Hi

On several occasions over the last 12 months I have experienced a seemingly dead battery only minutes or hours after using my 2006 Td6. The most recent was today when, after returning from a 40-mile round trip late last night, found at 8:00am today that the car wouldn't start and I had to call the AA. They got it started immediately and commented that the battery was fully charged and was charging when the engine was running.

This suggests that the problem isn't with the 12-month old 110a Varta battery but something else? I've had both my independent LR specialist and an auto electrician look for the problem, without success, over the last 12 months. Any suggestions, please?

Thanks

Barry

Intermittent problems are the hardest to find and most often can only be traced when they are actually happening at the time or when they become permanent which is probably why you haven't had much luck with garages.

When it happens what are the symptoms on turning the key?
Nothing happens at all, no noises, no lights on the dash? Completely dead?
Any noises? (fuel pump, steering column unlocks etc. etc.)
Lights coming on the dash?
Tries to start but just won't turn over? (starter solenoid clicking)
Won't turn over quickly enough to start? (sluggish turning over)
Turns over fine but just won't start?

All seems fine when the key goes into the ignition. Lights all come on as expected, sat nav screen fires up etc etc. Then turn the key and not enough energy to even turn the engine, and all lights go out. Then nothing. Dead as a dodo!

If the battery is fine and it only intermittently does it then that is typical of a bad earth or bad positive connection somewhere.
The battery leads need to be checked for security and corrosion (remove, clean and refit). The earth connections also and the positive connections to the starter and condition of any of the cables as they could be failing internally.

The other possibility is an intermittent large drain which occurs when starting which could be a failing starter solenoid shorting to ground.

Hopefully if an Auto Electrician has looked at he would have checked all of the above and done some volt drop tests at the very least.

it could still be the battery ....i would do a drop test on it just to confirm theres no cells breaking down under load..its a process of elimination and the battery is a good place to start..

you can also check the earth and power leads for tightness and corrosion.. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

Many thanks for your invaluable help. That's my weekend's tasks sorted!

Best regards

Barry

Exactly the same thing happened to me last Thursday. Varta 110amp less then 3 months old and 200 mile, 40 mile and 35 mile trips on the preceding Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. Wasn't used on the Wednesday and would light up everything but not turn the starter on Thursday, Called out the 4th emergency service (I thought that was the coast guard) and the nice AA man said there was nothing wrong with the battery or any of the charging system so there must have been a drain. He jump started the ff and after running for 10 mins turned it off and checked - there was a 5.8 amp that slowly went down to 2.3 amp drain but then stayed at that for 15 mins until finally dropping to 0.4. One thing I do remember is a 'Tailgate not closed' error when I left the car on the Tuesday night and I didn't open and close it again - just pulled to one side of the release to check it was shut. Now - if it was showing an error, is it possible that something related to that was causing the drain? QUID FACIUM TIBI
ANTEQUAM ALIIS

2003 TD6 VOGUE Zambezi Silver
tows 2006 Lunar Delta 540/2

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one having these issues! There's so much electrical stuff on these that it's difficult to know where to begin looking.

But, I took the earlier helpful advice and cleaned the battery connections last weekend and, fingers crossed, no problems thus far. I am, however, now carrying my heavy duty battery pack just in case.

Cheers

Barry

Hi. Me again. Another (seemingly) dead battery today. Exactly the same circumstances and result as last time. The car worked fine yesterday and was then parked on the sloping drive overnight, with the bonnet slightly higher than the tail, in pouring rain. And, sure enough, no battery function. Jump started it and battery seems fine.

So, somehow (I guess) damp is getting into the electrics?

Many thanks

Barry

If it happens again, and you have access to a digital multimeter, you should have about 12.6 volts on a good battery. If it's about 12.4 or lower, your battery is not charged.
Plenty of YouTubes to check car battery voltages. It's not '12volts' it is specific, but easy to do.
Voltmeters are only about £10 or lower in places like aldi and Maplin.

Most auto factors - including ECP or Halfords will test a battery for you for free - I guess there is an expectation that you buy a new one from them if it's knackered, but you don't have to.

I removed mine & took it in, but I guess you could leave it fitted, just disconnect & ask them to test it in the car park

Please excuse my terminology on the subject, but when the same thing happened to my RR 2010 the fault was, according to the garage I got it from, a battery terminal lead that had a small black box on it that monitors the battery drain
Water was getting into the said black box and causing the fault described.
The lead was changed, and I ain't had a problem since !!
I can leave the car for weeks at a time and it starts fist push of the button !!
Bet that's tempted fate now I've said that
People's in the know i.e. other wise RR sages were sceptical, but it worked in.my case !!
Hope this helps

I think range rover batteries are just like everything range rover,not like any other motor out there .I personally think half the batteries fitted are unrequired and do not trust any battery test as most only want to sell you a battery anyway.The best way to test is fully charge it and leave it disconnected overnight or much longer if possible and it should hold full charge[ie,put a charger on and it should be full after only a minute or less] When the battery is low it will do all sorts of tricks but just one thing has always puzzled me.If you get any motor [older one anyway] and it has a totally flat battery,you can bumpstart it or jump it and only have to run it for a few minutes or a 5 minute run and it is almost certain to start ,not the Rangey!I left mine a whole week and it started to my amazement ,I drove it 5 minutes on the road and parked it up,came to it an hour later and Click...Flat,how do you explain that ?

When your car doesn't start try switching your headlights onto main beam and see if they light, if they do leave them on for a couple of minutes. If they work ok there's not much wrong with your battery.

Hi again

Had to call the AA again as my heavy duty jump starter couldn't help.

The AA reported "Non start, battery discharged 8.1volts Battery drain of 9.3amps, drain dropped to 2amps with battery pack connected. Boosted, charging at 14.1v -- 22amps rising 44amps battery recovering"

So, something was pulling 9.3 amps, even with the key out of the ignition, and all doors/windows closed. The AA guy couldn't explain why the drain fell to 2 amps when he connected his battery pack.

I mentioned earlier that the car had been sitting on a slope overnight with the bonnet slightly higher than the boot, in pouring rain, so I wonder if water was congregating in the boot (it's dry now, though) and creating the drain?

It sat on level ground last night, without rain, and started first time this morning.

Any thoughts, please?

Kind regards

Barry