3 amigos FL1

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Atomician

Atomician

Well-Known Member
Posts
249
Location
Southampton, UK
Hello all,

I was attacked by the three amigos in the way home from work today...

I know there's a lot of posts on this so I'll keep this simple to start with. I wanted to start a post regardless so that if I run into deeper issues, all the info will be on one thread.

So firstly, I'm sure I've seen somewhere, that someone posted a list of common causes of the 3 amigos. I've been looking through search results but there are many pages of them! Can anyone help me find the thread about common causes / things to try or post a link to any other threads they've found helpful in the past?
 
Firming up the electrical connectors under the front seats fixed it for me, but there are quite a lot of posts related to the horn ring in the steering wheel failing.
 
Thank you all for the help, much appreciated. So to keep the thread updated on latest developments, last night on the way home from work I had the 3 amigos and the low battery light:
20241202_171427~2.jpg

Also the headlights went quite dim at the time. The brake light is on cos I was stopped

So later last evening I went out to test it all and found that the battery died so I jump started it. And then the warning lights were gone and all was back to normal. Went for a quick drive round the block, no issues.

This morning however, on the way into work, the 3 amigos lit up again, and the headlights were dim. After 5 minutes suddenly it got worse and the headlights started going dimmer, and the brake parking light started flashing randomly at me. I turned off all the cab electrics that I could - stereo, fans, etc but it kept getting worse. Wipers and windows were moving at a snails pace.


Then I found it hard to rev too and was driving more slowly. The lights went out completely and I was down to about 5mph crawling along, managed to get to a fuel station to stop safely and now going to have a look under the bonnet see if I can see anything!
 
Last edited:
Interesting, I left the engine running because I wasn't sure if it could start again and now it's died at its own accord. I have half a tank of fuel and pressing the accelerator didn't do anything.

Battery dead, tries to turn over but not enough juice to do it.

Sorry about the posts, I'm just trying to keep the thread updated with everything so I can look back on it!
 
Yeh, the battery light does not mean the battery is low. It could have a 100% SOC and a healthy battery.

It means it is not charging - the drain is greater than the charge.

So yeh, the alternator is the first thing to check.

However, for it to so suddenly have problems after the light came on, I'd also be checking battery terminals and main earthing.
 
Hi, your problem is with the charging most commonly alternator failure, measure voltag eon the baattery wat idle, it must be around 14V.... the 3 amigos can be triggered by low voltage but the best would be to read the ABS related fault code rather than guessing... that "battery warning" has actually nothing to do with the battery itself only with the charging
1733464092144.png
 
I fitted a Sealey BT battery monitor on my F2 last weekend…
Let’s you see the SOC, and also that the alternator is pushing out what it should be.
Has other cool things like cranking and charging voltage data.

Well worth the £20.
 
Freddie17 said:
I fitted a Sealey BT battery monitor on my F2 last weekend…
Let’s you see the SOC, and also that the alternator is pushing out what it should be.
Has other cool things like cranking and charging voltage data.

Well worth the £20.
Click to expand...
In the good old days when cars were cars, dashboards had volt meters and ammeters, Nice dials embedded on nice wooden panels to compliment the nice switchgear.

These days you get a swathe of plastic and a 14" monitor that's primary purpose is so you can make a phone call.
 
So it's been up and running since replacing the alternator but ever since it's been worse at starting. Always been a bit of a bugger to start and suspect the injectors. But since this incident it's been significantly worse, I have to turn it over for longer or sometimes it takes a couple of goes.

Also when idling, there's increased vibration / juddering which disappears when I accelerate a bit.

I'm thinking my next steps are to clean the carb out and get the cam belt replaced...
 
Duh!! I need to stop posting late on Friday after a couple drinks, can't believe I said that!! Apologies for my ignorant post, it's a diesel so obviously it doesn't have a carb 🤣🤦🤦

It's a 2.0 TD4 ES pre facelift model.
 
Earlier this year, summertime, stuck in Austria with a failed alternator on my TD4, I was forced to use a Bosch Service centre to get it changed. Great service centre that specialises in injectors. The curious thing is that after a new Bosch alternator, I started having starting problems. The engine is more or less 300K km. The injectors were checked and no leak back or other issues. It continued to run very well, but tough to start. It would start then die, restarting was difficult. No blue smoke on starting either. I was running "racing diesel"and I have to say the engine was super otherwise.

Fast forward 5000km more and I am now In Holland at friends in October. I did an oil and air filter change as well as a good look over everything. I discovered that my air inlet temperature sensor had a failed wire at the connector. The sheathing had vibrated since the Bosch dealer checks and the copper inside the wire had work hardened and fractured. It wasn't detectable before. I did a robust solder and heat shrink repair and then went to start the engine. VRRRRRMMMM on contact!!

I cannot explain in detail why that sensor would cause bad starting, but since my repair, in hot or cold temperatures it starts as it should. So check the air inlet temperature sensor is my recommendation. It is too easy to read the injector stories in LandyZone and jump to the expensive false conclusion. Do a general look around.

Happy New Year and good luck.
 
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Kerlaan said:
Earlier this year, summertime, stuck in Austria with a failed alternator on my TD4, I was forced to use a Bosch Service centre to get it changed. Great service centre that specialises in injectors. The curious thing is that after a new Bosch alternator, I started having starting problems. The engine is more or less 300K km. The injectors were checked and no leak back or other issues. It continued to run very well, but tough to start. It would start then die, restarting was difficult. No blue smoke on starting either. I was running "racing diesel"and I have to say the engine was super otherwise.

Fast forward 5000km more and I am now In Holland at friends in October. I did an oil and air filter change as well as a good look over everything. I discovered that my air inlet temperature sensor had a failed wire at the connector. The sheathing had vibrated since the Bosch dealer checks and the copper inside the wire had work hardened and fractured. I did a robust solder and heat shrink repair and then went to start the engine. VRRRRRMMMM on contact!!

I cannot explain in detail why that sensor would cause bad starting, but since my repair, in hot or cold temperatures it starts as it should. So check the air inlet temperature sensor is my recommendation. It is too easy to read the injector stories in LandyZone and jump to the expensive false conclusion. Do a general look around.

Happy New Year and good luck.
Click to expand...

Those that know, know; always check the simple things first!
 
Thank you, really appreciate that. Will definitely have a good look around!

I'm also pretty sure my engine has a timing chain after doing more research. The biggest problem for me is that I use it daily so I'm limited as to when I can strip things down and really have a good look inside.
 
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