Repair costs.

Good afternoon all, I broke down and AA man had to tow me to a local gararge. Turns out i needed a new alternater and battery. Gararge just phoned to say all fixed to the tune of £500. Well this came as a shock, should it be this much for this repair. I have no idea, sorry. Thank you.

Depends which alternator, they can be up to £280, add another ton give or take for a battery and a couple of hours farting around at fook knows what rate and you're there.

It's why so many learn to do what they can themselves.

What freelander do you have?

When i replaced my alternator on a 1.8 petrol, they varied in price from £120 to just over £330 depending on make and shop selling it, i went for a lucas around £150, when i replaced my battery i think it cost £70 it wasn't replaced at the same time as alternator, so parts cost £220. The alternator is in easy position to change on the 1.8 so the labour charge shouldn't be high.

You should ask what alternator have they used and what it cost, if they used a 330 quid alternator and 100 pound battery, then £70 for labour sounds ok.

But if they fitted a £120 alternator and fifty quid battery, £330 for labour is alot.

Seems a bit steep to me but I'm tight and would of repaired it myself. I can't imagine it would take two hours to change an altanator and battery for a professional

Thanks, it's a fL 1 2lt td4 hse 2005.

screech36 said:

Good afternoon all, I broke down and AA man had to tow me to a local gararge. Turns out i needed a new alternater and battery. Gararge just phoned to say all fixed to the tune of £500. Well this came as a shock, should it be this much for this repair. I have no idea, sorry. Thank you.

Click to expand...

my td4 has the same problem since last wednesday when it was
chucking it down,a hell of a lot of surface water about,i am hoping
a new belt might do the trick though i doubt it,i went to a local spares
dealer today & for a 150 amp alternater he quoted 150 quid inclusive
of v.a.t,i think the 150 amp is correct for the td4,i still have to check it
with the voltmeter yet so heres hoping,& yes it does seem a dear price.
regards stan.

At Easter 2014, the alternator on my 2002 TD4 died on me. Unfortunately being Bank Holiday and not having my tools as I was away from home in the Midlands, I went to an auto electrical repair shop where they replaced the alternator with a new (Not recon) unit.
They did not swing the aircon compressor out of the way to change the alternator as they did not fancy stretching the hoses for fear of damage. They disconnected the hoses, replaced the alternator and regassed the aircon system plus replaced the aircon drive belt.
Total price with VAT was a tad over £400, hurt the wallet as I had to hire a car for 3 days on top of that.
Had I had not been stuck, plus being a holiday I reckon I could of done the job myself for half that price including a regass by buying a recon alternator....but in my situation at the time it was a case of "Beggars can't be choosers" as I needed to get back home just after the holiday.

I think what happens is when the mention of the word Freelander then a till birdies start circling. Next Arkwright hand wringing mechanic. I have felt the wraith breadth a few times.

They can be done from the top, with the power steering pump out of the way

The alternator in my TD4 failed a few months ago after driving in too much mud at Wild Trax. On this engine, it’s right at the very bottom so very vulnerable when wading.

I purchased the replacement from Euro Car Parts for about £170. It’s not too hard to change, certainly compared to the thermostat which I changed at the same time.

The coolant needs to be drained and the pipe disconnected, aux belt removed and then alternators swapped. I don’t remember the air con compressor being a problem. Because it’s at the very bottom, there is actually plenty of space to work.

The hardest part is re-fitting the aux belt because the tensioner bolt (24mm) is very hard to grip since it is very shallow, inset inside the pulley and facing the chassis frame with very limited clearance (a common theme with many Freelander engine parts). It’s very hard to keep it opened long enough to put the belt on without the spanner slipping off.

I’ve since bought a low profile 24mm socket and next time I change the belt, I’m going to try gripping the socket with locking plyers, fitting it on the bolt and then adding wedges between the socket and the subframe to keep it from being able to move off the tensioner bolt.