i was driving home from the bank the other day and got the Gearbox Fault message then the ABS Fault message. the Rover decided that 3rd gear was the only gear it wanted to use for the remainder of the drive. well, at least, that's what it felt like.

shortly after this, the HVAC shut off and the the HVAC screen went blank. we decided the best course was to turn off the radio and all other electrical sundries and continue on since we were moments from home.

pulled into the driveway, parked the car, and then shut it off and tried to restart. nothing but clicks. easy enough. figured it was a dead battery and we had made it home on the alternator and a prayer. the last statement shows both my limited knowledge of a car's charging system and my utilitarian view of spiritualty. i am currently working to rectify one of those short comings.

did a little research and decided to pull the battery and throw it on the charger. the next day i installed the recharged battery and fired up the Rover. it started but sounded a little weak. still, it was running and that was good. i pulled out my tester and probed the battery while the Rover was running. 11 volts. that's not good. 10 volts. dammit.

a couple of minutes later the Rover shut off on its own.

while i was initially leaning towards a bad battery, now i'm thinking that the alternator may be bad.

if the alternator is bad that could have ruined the battery, as well. right? i'd hate to purchase, install and ruin a second battery if the alternator is bad.

would a good alternator allow a Rover to run even with a bad battery?
would a good alternator allow a battery to drain while the Rover was running or would it hold whatever charge there might be?

thanks,

Alt is dead.

And being that the battery was still fubar'd after a 24hr charge i'd add one of them to your list too.

I would do battery 1st my 99 vogue kept going to limp mode & saying gearbox fault/abs fault & then clicking no start --- I did new battery and year later still ok BUT if new battery drains then get alternator as diode gone

You experienced the designed progressive shut down when the battery voltage drops. Even if the battery is almost completely flat, once started the alternator provides the power. Just the same as if you were to jump start the car. The battery may be down to 9 or 10 volts but once it has been jump started and is running, the alternator powers the load as well as charging the battery. So, from that, it's pretty obvious there's nothing coming out of the alternator or, if there is, it isn't getting as far as the battery. After you charged the battery and started it, if the alternator was working properly you'd see alternator output voltage, so around 13.5-14 volts. Charge the battery again, start the car and check the voltage between ground and the output post on the alternator and compare that with the voltage at the battery. If they are the same, the alternator is dead, if there's voltage at the output of the alternator but not at the battery then it is a problem in the cable between the two. The battery may not be brilliant for it to drop that quickly once the engine was started or you just didn't charge it for long enough.

thanks to everyone who responded.

i will run some more tests per GilbertD and report back.

alternators showed up in the mail yesterday.

i'll brave the cold and numb, mashed fingers, change out the failed units and save them for rebuild.

i'll also be checking all the ground straps on both the P38 and the '01 Discovery. yep, its alternator crapped out two days after the Range Rover's.

finished. and the RR is up and running. battery is strong. so, no need to replace that.

now to reset all the windows and rebuild the old alternator.

Well done you on fixing it At least the rebuilding of the alternator can be done indoors anytime

And resetting the windows and radio code takes about 2 minutes