..... about ten miles, as I found out on Thursday night.! 
 

the battery lights came on and I was driving home around midnight. After about 8 miles things started shutting down, the stereo, interior displays and dash lights... then the headlights... then the engine. 
I couldn’t pull over as the road had a ditch next to it so I just pulled as far over to the left as I could and rang the police. 
I was stranded on a country road which I’d a busy lorry route so luckily I flagged a passing car who took my wife and son home the last 2 miles. 
I put my triangle out and waited for the police to come and was amazed one arrived an seconds!.... only to find they were out looking for someone 🙄. 
I rang my insurance and they would arrange recovery, ... then my phone died. I used the last of the battery as a torch to warn oncoming speeding lorries and cars.... 

police arrived and they were organising transportation etc but no tow trucks arrived, I couldn’t get an answer from the insurance company as to why and the police ended up staying with me for 5 hours whilst it got light enough to push the car off the road to avoid the ditch... I got in at 6am, just in time for my alarm to go off so I could go to work! 🙄👍🏻
 

a big thank you to humber side police and the passing motorist for keeping us safe. 
no thanks to the insurance company or recovery firms for not bothering about the safety of their clients. I’m currently awaiting a call from their director and the police have raised a complaint to them for wasting resources.

anyway.... ordered a replacement alternator on Friday, delivered at 1pm sat and fitted by 4.... all good now. 👍🏻

Morning Stu

At least your all safe, angry, frustrated but safe.

One of the most frustrating things in our modern world is waiting for recovery, we have been AA members for years (30+) and never really used them until the last 5 years. First occasion out with my son in his Toyota and it stopped (turned out to be the Diesel Pump) I rang the AA told them the truck would need recovery "OK sir help is on it's way" this is the service that says we fix stuff in 30 mins !! 2 hrs and several calls later an AA van turns up spent 10 mins and announced the Truck needed recovery and he would arrange it WTF !!!  Total waiting time 9hrs !!! Second time the X5 main crank vibration damper failed 5 miles from home guess what it still took 9 hrs !!!

Oh the answer to your question is "an X5 goes about 9 miles without an alternator and all the lights on 🤣

Dave

.... if it had lasted 11 I would have been at home! 😂😂 

.... what a pain to get to the bottom alternator bolt. Top tip.: buy a 1/2 drive socket set with a knuckle jointed stubby adaptor.

16 and 17mm sockets and swear for about 3 hours and it will be sorted 👍🏻

I know where to come then, now your practiced 😂 Though the alternator on the 4.6 is water cooled just to make it more fun

I don’t trust water cooling in electrics.... I remember the water cooled pc’s coming out and thinking that running mains, processors and water in a box is asking for trouble! 😂

Thanks for those encouraging words !!! Not

The old girl threw a wobbly yesterday opened the door all the fans running flat out ?? FSR I thought, so changed it (yes I had a spare in the garage) made no difference ran a scan and it seems the HVAC unit has died. Perfect when the weather is turning warm 😂 Replacement on the way then I will take the original apart to see if it is fixable

The old X5 wont let you rest 🤣