Thread: Leaking Voltage?

Hi all

I've had the original battery replaced with another genuine LR battery and the problems have disappeared, so now I would be happy to proceed with a dual battery setup. Previously I was not willing to introduce a dual battery setup into a suspect electrical system.

2008 TDV6 SE

Hi all,
Thanks Tim for checking over my Traxide controller box for faults, which it came up clear of.
While I was having my front air suspension valve block replaced I explained my voltage issues to my mechanic. They dropped my car off to an auto electrician to look for the fault they had the car for 2 nights and found that the Amp was somehow staying on and the info screen was also taking a long time to go off.
My mechanic then updated the software to 5 modules which fixed these issues and so far all seems good again.
I also think that it was also that the Optima second battery was contributing as it was not holding charge and I have replaced this battery.

Another interesting thing I found was the "Hidden diagnostic screen" has a self test option which runs a live test where ever the key is positioned.
My screen would quickly fill up with 40 + items.
I thought this must be normal but since the software updates nothing comes up!
My mechanic explained this a being software unused tails that where simply not removed whilst the programs where set.
In the latter versions these have been cleaned up so they do not occur any more.
Technology!

Originally Posted by ~Rich~

2005 TDV6 HSE, 134,000 kms, that 750 is my work day week total for 5 days @ 150.
The problem has shown up months after the Alternator replacement and approx 1 yr after the battery was replaced. Both failed seperately.

This has started happening to us recently as well. Well not "us" as I haven't had it happen to me but SWMBO has had it occur twice now in the past week. We have the same model spec and eerily about the same kilometreage, is that a word? We've only had the car a few weeks and looking back over the docs it had the alternator replaced about a year ago. Has the a Sidewinder dual battery system (isolator but nothing inside the cabin) with the same auxiliary battery.

The first time it happened was about a week ago. She had driven the car through the day and parked in the driveway. A couple of hours later it was a no go and came up with the "Transmission Fault" error message and wouldn't turn over. I left it overnight and tried again in the morning and there was no change including the error message. A call to LR and a chat with the service dept was met with "You need to have it transported in for further analysis." I was pretty sure Ned Kelly would greet me at the door so I rang Lifestyle 4WD here in Perth and they said to try a jump start first and then if that doesn't work to "have it towed". I tried paralleling the auxiliary battery with the same result.

Jump start from the Triton worked fine and no problem until yesterday. Missus drove it up to the school and then rang me to say it wouldn't start again. Now this is only a 10 minute drive with wait time of about 5 minutes for the grandkids to get sown to the car so there was no long overnight sub-zero wait between stop and restart. A quick trip and jump start and away we go. Started fine this morning as well.

Loz is vertically challenged so the seat would be in different position and that is about the only difference.

Check the alternator output and it pumps out 14.6V.

Regards

Mike

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/d3-d4-rrs/...hing-else.html

Originally Posted by Mike&Loz

Jump start from the Triton worked fine and no problem until yesterday. Missus drove it up to the school and then rang me to say it wouldn't start again. Now this is only a 10 minute drive with wait time of about 5 minutes for the grandkids to get sown to the car so there was no long overnight sub-zero wait between stop and restart. A quick trip and jump start and away we go. Started fine this morning as well.

Hi Mike, are you doing lots of short trips or are you driving for more than 20 minutes at a time on most trips?

Hi Mike& Loz,

I had the same problem, and after discussing it with Tim ( Drivesafe ) accepted that my wife does not drive it for long enough each day. ( hence Tim's question about how long you drive it for ) Mine averages probably 10-15 minutes per trip. If it then sits in the garage over the weekend, there is good chance the battery will eventually not have had sufficient charge. I use a good smart charger every second week, to belt the main battery up. No more problems.

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi Mike, are you doing lots of short trips or are you driving for more than 20 minutes at a time on most trips?

Loz only drives it occasionally but it is the "family car" now and since we are both retired we don't do the daily grind too and from work. Generally the trips are just down to the local shops about 10 mins each way, the school about the same or to the major shopping centre about 20 mins each way. But as we both do the driving on different days it just seemed strange, or just plain bad luck, that it has happened only to her.

I checked out the batteries and whomever installed them has not indicated when they were purchased or installed so they could have been in there for the last 3 or 4 years. I'm going to put it into Lifestyle 4WD here in Perth to completely check it over in case some of the mods were done someone not quite up to speed but I can't do that until their mechanic gets back in a week or two.

It's a bit of a worry if it can't sit in the garage for several and not be able start afterwards. The Triton sometimes sits for a couple of weeks and kicks over first time with a 3 year old battery. I'll go through each of the posts in this thread and check out what I can first though.

Just hope I haven't bought a lemon that's going to stitch me up for more than I can afford just to keep it running.

Mike

Originally Posted by Mike&Loz

Just hope I haven't bought a lemon that's going to stitch me up for more than I can afford just to keep it running.

Hi Mike and no it doesn’t sound like you have bought a lemon.

It sounds like your Landy is suffering from "Shopping Trolley Syndrome", where you are just not driving it enough to fully “replace” the amount of power used both while starting and, something most people are not aware of, the amount of power your Landy uses when shutting down.

You can use a digital multi meter to do some simple tests to see if you are charging the battery or if it’s continually being under charged.

If you want to keep an idea of how your battery is holding up, let me know and rather than hijack Rich’s thread, I start a separate one.