Hi all,

Bought a battery from Tayna batteries (Yuasa 019 95Ah 850cca) and within 5 mins of shutting off the car I get a low battery warning, even after a 3+ hour drive.

Looks like the battery is duff - thoughts?

- With the engine running: 14.7v(IID vehicle batter voltage)
- Turn the engine off: drops to 12.5 then drops down slowly
- If I unlock and leave doors open for 5 minutes I get the battery low message. Can something drain the battery that quickly or is a battery issue?
- I can leave the car for a week and it will still start no problems, so doesn’t feel like anything is draining it when locked. I occasionally get the ‘click’ when trying to start - worse before the battery was replaced. New starter as well. 1995 4.6 v8, green/tan (long gone)
2005 4.8iS X5, blue/black
2011 4.4 tdv8, black/black (gone)
2003 3.0d X5, Oxford green/black/manual
2021 p575 SVR, BR green/vintage tan

Had a similar issue and it was the carbon brushes on my alternator. One was only just touching hence low voltages and battery going flat despite 100 mile round trips . The car is 18 years old though so was not totally unexpected

What is your charging voltage at idle and 2500rpm with load? If it starts at 13.5v or lower then rises with revs your alternator is on its way out... also the alternator can cause a large drain if the rectification circuit fails.

If you leave your iID in and drive you can monitor what is happening over a journey... should start high (14.7v~) then drop back over 20-40 mins to 13.8v approx.

Fully charge your battery (disconnected from the car) over 24hrs and check standing voltage after disconnecting the charge for an hour or so. Should read ~12.8v

Thanks, will try to get a better test as well. It had a new alternator 15k miles ago so hopefully not that! Here is a video I took a couple weeks ago. It’s at idle for the first 13 seconds then the engine is shut off (ignore the rpm at the top, not sure why it shows incorrectly). Rear calliper decided to seize this morning so that’s another thing on the list

 1995 4.6 v8, green/tan (long gone)
2005 4.8iS X5, blue/black
2011 4.4 tdv8, black/black (gone)
2003 3.0d X5, Oxford green/black/manual
2021 p575 SVR, BR green/vintage tan

ur20v wrote:

If you leave your iID in and drive you can monitor what is happening over a journey... should start high (14.7v~) then drop back over 20-40 mins to 13.8v approx.

coopss wrote:

Thanks, will try to get a better test as well. It had a new alternator 15k miles ago so hopefully not that! Here is a video I took a couple weeks ago. It’s at idle for the first 13 seconds then the engine is shut off (ignore the rpm at the top, not sure why it shows incorrectly). Rear calliper decided to seize this morning so that’s another thing on the list

coopss wrote:

Hi all,

Bought a battery from Tayna batteries (Yuasa 019 95Ah 850cca) and within 5 mins of shutting off the car I get a low battery warning, even after a 3+ hour drive.

Looks like the battery is duff - thoughts?

Caution to the OP.

The later 322s came with an AGM battery fitted. so a lead acid Yuasa will be unsuitable. the charging system works at different voltages than a standard battery and the car has a charge monitoring system, which won’t like a Lead acid being chucked in. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Siftah wrote:

Have you tried putting a multimeter onto the battery to see if it marries up with what the IIDTool is reporting? It could be the voltage sensor isn't reading correctly or there's a bad earth or similar giving you misleading readings? :\

Bl4ckD0g wrote:

My experience as well, until i had enough and exchanged it. But then the second Yuasa did it as well, I refused another exchange and got my money back. Bought a Bosch and had no more issues.

Worth a try - I know the IID Tool reports something like 12.2v for me when I see 12.5 or above across the batteries terminals.

That difference is quite a significant bit of charge, so it's worth checking for!

For what it's worth, I saw 12.2v reported by the IIDtool today with a *brand new* and freshly charged battery which had been sat at 12.9 volts resting before putting into the car, so the Gap tool is not to be trusted, IMHO, when it comes to battery voltages.

(And I should clarify, it's not "the gap tool", which is at fault - it's presumably just reporting what the ECU is telling it, rather than measuring the voltage. Even if the voltage at the OBD port is 12.2 it doesn't necessarily mean the battery voltage is the same! There's no replacement for getting a decent multimeter and measuring the voltage on the battery directly)

and don't rely on voltmeters!

digital meters in theory *should* all read the same but they don't. I've got 3 and they all give different readings even when sticking them on a constant voltage source such as an unloaded battery.

??? So how is one supposed to read voltage if one can’t rely on a volt meter

Man who has a watch, knows what time it is.

Man with three watches is never quite sure

When I’m in my kitchen I have no idea what time it is at all......

I have a clock, 2 ovens and a microwave..... all tell different times it could be as early as 9.30 or as late as 18.30 depending on which device I believe. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Hehehehe very good.