so you can avoid the mechanic, or avoid getting it read by an auto parts store. There is also the Ultra Gauge, which can read codes, reset codes, montor things and display them, like coolant temp, in digital fashion, with alarm points you programs. About $70. see UltraGauge Automotive Information Center and OBDII Scan Tool

One possibility is having your alternator rebuilt by a local alternator shop. Might call and check on that. It will be a better result than a rebuilt one from a national chain parts store.

 

How the **** can they charge you two hours labour and find nothing.

Demand your money back. In fact go onto the website of land rover and down load the damn bulletin about the alternator and bring it to them. Geez, the shop foreman should be shot for the stupidity. Get an itemized bill for what they did. Demand it from the general manager. How exactly can they charge over two hours without your permission anyway. You go in for only one hour, one hour only. If they performed a charging test and a check codes that should be no more then .6 I bet the idiot charged you for the battery charging. I bet he left it on there while he worked on a gravy job and charged you to fix to diagnose the vehicle. I bet he didn't even bother to look at the bulletins.

 

battery light comes on when volts drop to 13.5v, just before it hits 13.4 low power mode hits and radio is limited to 20... had the same peoblem. replaced the alternator even though it tested fine on the bench test. intemitten battery light again. replaced battery and alternator and problem went away. read another similar story took 2 alternators to get a working one. possibly a diode problem. so even if the new alternator doesnt fix the light dont assume because its new its working. even if its genuine LR

 

@Rovin4life, all of the dealer misfires happened a year ago, I wish I had made a much bigger deal at the time. I was at a LR dealership within 2 days of getting the vehicle because of the battery light issue, and not only did they charge me for not finding anything wrong, they gave me a quote for $6000 in repairs they 'found' - and actually put on the paperwork that they recommended I not even drive it.

I was so furious I just left. Had it been my previous car, which I took very good care of and knew much of the history for, it would have been a very big scene, but I have never even owned anything bigger than a 4-cylinder and felt out of my depth.

My LR3 is at the shop now getting a new alternator. My mechanic was not happy throwing a part at the problem but we're giving it a try. Hopefully it will help out the engine light issue, he said it was throwing off a bunch of codes so the issues could be related.

 

Thanks for this. I'm hoping it's not necessary but it's pretty in-line with my luck on this issue so far!

 

Update: Got her back from the shop with a new alternator and so far everything has been 100% normal. Fan finally operates normally and no battery lights. I've only tooled around town a bit with her, I do about 100 miles around town then a monster 1000 mile trip per month, so I don't have that under my belt yet; however, before the new alternator, the problem was constant for about four months, so I'm feeling pretty confident we nailed the issue.

All told, I spent about $450 on the alternator/belt/labor, which is lower than the LR dealerships put together with no solution.

I really appreciate all of the advice given here, it is amazing how nice it is to drive my Rover now without the stress and worry about its behavior. Night and day, and I owe to you guys.

Thanks again!