I fitted the larger Bosch 110a battery last summer and all has been well up until recently. However, simply leaving the sidelights on or the rear hatch open is now proving difficult for the battery it seems.

Over Christmas, I was vacuuming the car out and had the 4 doors and the rear hatch open. It struggled to start afterwards but then later that night the alarm was sounding. I couldn't arm/disarm it and had to manually open the doors to pop the bonnet and silence the alarm with a cloth. The car wouldn't turn over next morning.

Yesterday I left the sidelights on accidentally at work for 2 hrs. This shouldn't be a problem for a 110a battery. Once alerted to the lights by a colleague, I turned them off but made no attempt to start the vehicle. I left it thinking the battery would recover over the next few hours. When I came out at 11pm, it was just clicking the starter motor. I left it and caught the train home as the useless RAC said they'd be there in two hours.

Next day, I put a call in to the RAC at about 9pm so that they'd be there before I left work. Whilst waiting for them to turn up, I tried the car again. Completely flat. No alarm LED, no dash lights- nothing. Again, I had to unlock the car with the key.

When the patrolman arrived he put his booster on and this had no effect. He then connected it to his vans power supply which again made no difference. He checked the voltage and it was zero.

A combination of his booster, his van and a third battery pack eventually made the car turn over. He checked the charging circuit and it was pumping out around 14v to the battery. He said something was clearly draining the battery to the point where it was completely exhausting it.

Now I don't have a problem with it normally- it's only when I've been doing silly things like leaving the lights on or the rear hatch open for extended periods. It's like this is enough to start the battery going flat, then something else is finishing it off.

Anyone found/identified a battery drain on a 2002 TD6?

Yes this is quite normal.

washing cleaing the car with the doors open is a big NO NO - better is to not wash the car at-all. or do it with a running motor. you'r battery is now dead, and needs replacement

or clean the car with the battery disconnected

I have a new battery every 2 years. and i'm seriously thinking of putting a 2nd battery in the boot to ensure it will work - long periods of not use - extending 2 weeks will result in a flat battery - people at the long term airport carpark know me very well, as I had to call in their assistance on numourous occasions

It sounds like the car is possibly staying awake when it should be shutting down. When hoovering it did you manually turn the interior lights off as they will turn on regardless of outside light conditions and the boot interior one stays on for a lot longer as well.

I think you may just have to start pulling fuses and see which one tests as having the most drag on the battery when everything should be shut down. 15 minutes after you remove the key the system should shut down with the doors closed IIRC  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

Failing alternator? Seems quite common on D3s Graham

____
Gone: 10MY L320 RR Sport HSE, Ipanema Sand
Gone: 20MY Jaguar iPace HSE, Silicon Silver
Gone: 17MY RR Evoque SE Tech, Loire Blue
Gone: 08MY Discovery 3 XS, Stornoway Grey
Gone: 07MY FFRR TDV8 Vogue, Stornoway Grey

batterys will not recover fully if they go flat , i forget the percentages but a totally flat battery will only recover back to about 95% of original charge and if it gos flat again it will only recover to 95% charge of that 95% state.

this of course dosent help you to figure why yours went flat..do you use the range for short journeys as i did cos my battery had problems turning mine over only after 11 months, ECP changed it for a new one with no problems..

you do have the correct charge going into the battery so thats a plus, so its trying to trace the drain...make sure the obd flap is shut and all the interior lights go out when you lock up..keep an eye on the shutdown duration of the light on the nav unit , that should be no more than about 20 minutes...then its fuse pulling time i think. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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Mine was valeted recently for a couple of hours with everything open. Didn't manually switch off anything. No problem. I regularly spend ages packing the boot with all the stuff that my wife seems to want to move from one part of the world to another Again all doors open for ages whilst we try and squeeze everything in (and then the rest when we've packed everything and she suddenly discovers all the stuff she didn't mention earlier )

Last week I parked up in a cold outdoor car park for a week. Opened up and closed the car several times during the week to put things in and out. Even moved the car once to another spot. No problem starting at the end of the week.

It should be able to handle all this unless some of your lights are not switching off properly. That might be something to check. Especially the boot light and all the various puddle lights. 2012 5.0L S/C
Previous:
3.6 TDV8
4.4 HSE
P38 4.6 HSE
Classic 3.9
90 County
Series3 Lightweight

Having any of the doors open means the satnav is operating which from my experience will kill a battery in about 30minutes.
Leaving external sidelights on with the car locked shouldn't cause a problem, only 20W is involved. Done it a few times myself but I do have led's in the front sidelights.
If I want the doors open for extended periods for cleaning etc I simply plug in a 7A battery charger which keeps things going until I shut the car up.
An alternative to the battery charger is a battery isolating switch which if used ensures the battery is in a charged state at the end of whatever you are doing.
A battery isolating switch would also be extremely useful when leaving the car for a couple of weeks, even at an airport. Granted using such a switch would disable the alarm and immobiliser but given the car would be locked I can't see this being a problem. I have a battery isolating switch on mine which has proved useful.

I've had the exact same problem with a battery I bought last November. I've just had it checked out today at a local battery specialist but they have given it a clean bill of health. No dead cells, it's charged up ok, good cranking rate, etc., etc.. I know the alternator is ok too, as I have temporarily fitted the old battery and it's working a treat - probably didn't need to buy a new one in the first place

I have done loads of work over the last month or so on the RR fitting an Intravee, a retrofit Bluetooth and a MK4 Sat Nav and the combination of fitting/testing those out, along with having the doors/tailgate open and the interior lights on, eventually took it's toll on the new battery. I recommend you get the battery checked at a specialist as they'll give it a proper test. You might find, like me, that it just needs a damn good charge. I've got a 100AH battery and was told (this morning) that if it ever went flat again, I'd need to charge it for a minimum of 20 hours using an 8A or 10A charger. That should get it back up to full charge. As yours is a 110A, you'll need at least a 10A or preferably a 12A charger.

Hope that helps  Cheers

Greg

Go ahead punk, make my day........

Previous vehicles:-
Far too many to list (in excess of 45!)

guys, i know this probably wont stop a major drain, but Dan1984uk put a second little battery in the rear right under floor compartment (where the removable tow hook goes) to supplement his main battery, and as i now have his car, I can tell you I never have any probs at all, even when the lights are left on or the car is left immobile for an extended period.

Maybe he can be invited out of retirement (I know you're watching somewhere Dan!!) and let us know how he did it.

I will try and get some pics up tomorrow.

Sounds like a top tip Cheers

Greg

Go ahead punk, make my day........

Previous vehicles:-
Far too many to list (in excess of 45!)

since fitting my new battery I too can leave the car parked up at the airport car park for 2 weeks at a time and have no issues leaving anything open/on during a valet etc. Is your battery under warranty still?

Dolphin, wouldn't mind a few pics of that install.

I have also thought about a kill switch but fear it could do more harm than good, where is the ideal location?

It's got a 5 yr warranty from euro car parts so I'll keep my eye on it and see how it goes. Started this morning no problems after standing for a couple of days so I don't think there's anything majorly wrong

Flat again - just waiting for the RAC

Still think you should get the alternator checked...  Graham

____
Gone: 10MY L320 RR Sport HSE, Ipanema Sand
Gone: 20MY Jaguar iPace HSE, Silicon Silver
Gone: 17MY RR Evoque SE Tech, Loire Blue
Gone: 08MY Discovery 3 XS, Stornoway Grey
Gone: 07MY FFRR TDV8 Vogue, Stornoway Grey

I won't rule it out, but it's putting 14v into the battery when it's running, so I don't think it's that.