Alternator gone?
Discussion
Out in the Griff last night with the radio, lights, wipers and heater turned on, and the red battery light suddenly appeared. First thought - alternator! However, after revving it a bit, the light went out and I carried on my merry way to a restaurant. After the meal, started it fine and returned home. Then the fun started! As I tried to accelerate, the car completely lost revs at about 4000 and became really lumpy, the lights dimmed again and the radio kept turning on and off. Eventually the car started kangarooing and then finally died. Called the AA, and then tried starting again after 10 mins and it was fine! Went a bit further down the road and it died again with the same symptoms. AA guy came out and said alternator, but didn't even look under the bonnet - he just hooked up a source to the battery and let me drive home with no problems (then started plugging the AA warranty scheme, which does sound good for 40quid a year!). Stupidly I didn't ask him to check the alternator itself as I was just relieved to get home!
Is the alternator easy to change even for a numpty like me? If I charge the battery up, am I likely to make it 10 miles to a dealer? Could it be something like a loose connection or damaged cable?
Any help welcome!!
Marc
First thing to do is check the Fusible link under car??? If you follow cable from alternator, it should end up in a plastic shroud under right hand side of car on the chassis...In here is a metal fusible link which if blows, causes your problems (only pennies from TVR dealer) Worth checking first!!!If not you can get alternator fixed at LUCAS DEALERS etc....
hi marc
had something very similar happen to me after i jumpstarted my friends griff. there is a 100amp fuse under car which can blow and looks like a failed alternator. mine had melted so needed to spend £12
to replace rather than new battery and alternator. i would suggest getting it relayed via flatbed to a garage, as when this happend to me flattened the battery within 5mins of driving.
hope this helps
jody
had something very similar happen to me after i jumpstarted my friends griff. there is a 100amp fuse under car which can blow and looks like a failed alternator. mine had melted so needed to spend £12
to replace rather than new battery and alternator. i would suggest getting it relayed via flatbed to a garage, as when this happend to me flattened the battery within 5mins of driving. hope this helps
jody
but the RAC man could 
No you can't tell. It mught be frazzled or not. get a contimuity/multimeter on it. Piccies of it in glorious B&W in the new bible. If this is OK then it may be the diode pack on the Alternatoir. depending on how good you are it is then new pack or alternator time. Exchange alternatoes are not expensive so I must admit I would go for an exchange. Most places can test them if necessry and advise.
Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk
Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk
to fit it. It is there so that owners can say it only cost me £10 to fix instead of £100. Without it the alternator itself acts as a fuse.... It is good but a touch expensive in this role and may not fail and this could should short out the battery and cause a small explosion or a fire...
Steve
Steve
Hi Guys,
Took it to David Gerald this morning, and they got it up on the ramp - turns out it was the fusable link. It had broken just enough to stop charging the battery, but not enough to cause the red light to permanently stay on. £26 all in.
On the drive back, for some reason the temp guage went up to 80degC, whereas it was at 70 on the journey there! Car felt much more responsive as well. Weird!
Marc
Sorry about that,
If its any consolation I had to drive from Basildon,Essex to Waldonway in Kent for the part, then arrange for it to go into the garage near me to have it fitted.
So it was a bit of faffing around.
Then I had to go back to Waldonway when the Aircon packed up/ran out of gas a month later.
At least you've now got it sorted, and didn't pay out £200 for an alternator.Which I nearly did!!
Lee.
>> Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 11th February 22:28
If its any consolation I had to drive from Basildon,Essex to Waldonway in Kent for the part, then arrange for it to go into the garage near me to have it fitted.
So it was a bit of faffing around.
Then I had to go back to Waldonway when the Aircon packed up/ran out of gas a month later.
At least you've now got it sorted, and didn't pay out £200 for an alternator.Which I nearly did!!
Lee.
>> Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 11th February 22:28
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