Good evening all. Today I noticed a difference in everything electrical on my Landy. Definite lower noise pitch from starter, fuel pump and wipers seemed a little sluggish. Also a very slight low pitched “whine” from the engine bay from 1k-2k revs. Also, the famous 3 amigos lit up after start up but went out after a second. No battery light but I can only assume that the alternator might be starting to play up.

I left it on trickle charge for a couple of hours and when I came back I disconnected and put a multimeter across the terminals. 12.3v or so when off and 14.45v when idling. Just took it up the road and everything seems normal now. No three amigos, starter and fuel pump sound normal and no funny low pitch whine from the engine. Could there be something loose somewhere or a faulty ground etc or is it just the beginning of the end for the alternator?

if this was any other vehicle I would’ve just ignored it but you never know with a landy ey!

Thanks for any input or ideas.
Jack

HAVE YOU CHECKED AND CLEANED YOUR BATTERY TERMINAL A LOOSE ONE WILL CAUSE ENDLESS PROBLEMS

mystery said:

HAVE YOU CHECKED AND CLEANED YOUR BATTERY TERMINAL A LOOSE ONE WILL CAUSE ENDLESS PROBLEMS

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No! They look ok but will definitely check and clean tomorrow.

If your battery is charged it should be 12.6 volts DC across the terminals, check terminals are clean as per Mystery's suggestion.
To check alternator see if you have any AC leaking put multimeter on AC setting and with car running ..see if you get a reading more than about 1 or 2 volts AC. Ideally zero but you often get a bit of meter flutter.
If you do get a reading , means you alternators diode pack is leaking and needs replacing.Easiest to replace the alternator the bearing maybe U/S as well.

westone said:

If your battery is charged it should be 12.6 volts DC across the terminals, check terminals are clean as per Mystery's suggestion.
To check alternator see if you have any AC leaking put multimeter on AC setting and with car running ..see if you get a reading more than about 1 or 2 volts AC. Ideally zero but you often get a bit of meter flutter.
If you do get a reading , means you alternators diode pack is leaking and needs replacing.Easiest to replace the alternator the bearing maybe U/S as well.

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Thanks westone. Will do all this tomorrow. Barely used my multimeter. Knew it would come in handy one day.

Ok, I think it was the negative terminal. It wasn’t exactly loose but it could be turned on the post. This was only because the securing nut was so tight! Anyway, cleaned both terminals and it definitely made a difference. Starter turns over much quicker and no other issues.

So it looks like someone may have had this problem before and tightened it as much as possible but it’s still not enough to properly secure it. Will be picking up a couple of metal caps to fit over the posts and this will hopefully solve the issue completely. I’ll also do another test with the multimeter when fitted. Thanks again everyone. I’ll let you know if anything else crops up.

You might find it helps to take loosen the connection again and gently tap it down on to the terminal further then tighten again.
Battery terminals are tapered, if the connector isn't down far enough you won't get it secure

kermit_rr said:

You might find it helps to take loosen the connection again and gently tap it down on to the terminal further then tighten again.
Battery terminals are tapered, if the connector isn't down far enough you won't get it secure

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Totally plus one on this.
I use a ring spanner or a socket to tap them down, and as you say they need to be loose to get them far enough down.
Ministry of cr@p design!!!
no need to buy new terminals, just do this every time!!!