RRS TDV8 Battery Drain problems

[Meccles]

Oh dear car taken away on flatbed to dealers to try and find solution to intermittent, recurring problem. At random times the battery drains down to nothing, once voltage starts dropping then all sorts of strange things happen. Lights flash, things go beep/whirr. Keeps going til battery hits zero volts. Trouble is, as soon as car is re started, all error messages/codes clear. Car goes to sleep correctly (most of the time) upper rear tailgate switch checked and not faulty. Currenly car is at dealers trying to re create fault. To date nothing found. Anyone have similar issues and what was the result? :(

[ADMIRAL]

Oh dear car taken away on flatbed to dealers to try and find solution to intermittent, recurring problem. At random times the battery drains down to nothing, once voltage starts dropping then all sorts of strange things happen. Lights flash, things go beep/whirr. Keeps going til battery hits zero volts. Trouble is, as soon as car is re started, all error messages/codes clear. Car goes to sleep correctly (most of the time) upper rear tailgate switch checked and not faulty. Currenly car is at dealers trying to re create fault. To date nothing found. Anyone have similar issues and what was the result? :(

Not with an RRS,but there are other threads re the same issue. I found that with minimal driving on a daily basis, the battery progressively ran down, to the point where the vehicle would not start. An occassional charge with smart charger, and the problems ceased. Eventually I replaced the battery. No more issues, and no need to give the battery a boost with the smart charger. With all of the electronics, low battery charge is bound to cause problems.

[Fred Nerk]

Does that suggest it was a bad battery? Or perhaps in the act of replacing the battery a poor connection was corrected. I might suggest disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it. Please note: I'm no expert on auto electrics:angel:

[camel_landy]

Yeah, been through something similar last week...

...thing is, mine was traced to the upper tailgate switch.

Basically, what is happening is that something is sending a signal to the ECU and so the car isn't able to go into its shut-down mode. If your dealer/workshop has the necessary diags kit, they will be able to work out what is feeding the ECU and therefore track down the source of the problem.

Chances are that it'll be one of the door switches somewhere.

Good luck!

M

[Meccles]

Thanks for comments. The dealer has the diagnostics, unfortunately showing no errors at this stage. The upper rear tailgate switch was first thing checked, however it tested ok. Battery was replaced, connections cleaned and re tightened when we had problem for second time. The car has been doing relatively long trips -sunshine coast to Brisbane, so this should not have been issue. The dealer is going to drain battery down a bit, and see what happens then. All codes have been sent to LR for their input/diagnostics. Lucky I am O/s at moment so there is time to investigate. Whether it is related or not, the Nav/sound system failed just prior, then when car was re started twice, started working perfectly again. If we find out what it is I will post.

[Graeme]

IIRC a member's D3 was found to have its amplifier staying powered and I think software updates seemed to fix its battery drain problem.

[Meccles]

Thanks, will suggest this to the dealer. FYI car software is such that apparently the disonnection of battery terminals, shorting them out, does not do anything, unlike the earlier models. It doesn't re set it all. They said that this has changed in later models. RRS forum suggested that air suspension may have fault, and be attempting to level the car at tmes. So there are a few suggestions to follow.

[~Rich~]

That would be me Graeme!

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/d3-d4-rrs/129316-leaking-voltage-5.html#post1524658

Been fine since I had the software updated and replaced both my batteries!
The D3/D4, RRS are particularly temperamental to the slightest suspect batteries.

[Graeme]

.. air suspension may have fault, and be attempting to level the car at tmes.
All D3/D4/RRS check suspension levels on a scheduled basis but only level downwards by opening valves momentarily, never running the compressor. This is not unusual electrical demand so can't be blamed for running a battery down abnormally.

[Meccles]

OK thanks for info, will contact dealer tomorrow and see what updates they have for me.

[Meccles]

Update, a faulty bonnet switch has been found, along with software update - a big one. As car has just come out of service, the question that springs to mind is why wouldn't the software update have been done at that time? Anyway, at this time they belive problem is solved.