Recover car with suspected failed alternator

[coetzeeh]

While away on business my wife drove my car - parked up and two days later returned and theere is no sign of electric power. Dash is dead, no lights, nothing.

Suspecting a catastrophic battery failure (3.5 years old) I attempted a jump start - but within 20 seconds of me attaching a jump cables and starting the donor car I saw smoke from the jump lead at the negative termonal on my car. Also saw spark from negative when I attached the lead.

Swiftly ran and disconnected the jump leads - which was so hot it burnt a blister on my thumb and melted the jumper cable clean off.

Problem my car (L320 Range Rover) Sport) is parked on my drive and not sure how the car can be recovered to my local Indie (no I have not yet asked them but want to be sure of procedure).
The car has no leccy, is in Park.

Could we in theory fit a new good battery and drive it to the Indie without any harm to the car?

Thanks.

[E-bmw]

It is likely your jump leads are too low rated for what you have just tried to do.

Points to note:

1. You will ALWAYS see a spark when connecting the second lead.

2. You have just tried to pour probably over 100 amps down leads not rated for it, so yes, they will get VERY hot VERY quickly.

3. Get a new battery & try again, as even if it wasn't goosed beforehand the battery will be now.

[Penelope Stopit]

E-bmw said:

It is likely your jump leads are too low rated for what you have just tried to do.

Points to note:

1. You will ALWAYS see a spark when connecting the second lead.

2. You have just tried to pour probably over 100 amps down leads not rated for it, so yes, they will get VERY hot VERY quickly.

3. Get a new battery & try again, as even if it wasn't goosed beforehand the battery will be now.

This has saved me some typing, it's bang on, the battery might work ok once charged but................

[GreenV8S]

I saw a very similar problem trying to jump start a Defender with a flat battery. The jump leads we were using had a high current capacity but still overheated as soon as they were connected. Turns out the Defender had worn through the insulation on the main battery connection causing an intermittent dead short.

[coetzeeh]

Thanks all so my question is how to safely recover the car to Indie half a mile from me?

The battery is guaranteed for life so I will get a new one foc but wonder if indie should diagnose the problem on my drive first or can the safely connect the new battery and drive for 3 minutes and do the work there?

[paintman]

Wouldn't it be simpler - and probably a lot safer for you AND the car - just to talk to the indie & let them sort it out?

[Penelope Stopit]

coetzeeh said:

Thanks all so my question is how to safely recover the car to Indie half a mile from me?

The battery is guaranteed for life so I will get a new one foc but wonder if indie should diagnose the problem on my drive first or can the safely connect the new battery and drive for 3 minutes and do the work there?

You could very likely drive for 3 hours plus on a new battery
Yes a new battery will definitely get you down the road

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

Most likely with it being a Range Rover the alternator will have failed and shorted out internally hence why your battery is totally dead. When you connected your jump leads it will have been trying to pull that much current across with the potentially failed alternator, that's why the leads got so hot and smokey.

Ideally your car wants recovering to the garage to be safe, if you recharge the battery and reconnect it, it could be a fire risk.

As for lifetime warrantied battery, if the alternator has caused the fault and destroyed the battery by making it totally flat (they really don't like it), you may find that the battery warranty will be void.

[coetzeeh]

Thanks all - Indie on the way to diagnose. New battery received.

[shogun001]

You could just disconnect the main live feed to the back of the alternator. New battery and it will allow you to drive fine without shorting out.

[coetzeeh]

shogun001 said:

You could just disconnect the main live feed to the back of the alternator. New battery and it will allow you to drive fine without shorting out.

Thanks - I think that is exactly what I am going to suggest when they get here to collect the car.

[sjj84]

Do you have breakdown cover? I know you said it's only half a mile, but if you have cover you might as well use it.

[coetzeeh]

Alternator replaced and car is good again. At £440 all in I though that was a bargain.

Thanks for all the advice.