L322 wouldn't start this morning

[tebone]

Hi Guys,
I went to start the 02 model vogue this morning and the key wouldn't turn. I noticed the interior light was dull. I checked the battery with multi meter and battery was at 8 volts. Prior to that this week it had started ok.
Over the last 10months I have noticed the battery beening low 12 Volts.

Could the battery die over night?

Going through the service history the last time it had a new battery was April 07.
Should I buy a geniune Land rover battery or an after market?
What price should I be paying for a new one?

Regards Paul

[woko]

Yes a battery can die quite suddenly.
If you go for a after market battery, you need to get a lead calcium battery. The charging system is set up for lead calcium. They will be a bit more expensive.

[PhilipA]

Oh Shock!! Oh the horror!!!
A battery that went flat after 5 years!

Geez mate You should thank your lucky stars you don't own a 38A near a radio source where the battery lasts 5 days>LOL.

Regards Philip A

[ariddell]

It's one of those jobs where I'd say get someone to fit it for you for the sake of a couple of extra bucks, they are an absolute nightmare to get in and out of an L322.

Took the chap who did ours over an hour and lots of swearing to eventually get it swapped, and cost about $20 more than buying the battery and doing it myself.

[spudboy]

Batteries can die even on the same day as they were last used.

Mrs Spud took our Alfa 159 Diesel to the shops (5Kms away) and parked. Came back half an hour later and it would not not turn over. Lights all came on OK. All it would do is click rapidly from the starter motor.

Initially I assumed the Alfa electrics had gone pffut. Tried to jump start it from a mate's car, but no go.

RAA turned up with a new battery and she fired up straight away. 3 year old battery just up and died. No issues since fitting the new one.

[tebone]

It's one of those jobs where I'd say get someone to fit it for you for the sake of a couple of extra bucks, they are an absolute nightmare to get in and out of an L322.

Took the chap who did ours over an hour and lots of swearing to eventually get it swapped, and cost about $20 more than buying the battery and doing it myself.

Hi Ariddell,
Thanks for the advise but I already removed the battery. It was quiet easy. The secret is to lift the bonnet to the vertical position.

Regards paul

[woko]

It's one of those jobs where I'd say get someone to fit it for you for the sake of a couple of extra bucks, they are an absolute nightmare to get in and out of an L322.

Took the chap who did ours over an hour and lots of swearing to eventually get it swapped, and cost about $20 more than buying the battery and doing it myself.

If you have sat nav, defiantly take to some one who knows what there doing. If battery is removed before the sat nav has shut doen it will wipe it.

[harlie]

took over an hour??? replaced mine last month - it's easy, 5 mins in the carpark at the supercharge distribution center so I could leave the old one on their recycle pile... Radio held all its settings just needed to reset the clock. Only extra steps over a basic car would be: 1. stand the bonnet up (disconnect struts and clip it in the vertical position) 2. remove the lead to the + Jump Start Stud to allow vertical removal of the battery.

There is a Supercharge that suits even though their book doesn't list one, the helpful chap took me for a walk through the warehouse with a tape measure.
Supercharge Batteries - Car Batteries, Maintenance, Expanded Grid Technology (http://www.supercharge.com.au/product_detail.php'seq=49) (MF88H) 880cca (genuine LR that was there was 850cca) cost me $187 at their dist center. Would guess $220-230 retail at the local shop now we know what to ask for...

Please note if heading over there - Supercharge Batteries Distribution Center is a distribution warehouse that offers a sales counter - they will not change a battery for you - but as I've done a few times now you are welcome to change it yourself and leave your old one behind.

The LR battery (no idea on $) is actually made by Varta and you can buy the same thing labeled as Varta from the local battery shop ($320ish), problem I had was at the time I was told by 3 shops that there would be a 2 week wait for stock mainly because it's an odd item and no one wants to carry stock (nor do we want old stock), first thing I thought was if there's a 2 week wait in Brisbane how long will it take if it fails in the country? So I wanted to fit a readily available (common) battery - bit of research now might save me later).

[Camo]

$187 bucks! thats brilliant.. I think mine is starting to go. Sometimes the car doesn't start perfectly and the HDC Inactive comes on.

So you don't need power hooked up to change? I was told you had to or the computer will do weird things.

Camo

[harlie]

...
So you don't need power hooked up to change? I was told you had to or the computer will do weird things.

Camo

Anyone telling you that doesn't fully understand how vehicle electronics work. Problems may occur if the battery is disconnected while the key is still on or just after being turned off (ECUs still processing/writing to memory), to be safe I always wait a few minutes after removing the key to ensure everything has terminated cleanly (about the time it takes to select, pay for and carry out a new battery for example). Some ECUs enter a sleep mode while most power down completely, once they are in this state they can have their power removed. Even if you upset them, most times it can be sorted by clearing some hard faults.

HDC message is one of the first signs. The day I replaced the battery the car wouldn't let me turn the key as Paul describes, ran a battery charger for about 2 hours so I could drive it to supercharge, when it started after the battery charger was on, the dash displayed every light and scrolled through a huge list of "Inactive" or "Inoperable" systems, backed out of the garage and let it run on the drive for a couple of minutes, jumped in to go and it was all happy (obviously voltage).

I have disconnected the batt many times while playing (manual says to for nearly everything especially internal around SRS airbags)... Only time I've had weird computer things is when I've not disconnected the Batt, allowing the computers to sense that something is different (me mucking about).

The only thing other than the clock after changing the battery was the steering angle sensor - turn the wheel full lock both ways and it's happy....

[ariddell]

Ahah, good to know, yeah he didn't have the bonnet vertical so that explains why he had so much grief.

[tebone]

just installed a new one it cost me $220 and everything seems ok now.

Regards Paul

[spudboy]

That's not too bad. Glad it is all fixed now.

Cheers
David

[tebone]

Guess what?
The alarm went off this morning about 0400am. About 0630am I went to start it and the battery was flat:(

Its going down to jobson electrics to sort out the dsp. I will get him to check whats draining the battery as well.

[Camo]

Always found it weird for a battery to crap itself that quick. I put 2 brand new batteries in my old classic last year and both were dead in 2 days. Took it to an auto electric bloke and he couldn't find a drain.. said I must have 2 dud batteries:eek: What a tosser

ended up being a prob with the dual battery system...

Good luck with it mate

Camo