Thanks, the car drove home (no gremlins for the roadside mechanic to diagnose - jump started fine and be errors!! It has errors 2hrs prior when I called them.

Will go through the diagram tomorrow, thanks so much for the detail.

Couldn’t find any loose connections, but did see that the alternator was covered in oil - not sure if from the bracket or the rocker cover.

Next issue is trying to work out which alternator to buy, before removing the one that is in there. Ideas? Apparently there are two types.

So guessing you have the 4.4l N62 V8....

You might want to sort the leak before replacing the alternator... or it will just happen again.

Power steering fluid or oil?

As for which alternator..? Entering your VIN into RealOEM and checking the part numbers etc. can help but ultimately, you'll need to match what is installed. It's possible the variations have different connectors etc.

Will fix the leaks when it is all out as don’t want to rip it all out a few times as have to do the work on the street.

Realism did give me the part number, but looks like there is a lug coming off one and not the other. Will try and see if I can spot the difference form above.

Cheers

And yep, 2004 4.4 N62

I have held back from posting as didn’t want to jinx it. Seems like the alternator replacement fixed the issues. There was a lot of oil, which I cleaned down and now need to get back under to see where it was coming from (assuming valve covers). I went to to the bracket gasket at the same time, but the oil was on top of the alternator and the oil hose bracket attaching to the alternator bracket had rounded bolts - good news is that it looks like has been changed already.

Now to work out why my battery light flicks on (has done it three times in the last month), for a fraction of a second.

Thanks for everyone’s help.

I should of added that the alternator was reading 14.2, after running for 5min started to drop and the car turned off at 9…..many others errors on its way down. Just had a road side mechanic that wanted to find the problem.

My sister in law was visiting from 9 hours away and had similar vehicle issues. I hooked up the diagnostics and drove around testing for alternator live data. 14 volts and everything was looking good. Came to a stop at a light and heard an almost chirp and watched the alternator voltage go to 10.9. Drove for a moment and noticed the alternator light was on. Stopped and turned the car off and restarted and back to 14 volts. a few minutes later, the same thing happened. Either the internal regulator was dying or a bearing was going in the alternator. I didn't find the issue in the driveway but did when I did a longer test. Reman alternator and things have been ok for 2 months so far.

I replaced the alternator and all seems good so far. It does occasionally still make a clunk and flash the battery and oil light for 1/4 a second. Will work out what is causing that one day 😬