Thread: Check Engine Light and flat battery

I must admit I am still fairly new to my 08 TDV6 SE D3 (absolutely loving it must say). I am a bit confused about all this talk about the need for a fault reader / clearer (not in this partictular forum so apologies for the slightly off topic comment)... surely most faults that occur can be left 'on ice' until you get to a dealer? My basic understanding is that most are just an error messge on the dash? Some admittidly can cause the supension to play up etc, but most are just a light if that?

However I then read Garry's comment...

Originally Posted by garrycol

Reconnect and see if the check engine light is still there (fault will still be logged). If it is then either it needs to go on the computer to check out what is going on or you have another fault there - maybe what caused the battery to drain in the first place. Garry

I presume by your comment that faults can result in battery drains? Might be another reason to get a fault reader if this is the case...

It's a pity that shorting the battery terminals cant clear the faults!

Thanks in advance for any light able to be shed on the above...

I will also be heading along to Gordon's brissie seminar later in the year just before I take the D3 through the Vic high country / lake eyre / across the simpson. Currently just getting as prepared as possible!

Cheers,
Rob

Hi,

I've a 2009 3.0l SE. I've had two batteries replaced under warranty, one a month after being fitted.

The symptoms for my issues were just the engine failing to start. All indications were normal and the engine cranked hard.

Apparently the car will do this, use the power to crank but has insufficient grunt left to turn the computers on.

LR stated that they have had all sorts of issues with the wet cell batteries and have now started swapping to something different...gel or something.

So far, so good.

Cheers,

Kev.

Gords, the way I read it is that touching the cables together helps to reset the fault so that the car can return to normal operation(if the fault does not persist). The fault will still be logged and able to read by the dealer when next serviced.

Originally Posted by Gords

... surely most faults that occur can be left 'on ice' until you get to a dealer?

My 3.0 D4 had an engine fault caused by either the 2nd turbo or its inlet tract isolating valve. The existance of the fault triggered low power mode (extremely low power!) and the only way to restore useable power was to clear the fault then quickly open and close the throttle many times to free whatever was sticking, with the fault re-occurring several times during the process until finally overcome. With the nearest dealer 200 kms away, if I couldn't clear the fault myself it would have needed trucking leaving me either without a vehicle or possibly a loan vehicle unlikley able to serve my daily purpose. In a way I was pleased that the fault happened then whilst near home as the diagnostic tool was unable to clear the fault in stand-alone mode due to a s/w bug, only clearing when connected to a PC. It now has the latest s/w with the bug fixed, so I'm told. (Faultmate V1.29b).

I am having real issues with random battery drain on my 2009 TDV8 sport. Since July 2011 is has failed 5 times with random draining of battery. Two new batteries have been fitted, soft ware updated, new bonnet switch, left at dealers for a week for them to monitor. All to no avail. Wife drove to Brisbane, left it overnight, flat battery in morning. No solution in sight.

Originally Posted by Meccles

I am having real issues with random battery drain on my 2009 TDV8 sport.

You say random, but is there anything common in the lead-up such as only occurs after a long run?