Thread: D4 low battery. Please start engine.

My 2010 D4 HSE 3.0 Diesel has been brilliant. Maybe even be the best car I've ever had.
No problems in over 130000 Kim.
However....about 3 or 6 months ago, the car started warning me that the battery was nearly flat and that I should start the engine and charge her up a bit.
Long trips made no difference, a minute or so after turning her off the warning would pop up.
i had the battery checked after a long drive from Albury to Murray Bridge and the chap there checked out the battery and it was 98%. The battery was only a few months old.
That fellow was fabulous by the way.
That was a relief and the engine always started easily and the battery had always sounded like it was full of juice.
I disconnected the fridge in the back, the caravan electric brakes by pulling out the fuses and made sure that the DVD monitors in the back of the headrests weren't getting any juice.
The fellow in S.A said it was a Parasitic electrical drag.
A totally new term to me but I'm terrified of electricity.

I decided to run it down to ULR and let them steal a couple of awful numbers from me as they apparently have a dedicated LandRover auto elec.
To say that the service adviser underwhelmed me when I sang them to check if they could address my problem is an understatement. Didn't do it.
Does anyone out there have any idea what's happening with this issue?
As it stands ignoring it around my home area is not causing any issues, but like ships being safe in harbours, my Disco
wants me to do the Googs track again shortly and at my age there is only so much of a punt I'm prepared to take.
Thanks in advance.

Tim may not be on the forum right now, but maybe a PM would be worthwhile. drivesafe He's one of our auto elec gurus.

Thanks John.

Hi Steve and when you are not doing long trips, what is your normal driving habits?

Do you do lots of short trips, or leave your disco parked up for days, or weeks at a time?

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Thanks John.

Hi Steve and when you are not doing long trips, what is your normal driving habits?

Do you do lots of short trips, or leave your disco parked up for days, or weeks at a time?

We live in town now and the Disco gets a mix of very short trips whereby she really would not get a chance to warm up to trips of a reasonable distance. I'm probably only doing about 10,000 Kim per year outside of the trips to Melb, Sydney and Adelaide.
I have been sensitive to the short trips not being much good for diesels and leave her running whenever I can. I have a big dog who keeps an eye on the Disco for me.
Thanks for your interest. I will try a pm to the fellow recommended

Hi Steve, try the link below.

I have just posted up details about fixing and avoiding similar problems like yours.

Regard, Tim.

On-Line auto electrical info

Originally Posted by SteveL

We live in town now and the Disco gets a mix of very short trips whereby she really would not get a chance to warm up to trips of a reasonable distance. I'm probably only doing about 10,000 Kim per year outside of the trips to Melb, Sydney and Adelaide.
I have been sensitive to the short trips not being much good for diesels and leave her running whenever I can. I have a big dog who keeps an eye on the Disco for me.
Thanks for your interest. I will try a pm to the fellow recommended

Steve, I don't know about the Disco engine, but most diesel engines can suffer from glazed bores and loss of performance if left idling. Much better to use a charger as Drivesafe said. Also I think in an earlier thread Drivesafe said it would be good to disconnect the earth of the Traxide when the vehicle is stopped for any length of time to avoid the parasitic drain of the Traxide unit.

I've just returned today from a month in the US/Europe.
I left a 120W solar panel plugged into the start battery while I was away. It went through a Victron regulator.
The car was in a car port and the panel was on the roof in a not too good place for solar (shadows, and no good when the sun is low in the sky), and the Disco started first go.
It's a V6 petrol if it makes any difference.
I didn't disconnect the traxide kit, just left it all as it normally is.