How long can I park a D3td and still start it ?

[Glynhouse]

Need to make a quick trip from Cairns to Adelaide will be flying, expect to be away 10 days, can remember some posts on flat batteries after leaving the car for a while.
D3 td MY07 early, new battery 3 months ago.

Will it start when we get back ? came from a cruiser could leave that 3 months and have no trouble with starting.

DD

[AnD3rew]

I've heard those stories, but I have regularly parked mine for a week to ten days while travelling and have never had any trouble starting it.

[Tombie]

Mines parked up to 3 weeks regularly with no probs

[discotwinturbo]

6 weeks and mine was dead.....just over 7 volts.

Brett.....

[gps-au]

6 weeks and mine was dead.....just over 7 volts.

Brett.....

bought new dec 2008

aug/sep 2011 - 6 weeks - no prob.

jul/aug 2012 - 9 weeks - no prob.

I was tempted this year to leave a charger on it, but decided no. 2nd battery was down as I had forgotten to turn off a secindary gps unit.

next year as it might be 12 to 14 weeks, I will put on a timed float charger, alternating topping the batteries week about.

[Glynhouse]

Thanks guys, should not have a problem next week -I hope.

Was worried about later in the year probably be parked for a couple of months, will put a solar panel on the roof and leave connected.

DD

[oldsalt]

I left mine for six weeks recently and it started first time when I got home...
cheers

[discotwinturbo]

DD, can you actually just hook a solar panel in ? Do you have a regulator for it ? If not, will the high voltage cause any issues with the battery even though it may only be a small amperage ?

I will now disconnect my battery when I leave it for a week or more.

A few years back, when I had no gremlins running around, I had a wrx with the keypad code to allow me to start the car. I was on the GRR for 4 weeks. Got home. Had to put battery charger on her because she was dead, but as the battery got so low, the system forgot the code. Put it in valet mode before i went away which gave me 10 starts. But it forgot the number of starts too, so got stuck at the shops with a boot load of groceries. It had to be trucked back to Subaru and what a rigmarole that was getting to code reprogrammed....it had not happened at that point to others.

I got so used to my Touareg not having battery issues leaving it for long periods when we travelled, I did not disconnect the D4 battery when we overseas in Oct.....so spent a chunk of the day charging it on my return.

Only thing I did not do was lock it in access mode, which has been suggested by others on this forum.

Brett....

[discojools]

Strange that is post has just appeared.. Have been wondering why my D4 has been a bit sluggish starting after a couple of days left..thought it might have been a duff battery so took it to the new Melbourne LR dealer to have it checked..they said nothing wrong with main or second battery and that some thing in the car is draining the main battery. Have to take it back to them in the New Year for a couple of days for them to trace the problem. They are saying that it is probably a module that is not shutting down properly.

This all started after I left the car with my panel beater in July for a few weeks while overseas. He let the battery get quite low,wonder if that has triggered the problem.

[Glynhouse]

No Brett,I would not hook an unregulated panel of any size onto a battery.

I have a pair of 80watt panels that clip onto the rails on the roof, did use them as portables before I kitted the van out fully, still have the regulator for them and always use that.
Used them on the Cruiser for the last 2 years, when we went to Europe for 4 months hooked to an old batt, in case something did not work out, was fine started not probs. Hoping the Disco will be the same, can't see why not.

DD


[QUOTE=discotwinturbo;1819751]DD, can you actually just hook a solar panel in ? Do you have a regulator for it ?

[ADMIRAL]

Strange that is post has just appeared.. Have been wondering why my D4 has been a bit sluggish starting after a couple of days left..thought it might have been a duff battery so took it to the new Melbourne LR dealer to have it checked..they said nothing wrong with main or second battery and that some thing in the car is draining the main battery. Have to take it back to them in the New Year for a couple of days for them to trace the problem. They are saying that it is probably a module that is not shutting down properly.

This all started after I left the car with my panel beater in July for a few weeks while overseas. He let the battery get quite low,wonder if that has triggered the problem.
Do a search guys. This issue has been the subject of a lot of posts. Even if the battery checks out, if you are doing a lot of short trips, or storing for any period, the battery will give up pretty quick with all of the electronics on the D4

[gps-au]

Strange that is post has just appeared.. Have been wondering why my D4 has been a bit sluggish starting after a couple of days left..thought it might have been a duff battery so took it to the new Melbourne LR dealer to have it checked..they said nothing wrong with main or second battery and that some thing in the car is draining the main battery. Have to take it back to them in the New Year for a couple of days for them to trace the problem. They are saying that it is probably a module that is not shutting down properly.

This all started after I left the car with my panel beater in July for a few weeks while overseas. He let the battery get quite low,wonder if that has triggered the problem.


What sort of tripping ?

More recently I only get around town and not that far....
My secondary has been copping it a bit thou, so I am about to give it a full weekend's worth of charge, may even actually do the main as well, its been close to 8 months since I have done a long enough run (by my stanards) to get a full charge plus into the batteries... (I class country run of over 4 hours should be enough).

[discojools]

Admiral,
All my trips are 30-40k as we live nearly in the bush.. The dealer said they had tested the battery and that it is fine. I think there is a way of testing the battery's condition isn't there? They told me that with everything switched off that there was .13 milliamp (i think) drawing when it should have been .03 milliamp. I can't be sure whether those are the figures he told me but certainly the amount of power drawing was more than it should have been.
Does anybody know what the battery should be drawing when car all off?

[gghaggis]

Can't recall off the top of my head (I have it written down somewhere), but it's a lot more than 0.03ma. The most common item to not shut down correctly is the infotainment centre. There was also a problem with some RRS's (so perhaps D3's as well) where the rear door latch was drawing current unnecessarily.

We leave the car for up to 4 weeks without problems starting.

Cheers,

Gordon

[drivesafe]

Hi folks and you are not asking the question in the right context.

The problem with leaving any vehicle for any long term period is not how long the cranking battery will last per say.

If you have been doing lots of short trips before you leave your rig parked up, then there is a good chance you will come back to a flat battery.

It is how well the battery is charged before you leave it that will govern how long it is LIKELY to last.

If you know you are going to be leaving your D3/D4/RRS for a long unused period, make sure the battery is fully charged and/or have some sort of charge maintenance in place.

This could be a battery charger or, where practical, a 10w solar panel will probably do the best job of looking after your battery(s) and for the lowest set up cost.

[Mike_S]

Mine was fine after 9-10 weeks in the container, put the key in the ignition here expecting it to be as flat as a fart and it fired first turn. I have the TDV8 battery, no noticeable drop off in cranking speed when it turned over.

[sniegy]

I have left mine for 3 months late last year when we went over sea's to the US.
I also did expect it not to fire as we all know these vehicles ARE battery critical, but she did fire first button push.
I had all intentions of disconnecting the earth terminal, but in the last minute rush ahh!.............I forgot :-)

As Drivesafe has said a small solar panel does wonders (especially in the 10MY+ vehicles) as it keeps the battery topped up, especially if you do small trips. The generator does its best to top up the charge, but if you don't do a long journey, the battery is being maintained at its critical point, it doesn't take long for it to fall over.

My battery failed about a month or so ago, just got into the vehicle & hit the start button & bam..early Christmas....
Myself & 2 other techs checked the battery initially to say it was fine, charged all day & thought that was that. But 4 days later it failed to start again rechecked to find a failed battery, bad cell.

If you are checking your battery give the side a good kick, you may find good one second, bad the next.

Cheers

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner

[phl]

This could be a battery charger or, where practical, a 10w solar panel will probably do the best job of looking after your battery(s) and for the lowest set up cost.

How would you suggest this be set up? Would a panel sitting on the dash in the sun plugged into the Aux socket (after the relay bypass so they are alway live) work? Or has anyone used the DISCO3 plug that goes into the trailer socket for that?

[Nomad9]

Hi Glynhouse,
I regularly leave my unattended, lets say, I have a small CTEK charger I leave hooked up for extended absences, seems to work fine for me. I have a solar panel hooked up to my camper trailer battery, the camper trailer doesn't get used as often as it should do, possibly three months at a time, with the solar panel I've always had a fully charged battery when I've gone away. I use the solar panel to charge the car batteries when I'm away as well. I have the Piranah DSE 180S I think it is which has a solar facility, I've got a plug mounted in the front of the car so whilst I'm camped the solar panel replaces power used by the fridge etc.

[Graeme]

My battery failed about a month or so ago, just got into the vehicle & hit the start button & bam..early Christmas....
Myself & 2 other techs checked the battery initially to say it was fine, charged all day & thought that was that. But 4 days later it failed to start again rechecked to find a failed battery, bad cell.Mine had insufficient charge to start the engine on the morning of it being serviced. It was reported to be down on charge at the service but as it had just done a 5.5 hour drive to get there, it should not have been down so I don't expect the battery to last long especially now that warranty has expired.

[Disco4pilot]

This could be a battery charger or, where practical, a 10w solar panel will probably do the best job of looking after your battery(s) and for the lowest set up cost.

Hi Drivesafe do you have any product recommendations for a 10w solar panel? Would these work in a Marine environment as well? Do you need a special controler or do you simply wire them to a live positive and the earth stud?

Cheers

[drivesafe]

Hi Disco4pilot and if your boat is not used much ( if you are talking about a boat ) and the battery is around 100Ah, a 5w solar panel is all you need with no regulator and connect up as you have posted.

A 5w solar panel is big enough to charge a 100Ah battery and then maintain it over a long period on non use.

[vbrab]

I look like having to change the battery in my D3 2.7. (seems a little less "kick" when been left for a few days.)
Does anybody know if there are any problems associated with removing the battery and installing another?
I'm wondering if the electronics /ECU's/Engine managment systems etc, will resume service as usual, or does the lot have to be reprogrammed in service centre?
Any suggestions on BEST (long life/reliable) battery option for D3?
I live remote (1600k's from service option). vbrab

[discotwinturbo]

After ensuring the car has shutdown, remove negative, then positive. Reverse order for reconnection.
Drivesafe will give you the specifics.
You need to reset time and date on the D4.....nothing else. Keeps headlamp delays the same.
Refer thred running at the movement about battery disconnection tips.

Brett....

[discojools]

Strange that is post has just appeared.. Have been wondering why my D4 has been a bit sluggish starting after a couple of days left..thought it might have been a duff battery so took it to the new Melbourne LR dealer to have it checked..they said nothing wrong with main or second battery and that some thing in the car is draining the main battery. Have to take it back to them in the New Year for a couple of days for them to trace the problem. They are saying that it is probably a module that is not shutting down properly.

This all started after I left the car with my panel beater in July for a few weeks while overseas. He let the battery get quite low,wonder if that has triggered the problem.

Had the car back at dealer today and they found that the amplifier for the radio was not switching off causing the battery to loose charge. New one on way from UK so problem should be solved in a couple of weeks.

[theresanothersteve]

Need to make a quick trip from Cairns to Adelaide will be flying, expect to be away 10 days, can remember some posts on flat batteries after leaving the car for a while.
D3 td MY07 early, new battery 3 months ago.

Will it start when we get back ? came from a cruiser could leave that 3 months and have no trouble with starting.

DD
We do the opposite, fly from Adelaide to Cairns for 10 days (Port, here we come!). Leave the D3 in the long term car park, get back and it stsrts no problems. Same for the ute back home, we warned to disconnect the battery on that if we leave it for an extended period.

If it doesn't start the battery was due to fail anyway:p