Thread: Main battery performance causes random codes?

Possibly! I had a 6 mth old main battery drop a cell (as it turned out!) in the back of nowhere. The vehicle kept dropping into neutral and throwing up all sorts of faults on the dash. The Gap tool was awash with faults, in hindsight mostly electrical.

I limped to a roadhouse and called for help as I didn't want to get stuck in a more remote place. We got a tilt-tray truck ride some 300 km to home base. Dud battery replaced under warranty - all good!

Originally Posted by goldey

Hi all
Been chasing random faults with rear door latch, suspension fault, transmission fault........
Could an under performing main battery contribute to this issue? No Gap tool to interrogate. Only a OBD2 reader. Supercheap sale on at the moment.
Cheers
Goldey

From my experience - Yes. Transmission fault was the main one although I did have a door lock do that with the last battery that was failing. HTH.

Someone nearby with a gap can read off the codes mate, only need additional license for additional work. If you have someone nearby you can pay the additional $150 to have your licence added to their tool.

Door lock would likely be age, the rest of us are all changing them these days,

Suspension fault could be just a blocked drier or something more serious

Transmission fault can also come up for an engine fault, as in the input torque is low so the transmission gives off the light first, I've had that.

The dead battery does get involved at times with the last two

Originally Posted by josh.huber

Someone nearby with a gap can read off the codes mate, only need additional license for additional work. If you have someone nearby you can pay the additional $150 to have your licence added to their tool.

Door lock would likely be age, the rest of us are all changing them these days,

Suspension fault could be just a blocked drier or something more serious

Transmission fault can also come up for an engine fault, as in the input torque is low so the transmission gives off the light first, I've had that.

The dead battery does get involved at times with the last two

Experience leads me to differ with you as the FLH started not unlocking with the fob along the Tanami in July and after a battery change due to failed starter battery when I got home it hasn't skipped a beat since.

I've had transmission faults, epb faults, and others I can't remember when the battery is low... Nary a one since going to a dual battery system and making sure I have at least one battery under 3 years old... Its only my experience, but I'm very confident that a low battery generates a ****load of errors in these vehicles... (or, at least, it's the first thing I'd check before chasing other issues, based on personal results.)

Thanks all

Bit the bullet and bought a new Century DIN85LH AGM from Supercheap (on sale $369, not bad given it's got 36 mth warranty and almost identical specs as the old Varta coming out of the car).

As I don't have a Gap tool or access to one, can I do a hard reset prior to installing the new battery? Steps I've seen on the net for battery replacement are:
1. close the doors and wait for a few minutes for the screen and lights to disappear inside the vehicle;
2. disconnect the auxiliary battery negative, then positive;
3. disconnect negative lead off main battery;
4. disconnect positive lead off main battery;
5. Remove main battery;
6. Hold the negative and positive leads together for at least 2 minutes (this I assume is the hard reset where any residual voltage is removed from the collection of ECUs);
7. Install the new battery in reverse order as above;
8. Reinstall the aux battery arrangement in reverse order (ie positive first then negative).

Can anyone see any issues with doing this?

Cheers
Goldey

FWIW,random codes are thrown up by lots of different brands of vehicle with faulty start batteries,or batteries with low charge.

Originally Posted by goldey

Thanks all

Bit the bullet and bought a new Century DIN85LH AGM from Supercheap (on sale $369, not bad given it's got 36 mth warranty and almost identical specs as the old Varta coming out of the car).

As I don't have a Gap tool or access to one, can I do a hard reset prior to installing the new battery? Steps I've seen on the net for battery replacement are:
1. close the doors and wait for a few minutes for the screen and lights to disappear inside the vehicle;
2. disconnect the auxiliary battery negative, then positive;
3. disconnect negative lead off main battery;
4. disconnect positive lead off main battery;
5. Remove main battery;
6. Hold the negative and positive leads together for at least 2 minutes (this I assume is the hard reset where any residual voltage is removed from the collection of ECUs);
7. Install the new battery in reverse order as above;
8. Reinstall the aux battery arrangement in reverse order (ie positive first then negative).

Can anyone see any issues with doing this?

Cheers
Goldey

Above my paygrade sorry. My D3 only requires the clock on the radio to be reset after a new battery.