Replaced fog lamp lens as some prat had decided that it needed smashing!
Oh no! did that happen up here?
Replaced fog lamp lens as some prat had decided that it needed smashing!
Broke down last night near Boston in Lincolnshire. As I drove, all of a sudden the speedo and fuel gauge dropped to zero, then picked up again, then dropped, then stopped at about 20mph. which didn't vary with the road speed. Thinking I might have a loose connection I stopped and waggled all the multipugs and relays I could find, including ones behind the instrument console. Tried to restart and just received a rapid clicking noise. Fiddled again and just got he same thing, even after tapping the starter in case it had jammed. Called the AA and eventually they sent a man out who fiddled and poked around with his meter and said he suspected a faulty alternator. With a jump from his spare battery, the starter whirred and the engine started, and in the twilight gloom we saw lots of sparking and arcing from the big nut on the alternator to which the main feed to the battery is attached. The nut was loose and had overheated and welded itself to the stud. The one connection I hadn't checked. I was kicking myself. Eventually he got it moving for me without snapping the terminal off the alternator. With everything clamped down tight we got 13 volts at the battery terminals so that was enough to get home.
Today I took it apart and sandpapered the mating faces back to bright metal and got a whopping 14.5 volts at the battery terminals. Good. Interesting symptoms though - no red charging warning light and only two gauges affected in a curious intermittent way. So when we stopped I wasn't thinking about alternators. So I thought I'd write it up here in case it is any use to anyone else.
Yes, I was a bit surprised, because I know what low battery symptoms look and sound like on my Defender and this wasn't like anything I'd seen before. But it all made sense to the AA subcontractor so all was well in the end.good call mate....
one for the grey matter for me....still learning at my age...