Diagnosing an Alternator on a Range Rover Classic (Post #675) 10/13/2024

thumbnail

There’s a lot in this video. I get the handle on the lift gate installed. And I diagnose the alternator issues. It becomes pretty clear early in the video that I haven’t wrenched in a long, long time.

I get the lift gate handle installed first. The spring failed, if you remember, and I sourced a selection from Amazon and got lucky there was one in there that, with a little adjustment, fit perfectly. I got it all put back together and reassembled all the bits using stainless steel hardware.

It feels good to have something finally done. It was a little task but it was necessary.

Then I began to investigate the alternator. The Range Rover just died in the driveway the last time I ran her. The battery was D-E-D, dead.

I removed the alternator, let’s call it the NEW alternator because it is. This took way too long. I struggled greatly. It was my conclusion that the NEW alternator had a failed diode pack. I’ve seen it before.

Once I got it removed I took it to NAPA to get it tested. Turns out Moore NAPA where the last two alternators were replaced would not look at it. They pointed me to Norman NAPA which is not a corporate store. At some point there’s going to be a pissing contest about who owes me for a core.

The Norman store pointed me to C&P Auto Electric. It just so happens they are one of the last establishments still fixing alternators and starters in the Oklahoma City metro area. Christian tested both alternators and under load. He reported both were working as expected. He said the diode pack would make a loud noise if it were failing. I asked him what he charged and he said nothing. I was very thankful and insisted I pay him something for the trouble. I thanked him for the help, gave him $5.00(US) and told him to buy a milk shake on the way home.

I brought both of them back to the house. Something Christian said, “You probably have another broken wire somewhere telling the alternator not to charge the battery.” Well it turns out that was good advise. I looked at the wiring for the back of the alternator and noticed there was a wire that was just a shadow of it’s former self.

I fixed it, got everything hooked back up and got her started up and as you will see in the next video she is charging the battery again. I’m still pretty sure I have parasitic drain somewhere. I’m testing that overnight and I’ll have to sort it out if its still there.

The last bit of the video I show you what my wife’s brother-in-law John cooked up for me on the engraving laser at his college. I had a crazy idea to make a logo for Tumbleweed Garage. I’ve mentioned his Youtube channel before. Any way, I drew up this logo from one the Willys Overland company had for their automobiles and John burned it on some anodized aluminum.

I had him burn some of my logo too! It was fun to do and now I’m wondering if I really need one of those in my shoppe. (probably not, too expensive).

I’m off all week for “vacation”. Mrs. Okierover has started calling the shoppe a “resort” because that’s where you go when you are on vacation.

Like and subscribe. Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/rvntDd87GBI

Upper Tailgate Repair on a Range Rover Classic, Part 3 (Post #673) 9/29/2024

In this post I finish up the upper tailgate repair. I finished up all the rust removal and put the frame back on.

This went “good”, I guess. I broke one bolt on the passenger side latch mechanism. I didn’t finish the seal. There were two holes that the rivets would not work in. I tried to tap them for a 10/32 bolt. I need to but the bolts and see if my tapping worked.

I tested the latch but it didn’t work super great. So I have some more work to do to get that adjusted again. It was working perfectly before I took it apart. So it may need more adjusting.

I took a few minutes to investigate where my backup camera will need to be mounted. I’ll have to experiment more once the head unit is installed. I only get one shot at drilling and installing. I gotta make it count.

I didn’t get to finish the job this weekend. One, the tapped screws did not get bought. Two, we had torrential rains happen today. At one point the rain was falling at 2 inches an hour. It slowed down some and in the end we got 5 inches of rain in 6 hours. It’s still sprinkling. This will break the drought we were under.

Next week I’ll wrap up the tailgate probably off camera. Next project is the rear floor. I still haven’t sorted out how I’ll get the rust off. So that’s the research I need to do this week.

Like and subscribe.

Thanks for reading, and watching, and Happy Rovering.

Upper Tailgate Repair on a Range Rover Classic, Part 1 (Post #671) 9/15/2024

Yeah, yeah, I know, “I thought you were working on the floor bed?!?”

I was, but I looked at the upper tailgate and I know it’s gonna be hard to believe, but I found RUST! Shocking! Anyway, I thought I’d investigate and my OCD took over and then I was halfway through with taking it apart.

So what’s wrong? The inner tube of the lower frame is rusting BADLY from the inside out. Lots of surface rust on the outside but also rust has eaten through the steel inside out.

Do I have any hope at all that I can save it? A little, at least I’m gonna slow it down. This is one of those parts on a Range Rover Classic that rusts. Check the message boards…everyone has rust on their tailgate.

IF you buy a new upper tailgate protect it from rust immediately, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. If you don’t you will lose it to rust.

So the plan now is to paint it, I already have two coats of primer on it. The second is a daffy plan to pour rust preventative paint down the tube. Yeah, you read that correctly. I found a place to buy steel tube brushes. Justman Brush Company. I ordered the minimum of 6 brushes.

I’m going to run the brush through the tube until it stops the rust bits stop coming out. I’ve already poured “kitty litter”, you know the stuff that you use to soak up oil spills, down it until I was sure it wasn’t doing anything.

Once that job is done, I’ll reassemble. I’ve already bought all stainless steel hardware. I’ll protect the threads with copper anti-seize. This will hopefully limit the corrosion on the hardware.

That’s about it. If the brushes arrive by next weekend I’ll be finishing the tailgate and reassembling. If no, I’ll be working on the floor again. I forgot to disconnect the battery last weekend so this weekend I was reminded I have a slow drain somewhere in the wiring OR the alternator diodes have failed again. I’ll test next week by just disconnecting the alternator.

Upper Tailgate Repair, Part Two

Upper Tailgate Repair, Part Three

Like and subscribe to the channel and the blog.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

April 13th, 2007 (Post #75)

April 13th, 2007


Land Rover Lifestyle.
Reading the Land Rover Lifestyle magazine this week I noticed the What’s Your Lifestyle? sections. It tells about Landy owners and their Land Rovers and how they use those Land Rovers. Last Saturday I used my Land Rover to get me to the Fort Washita Fur Trade Rendezvous. Which is the extent of my lifestyle. I have been stuck at events and after the last time I purchased a Land Rover to prevent this from every happening again. In those years I haven’t even need a Land Rover at an event. I’ve not even gotten close to getting stuck. How disappointing.

Brakes.
Last night I completed the installation of the brake hoses on the Range Rover Classic. I now have to bleed the system and make sure I don’t have any leaks. RovErica is getting very close to taking her test. So this weekend I hope to have the Rangie driving so we can test the brakes.

Rear Upper Tailgate.
I called Rovers North North to order the aluminum tailgate. With the aluminum tailgate you need to deconstruct the existing gate and then fit all the bits on the new frame. The salesman talked me out of this in just 3 short minutes. With the following logic, I bought another OEM tailgate. Time. Basically he explained that it was a 6 hour project and a major pain. If you have any parts that are not quite right you will have to work out those troubles before you install them on to the new frame. Well my latches don’t work as nicely as they probably did when the Rangie was brand new. Also my rear defogger only works on upper half of the window. If I understand this correctly all I have to do is bolt on the new window and frame when it arrives before next week. I hope he is right.

Fort Washita Adventure.
I wrote up a new adventure. It was driving my Landy down to Fort Washita. I got a great
picture of the Discovery in front of the barracks at dawn. I also had to ford a creek when I was trying to get around the stalled train at the edge of Madill, Oklahoma. Man I thought that thing was never going to move.

I Hate Mud Forum.
I’ve been exploring my options for getting the family out to do some Rovering. There are several
schools of thought on this. Roof Tents. Trailer mounted roof tents. Ground camping. RV style camping. So many decisions so little money… I can’t decide if I want a military style trailer with gear or just get a pop up camper and give a lift and some skid plates and camp in relative style. You can get an older pop up for less than a thousand dollars. You would then of course have to refurbish or remodel it. I’m sure I want the pop up to be a smaller model. But then again, I want the military style expedition trailer. There are several models to choose from several manufacturers. But those start in the $3500(US) and go up from there. Meaning one tricked out the way you would want it could cost you 7000 bucks! Then again for less than that I’m sure I could build my Discovery camper from an old Discovery body. Once again too many decisions to
make and not enough money to pursue each one. With all that in mind I found the I Hate Mud Forum. It’s a haven for the Toyota crowd but their Trailer Tech forum can’t be beat. And they are a bunch of friendly folks too.

Check out their site if you have a chance.

March 22nd, 2004 (Post #43)

March 22nd, 2004
Lots of little things

I tried to get to the little projects this weekend. Among them were:

  • Tailgate rusting and lock not functioning
  • Replacement rearview mirror installed
  • Oil change
  • Carpets cleaned

    Tailgate

    The tailgate rust has been increasing. It is now rusting through the frame on the upper tail gate.
    This is a common problem with Range Rovers. There are several approaches to fixing this but I haven’t decided which one to do. I will probably order a new tail gate and before it is installed have it rust protected so it doesn’t fail as quickly. The screws that hold the handle in place looked terrible and I replaced one of them with a stainless steel screw. The other would not come out due to the head failing and the phillips screwdriver would not turn the stripped head. So off it will need to come and drilled out or some other way used to remove it from the handle. The locking actuator has never worked correctly and will also need to be replaced. These are pricey little items so off to Rover Cannibal for that part. I’ll post more later.

    Rearview Mirror Goodness
    As posted in the forums I sent off for a replacement mirror. The options were limited so I chose a suitable one. There are these types available based on what you have now…

  • Prism with map lights
  • Auto dimming
  • Auto dimming with compass and outside temp

    I had an OEM auto dimming with map lights. So if you look at the list there is no such thing available. I ordered the one with the map lights. This was my favorite feature of the mirror and I cannot do without them. So that is what I got and installed (finally) this weekend. I have driven about 2.5 months without a rearview mirror and I only miss it when the police are tailing me whilest I am attempting to recall my driver training and all the pertinent traffic laws of our state. Otherwise I’ve learned I don’t care what’s behind me.

    I installed the mirror per the directions. This is an easy procedure. On the
    Difficulty Scale it’s a 1. I made it a 1.5 with a couple of changes. The instructions call for you to run the wiring harness under the headliner and down the driver’s side front post to the wheel well. Hook on to a wire with the provided vampire connector and hook up ground. The harness has a 1 amp fuse built in. I made it more difficult by keeping the original harness by tucking it up under the headliner and saving the unnessary mirror hardware. You never know when you might aquire another OEM mirror. I used a Dremel with cutting wheel (always wear protective goggles) to cut the existing OEM wiring harness out of the plastic channel. Worked great, although it was more like melting the harness than cutting it.

    I have only the lights to worry with and I wanted them to work when the engine was off. If you have the auto-dimming feature you do not want this “hot” when the engine is off. As the instructions say it will run your battery down. So I used my trusty volt-ohm meter to find a wire from the existing harness that had 12 volts while the key was turned off. This was easily done. You just put the black lead on the screw that holds the door open switch on to the frame, unplug a harness and start Easter egging for 12 volts. I found it on the first pin I looked at. So I applied the vampire connector and bolted the ground on to a ground post that was somewhat difficult to get to but otherwise a perfect ground. Viola, map lights. The instructions might be intimidating to someone not accustom to such technical details but don’t fret it.

    Oil Change
    Nothing really to report. I went back to regular Castrol 20w-50. I didnt’ see the “High Mileage”
    oil on the shelf. No biggy on this job, add a Wix filter and your done. I took the old oil I had collected and took it to my local O’Reilly where I bought my filter and they have a collector in
    the back. Eventually someone comes and picks it up for them. I don’t have a gravel driveway to pour it on so I take back to be recycled.

    Carpets Cleaned
    I asked in the forums if anyone knew where to get new carpet. I was worried about the expense but thought new carpet would be nice. I noticed some of my items in the back had gotten wet. The jug of coolant I carry around had knocked over and leaked about a half gallon on to the carpet and everything else back there. I pulled the carpet up and resolved to clean it. It was an easy remove with just a few plastic holders holding it in place. I though while I’m at it why don’t I just pull up the back seat carpet and clean it as well. If I screw it up I’m gonna replace it anyway so what the heck.

    This carpet was easy to remove and soon I had the two on the way to the car wash. I put them up on the provided clamps and proceeded to hose them off. Worked great. The dirtiness of the rear seat carpet was disgusting. I believe at least twenty cans of coke had been spilled on it by
    the previous owner. RovErica was extremely grossed out. Here’s the short and long of it.
    The carpet is designed to get wet. I believe it is designed to be hosed off too. For the backing
    on the rear seat carpet was a hardened material and took to being pressure wash quite nicely.

    It was an easy job and I would recommend it for very dirty carpet. I am sufficiently happy
    with the results that I will not be replacing my carpet any time soon, except maybe for some
    three inch orange shag carpet if it comes back in style. The only warning would be
    to keep the pressure wand away from the carpet. I will cut it and even cause a hole if used
    too closely to the carpet. Work in strokes and rinse the soap out after you have decided it
    is clean enough.

    Coming up
    My next project is to organize the back of the Rover. I have read some solutions to this and the
    one I’m going to employ will be adding a rear shelf. I have entirely too much crap back there and
    I am going to reduce the size of the tool box. With the creative use of some Coca-Cola trays I’m
    going to put in a rear deck. I will post more as I start it. It will hide some items I’m worried
    about displaying and offer a rear deck free of debris to put the groceries. If I engineer the legs
    properly it could double as a table when camping!

    I am purchasing one more set of dome lights for my Rover. This will make the 12th set of lamps I have bought. I am contemplating an LED solution that would not burn out, ever. As the project
    comes along I’ll post more.

  • January 23rd, 2003 (Post #19)

    January 23, 2003
    It is bitter cold outside. For all of you from other parts of the world that means it is in the teens outside with a wind chill in the minus ranges. I’m sure Rob can tell us of cold weatherup North near Canada. This is the cold that you all know and love. You all know it because nothing fails on your Rover until it gets this cold outside. The power steering pump is failing, I know it’s days are numbered. The fluid leak has exaserbated the problem and I will likely need to replace it. I am now angry that I squandered the 60 degree temperatures of last weekend with house silliness instead of Rover silliness. If the weather guys are correct we should warm up next week. I will be doing auto repair if I know what’s good for me.

    Add to the list below….

  • Exhaust.
  • The exhaust is in bad shape. I forgot to include this on the list with the rest last week.

  • Rusty Tailgate.
  • Everyone I know has this problem. I need to find that rust stopping goo. If anyone knows what it is called email me so I can get some.