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Hi guys, I'm not all that good a mechanic so please bear with me. Firstly, thanks for all your great info on here. I've already done the thermostat mod and the button mod so.... Many thanks. I chose a battery recommended on here, but alas 2 months in it has stitched me up. This is no discredit to anyone. I had a hunch it was going duff and tried my luck and lost. MY fault !! My battery seems to have gone short and now the alternator isn't putting anything out. When it went wrong I got a warning in the display saying the system was about to shut down. I should have been quicker turning it off! Is the alternator fused anwhere? Most importantly: I test drove the car with a charged battery and no working alternator but it wouldn't change gear. It would do reverse and 'D' but wouldn't change up when approx 35mph. -I'm very concerned that if I go to the trouble of fixing the alternator, I'm going to find the solenoid pack is gone. This would be beyond repair for me. -Is that normal for no alt? I mean.. no one maybe has done this before but does the system 'know' that there's no alt and hence doesn't engage things? Could the shorted battery smoke the solenoid pack? One last question.. Is it hard to change the Alternator and what's roughly involved.? Can I blag the new one in without messing with the tensioner etc and the will the cheap £80 ones on ebay be ok? Any help gratefully received. I'm supposed to be going on my only camping trip this year at the weekend!! ARRRGH.

Hi all, new here. My petrol 3.3 Grand Voyager (had since new, 2003) has for years shown signs of quirky electrical behaviour (headlight flickering, strange door/alarm/lights performance) but recently it peaked with a massive battery drain. NOW it just won't start at all even when battery disconnected then charged (to 11v). It will however jump start fine. My Garage removed the IOD fuse and it runs with seemingly no drain but battery light soon comes on (presumed alternator issue) and obviously no alarm, radio,doors etc etc. Are we looking at the Alternator here or is it a short circuit somewhere? I'd hate to lose this van, she's a petrol guzzler, but a gem many thanks

My 2003 2.5 CRD Grand Voyager has been a little grumbly when running. I suspected auxiliary drive belt items. Today I took off the belt and removed my alternator and checked the idler and tensioner. The decoupler on the Alternator squeeks when it is 'decoupling' - so I think that needs changing (special tool purchase required for that) and the bearings probably need replacing too. The Idler bearing has gone. It runs freely but there is a lot of play and it sounds dry - so that needs replacing. The tensioner seems to be okay, but I wonder if I should replace that as it's accessible at the moment. Although some of the Alternators online are frighteningly expensive, there are some that are almost reasonable. I'm thinking that getting one of these will be cheaper and quicker than buying a decoupler, tool and replacement bearings - any thoughts? The price of the idler and tensioner seem pretty high for what they are - does anyone know of a good website/place to buy these from? Has anyone replaced the bearings in an idler or tensioner? As always, any advice gratefully received.