Electrics died and restarted, engine did not

[Jsmooth65]

I am sorry, but you have just made me laugh! I left my wife in the Rover with the engine running so the A/C would keep her comfortable while I ran in to pick up a pizza...... Got back into the car and she is unusually quiet? We have no A/C, no HVAC panel lights, radio is out, whole bunch of other stuff????? Then amid tears and blubbering she told me she spotted 'something' in the bottom of the cigar lighter and decided to fish it out with her handy hand bag scissors, she said there were a few sparks and everything stopped working! I decided not to kill her and dump her body in the desert! I also decided not to tell her that it was only fuse #8 under the passenger seat that had blown..... she was so well behaved when we got home! I went and sat in the garage with the hood open, smoked a couple cigarettes, listened to some good jazz on the radio...... then went inside and told her! Lol, she went crazy with me, especially as I could not stop laughing and giggling! Lol, she is talking to me again now ! lol

LOL! Hilarious. Well, apparently she fiddled with it enough for it to kill the voltage regulator in the alternator.

She's always breaking something in all of our cars. Its unbelievable.

[RRToadHall]

LMAO!! Sounds like my grandmother. SHe literally wrecked every car she drove except the last Cadillac Seville. When my Grandfather purchased matching Cordobas she backed hers into his managing to toast both in one shot! The insurance guy couldn't believe that one.

[Jsmooth65]

OK Now that I have my new radiator and return hose installed, I can get back to this problem. I've got the new alternator in. Start up the truck, drive it around, getting about 14.2V across the battery. While in Park (I only tried in Park), when I pull my high beam stalk, with the lo beams off, the truck turns off completely. Turn the key, nothing at all. Like its completely dead. Voltage across battery is 12.75V when I open the hood and check it out. After a few minutes, I turn the key and it starts up. I can repeat this process over and over again.

[Jsmooth65]

Did step 1 of the electrical sticky. Battery read 12.2V after the 30 second accessory test. I've got her on the battery charger tonight, and I will repeat the test tomorrow. Otherwise, I've got a couple spots close by with Group 31 batteries.

[LarryS]

does it do it with anything else that is high current? the only thing is that the lights are switched internally (mosfets???) by the BeCM, nothing to do with engine bay fusebox or even a relay at all iirc
of course the BeCM does get its power via the engine bay fusebox Maxifuses,

[Jsmooth65]

I've only seen it do it on the hi beams. So I don't know.

BUT, I just put in a new battery and ran step 1 of the sticky, and I still get 12.3V. I am charging the new battery right now to see if that changes anything.

[Jsmooth65]

After a quick charge, I ran step 1 of the sticky again on the new battery, and it passed with like 12.65V. So, drove her around awhile, and all seems ok for now. I tried to replicate the vehicle shut-down symptom but could not. I didn notice that any time I turn on a high current function (headlights, hi beams, seat heaters, etc) there is a click from the BeCM, and one again when I turn the function off. I assume this is normal, and I haven't noticed it because I wasn't listening for it.

[wreckrunner]

I know this may sound kinda dumb, but, have you checked and thoroughly cleaned all of the electrical ground points? They are all listed in RAVE........

[Jsmooth65]

Yeah, they all seem fine. I've got a new negative battery cable on my way, and when it gets here, I'll be sure to take some even further ground cleaning efforts.

[wreckrunner]

Take a look at RAVE for all of the grounding points, some of them are hidden better than the best geocache! lol

[spikemd]

Well, this has turned sour. Got the new alternator in and started her up like a champ. Didn't get a chance to really run any post-install diagnostics, because during the install I must've touched the upper radiator nipple and broke it off, AND broke the molded hose off the rubber hose where it goes into the radiator. WTF! I said bad words to the range rover.

Luckily radiators dont seem too bad to find and I've already got a radiator and a new expansion tank hose on the way.

So the way I see it, 6 cents worth of coins just cost me about $500.

Souds like you already ordered a new radiator, but I HIGHLY recommend the all aluminum radiator from Scotty. (socalusedparts). It has a metal nipple that will NEVER break.



Aluminum radiator install

[Jsmooth65]

Already installed a Silla one from ebay ($170 shipped) and it arrived 2 days after ordering. That aluminum one looks awesome though.

[Jsmooth65]

Sooo, i guess I should've read the fuse box part of the main site better. Whilst performing the electrical sticky and not getting strong results (even with new battery and new alternator), the truck died and started to smell like burnt plastic and electronics from the fuse box. SOOOOO i exposed the PCB:



The lead going from the fuse box to the battery was red hot. I can see why. That contact you see all burnt is loose in there. From the main site, this sounds EXACTLY like my problem:
"Gearbox
Fault" and Complete Power Blackout
Some owners have reported
more serious symptoms involving power failing to the whole vehicle. For
example, Walter Gates reports experiencing sudden, temporary complete power
failure three times over approximately five months. The first two times the
engine stalled and a "Gearbox Fault" message appeared on the message center.
(This message means power supply to teh gearbox is low). The third time the
engine did not stall but the fault message appeared. The first two times the
power returned and the "Gearbox Fault" message cleared. Walter also noticed
that when the turn signal lights were blinking the background light on the HEVAC
readout panel would dim or flicker. Tellingly, there was also an odor of an
electrical short in the engine compartment fuse box, even though all the fuses
were good. Finally, Mr. Lucas struck with a sudden, complete and permanent power
failure. Because of the brake-transmission interlock switch, he could not even
shift the transmission into neutral to roll the truck on to a flatbed tow
truck. The tow truck driver was clever enough to crawl under and disconnected
the shifter so he could manually shift the transmission into neutral. Upon
inspection of the Engine Compartment Fuse Box, there was now an extremely strong
odor of an electrical short. The problem was quickly found. The Positive power
connection post was completely burned off where it meets the fuse box board!

[Jsmooth65]

Now that I've found something tangible, I can't seem to figure out if this burnt out post (its completely loose in the PCB) is a cause or a symptom of the problems I was experiencing....

[Jsmooth65]

So does anybody know how the positive post in the fuse box burns off? Is that lead supposed to be super hot like mine was or was that because of the loose connection?