By Justin on Sunday, April 15, 2001 - 04:44 am: Edit

Well I guess I should just shoot this thing and put her out of her misery... the last two days my 96 disco has been a little finnicky. When I start it up the tachometer will not function and the battery light is on. This will usually go away after I've driven twenty or so feet. then everythings fine. Today when I drove it the tachometer wouldn't work and the battery light stayed on along with my check engine light, service engine light/ fuel light/brake light/abs light/ etc. Also my spedometer stopped working.I'm assuming this means that my alternator is shot but I just had my serpentine belt replaced...would a poor job cause this problem? Is there any quick fix?
Just curious....and have a happy easter or other holiday!
Thanks
Justin

By mike w on Sunday, April 15, 2001 - 10:07 am: Edit

yes justin your Alt. is or has gone south. mine did the same exact thing. save some cash by checking with advance auto (midwest but they are online), remanft. w/ a lifetime warranty for around 300.00.+ core. better than new and you can always get another at no cost. good luck... Mike W. aka lrover

By Justin on Sunday, April 15, 2001 - 12:17 pm: Edit

Thanks for the info....I guess I know where my coveted tax return is going...
justin

i'll be attempting to do this project myself, is there anything I should know or pay attention to?
Justin

By Justin on Sunday, April 15, 2001 - 01:10 pm: Edit

just curious, I know that the D90 alternator is relatively the same for my 96 disco, but is a rangerover one (4.0 model) the same as well.... Just curious, also does anybody have any aftermarket part information on these things? Napa or whatnot...

thanks
Justin

By mrbieler on Sunday, April 15, 2001 - 01:28 pm: Edit

Could someone confirm if the Mean Green alternator is an option? I know it's popular on other trucks.

By Ed on Sunday, April 15, 2001 - 02:20 pm: Edit

I e-mailed Mean Green about this approx 3 wks ago , they said they were working on one for Rover V8's . Maybe if more people contact them they will work more dilligently .
Ed

By mrbieler on Sunday, April 15, 2001 - 02:31 pm: Edit

That would be great. It's an excellent replacement part. Good for guys running lights, winches, accessories, etc. Also, their other ones run for a bit under $300.

By John Graham (John) on Sunday, April 15, 2001 - 04:42 pm: Edit

take a look at www.mobiweld.com I purchased and installed a Bosch alternator from them over a year ago....155 amp, bolts right on with the use of a longer belt and a little plastic removed from the radiator fan cover.....looks like they are redoing their web page, but you might want to give them a call. Price was around $300 if I remember correctly, and anyone can rebuild the Bosch unit (voltage regulator and brushes can be replaced by anyone...

By garrett on Monday, April 16, 2001 - 02:19 am: Edit

Just a side note here about your alt. I had very similar things going on with my '96 Disco too.......tach not working and so on. I had my belt changed at a local station and your symptoms are just like mine. To make a long story short all it was, was that my local yocal mechanic did not route my belt correctly. Therefore not getting all 100 amps to my car. Have someone who knows what they are suppose to look like take a look at your truck. Sounds EXACTLY what happened to me. Save yourself a little $ and heartache and check this. Replaced my alt and a few other things before we found it. But otherwise I bought a rebuilt MM for under 3 bills.

By Andre T on Tuesday, April 17, 2001 - 05:30 am: Edit

I concur with Garrett... I have a 96 Disco and had the exact same symptoms. Unfortunately I bought and replaced two alternators before I noticed that my serpentine belt was not only routed wrong, but was not the correct belt. I bought my truck used and the previous owner had the belt installed before the sale by a "local yocal" mechanic. hey apparently substituted the belt as opposed to getting an OE one. Check that you have an OE belt and that it is routed correctly. It might save you money!!!

By Justin on Tuesday, April 17, 2001 - 05:36 am: Edit

I have checked my belt and it seems to be routed correctly, I also purchased the new belt from the dealer so I'm pretty sure that i have the right one!..I mean if you can't trust the dealer who can ya' trust huh!!!! (I can't wait to get into politics) I am 95% sure that it is the alternator as when I charged up the battery and then started the truck again this morning I found that there was a slight rattle from within the alternator and when I pulled off the batter leads the truck died. I called Advanced auto parts for a remanufactured one but they seem to be eternally backordered. If anyone knows of any other options on the internet I would be much obliged!!! (part numbers or something!)
thanks I just need to fix this and then get it muddy!!!!

Justin

By Andre T on Tuesday, April 17, 2001 - 06:04 am: Edit

Justin -

Have you tried motocarsltd.com ? Thay are pretty reasonable and have a large inventory. Although I got mine from my local parts store, I was pressed... I paid about $260 for one plus the core. Also, if you have an AutoZone locally, try them, they carried a replacement for a good price plus a warranty. Good luck..

By garrett on Tuesday, April 17, 2001 - 07:07 am: Edit

I thought mine was routed fine too, until I took it to a good European car specialist here in town. Took him 5 minutes to fix it once they found a diagram of the belt routing. They told me LRNA is pretty secretive about giving out any information to anyone except the dealer. I even told my local yocal guy to make sure that the routing was right......it did not look right to me, but he thought there was only one way to do it. Obviously not. While looking at the engine, the belt should go almost straight down on the right side of the alt. pulley and fairly straight and level to the left. This whole thing took me a month of two to figure out as Andre T. well knows. Just make certain of this before you slap a new alt. on.
Good luck.

By rick on Tuesday, April 17, 2001 - 01:49 pm: Edit

I while back I was looking to upgrade the alternator on my 97 (4.0) Disco and found out that the alternators that would fit on a 3.9 did not fit the 4.0. Does anyone know if an alternator from a RR or SII would fit??

thanks
rick

By berzerker on Tuesday, April 17, 2001 - 08:58 pm: Edit

I got a rebuilt alternator from Kragen for our '94 Disco. About $220 I think. Got it in two days. Its gotta be the easiest alternator ever to change.

About LRNA being 'secretive' about the routing of the belt....that's ridiculous. Its in the shop manual.

By tms on Wednesday, April 18, 2001 - 04:09 pm: Edit

I have a local automotive electrical specialist rebuild them for my shop. I keep Disco units in stock and I charge $210 exchange.
I have also installed Premeir Power Welder's 160 AMP units. It is a popular alternator (GM, I think) and the external voltage regulator could be replaced with a Ford unit if an emergency cropped up. The tachometer usually reads high and needs recalibration at the tach and you have to modify the fan shroud as well as use a longer belt (keep a spare!). Not an easy 'bolt on' replacement, and we had to replace bearings in one after approximately 6000 miles.
How have the experiences with Mobiweld been?
Trevor

By John Graham (John) on Thursday, April 19, 2001 - 04:45 am: Edit

I have had good luck with the Bosch unit from Mobiweld. Same install challenges that you mention, longer belt, cut the fan shroud, do some adjusting to mount striaght inline with the other pulleys. No problems with the bearings, or the alternator. Once I installed it I have pretty much forgotten about it. The Bosch unit they supply for the Land Rover is an older until originally installed on Jaguars. I have not installed a Mobiweld unit yet.

By Gabe R on Thursday, April 19, 2001 - 06:10 am: Edit

Before you replace it.. rebuild it...
Here's what Robbie and I did:
We tore apart the alternator and cleaned everything we could (lot's of mud and dirt/ water build up from off-road use was evident.)
My tach was acting funky as well and the alternator was not charging properly which is why we started this re-build.
We got to the brushes and noticed that one was not extended fully (and could tell that it had not been for some time.) We the power hosed the brush channel with air and some water. Lots of funky gunk and mud were washed out.... Robbie used anti-seize since it is a good waterproof lubricant and generously applied it on both brushes. Finally, we put it back together. This was about 1.5 months ago and it works great... cost was nothing since he already had the anti-seize... oh, and we had to re-wire one of the leads since it was sticking when we turned it. One crimp and about 1 hour of work instead of $300 or so bucks and it works great! Try it before you spend money.. you might get lucky like we did.... Mis dos centavos... Gabe.