My 2003 4.4V8 has had an unexplained battery discharge twice in the past week or so resulting in the RAC paying me a visit, once at the work car park and once to get the thing out of the garage. Quite a feat. The first time, the car had been left for three days and there was enough power to unlock it and move the steering column, just not enough to turn it over. RAC guy jumped it, let it run for ten minutes and checked the battery which was sitting at about 80% charge.

The second time, there wasn't enough power to either unlock the car or put on the interior light. It needed to be jumped just to disengage the ignition lock. After much pushing and shoving, another RAC guy got it going. He was an ex LR technician so gave it a thorough going over. He checked the alternator which was giving 11.7v at idle and not reaching the required 13-14v until it got to 2000rpm. I dumped the car at my specialist with the RAC report. They've had it for three days and have let it stand for 24 hours and it's started without a problem. Diagnostics indicate it's going to sleep as normal and behaving as normal. The alternator also tests normal even with a full load (all electrics on). I've asked them to keep it for the weekend and not touch it in any way until Monday to see if it fully discharges again.

Their only other suggestion was that it was waking up in response to other radio signals/radar/etc. A known problem with the P38 but not with the L322. When it's away from home, it's generally parked at an airport so that may be part of it. However, it's now done it inside the garage at home where it hasn't had a problem since I bought it a year ago.

Any ideas because if I can't rely on it to start every morning, it will have to go - and I like it.

i take it they checked for any battery drains?

Mine got a drain dealer cant trace why I'll live with it gonna fit a aux battery for the Winch

I guess they checked for drains. They said they'd given it a complete once-over. The ideal solution would be an auxiliary battery. Unfortunately, the LPG kit is where they'd fit it. Is there anything which typically causes a drain? The RAC bloke said a drain could even be something as simple as a lightbulb!

Sat Nav /tv and Tracker are two i have had

Good try. It's an HSE and doesn't have either.

Transport fuse 14 but I guess as its a 2003 theres no danger of that

Shagged Battery

Oh where have they fitted the LPG bits to get in the way. I'm thinking of the towball storeage area

You're probably right about the battery. If it wasn't stuffed before, it probably will be now. Good point about the LPG kit. I was thinking the battery would go in the spare wheel well somewhere so that may be an option now. Any more thoughts?

[quote="JW911"]You're probably right about the battery. If it wasn't stuffed before, it probably will be now. Good point about the LPG kit. I was thinking the battery would go in the spare wheel well somewhere so that may be an option now. Any more thoughts?

Hi JW,

I had exactly the same problem with my range. Flat battery every other day, went on for weeks. Then I found a very helpful chap at the local land rover dealership. He informed me that a range will never recover from a flat battery unless it is taken off the vehical the charged for 48 hours with a heavy dury charger. This sorted the problem, after all the other checks (alternator, battery, electrical fault etc) FAILED. They did this free of charge..

However, I noticed that occaisionally the steering column motor was making a noise, and I supect that it may have been getting stuck on, causing the battery to drain. I have now set it up not to move in and out, and touch wood...... not had a problem for a few months now.

I hope this helps..

Jonny 4.4 V8 Vogue Adriatic - Cream leather

Browsing and came across this

Range Rover HVAC Quiescent Battery Drain". Mark Johnson reports: "I had the battery drain problem. I believe the dealer said it was a cooling or air circulation fan in the battery or engine compartment area that was nor shutting off as it was supposed to. It is supposed to cooler the area after the engine shuts off and then shut down itself. Wasn't do the shutting down by itself part. After a bit of digging the dealer found that it was a known occasional problem that Rover was trying to find a remedy for."


Just went flat for no apparent reason after being in garage for 2 days. When to dealer first time, but they found no problems, they just recharge the battery. When it happen a second time, they noticed a wire in the battery system had come lose, causing battery to drain itself. They tightened and duct taped it up very well and since then, about 6 months of perfect battery!"



Update February 2005: Mark Pablo reports that in August 2004 "My dealer stated that this is a common problem with the '04 when I complained about the battery dying twice. The said that there was a software upgrade and a wiring harness change that they made, took less than an hour, I have only 3800 miles." Chris Gianniny confirms this information after talking to a L/R dealer in October 2004 who told him there is a TSB162 out to install a relay which will knock down the HVAC system from activating roughly every 20 minutes. "This has been a known case for battery drain over a couple of days. The effect that when opening doors I hear HVAC motors running is proper. It seems the relay kills any non-critical climate controls systems when the vehicle has been locked. I am in the process of trying to get a copy of the TSB and decide whether or not the cure is worse than the problem. Sounds like it is just a plug and play relay into the main wiring harness." Jeff Rualo reports the same problem -- after 3 days of no use the car would not start. In fact, after 2 days of no use, the battery would register a reading as low as 12 volts (when it should be 12.5+) and the car had a hard time starting. He confirms Land Rover issued a Service Action BD 162 v2 around February 2004 in which they diagnosed as a quiescent battery drain brought about by a fault in a relay in the HEVAC system. In Jeff's case the cure involved installing a relay and harness kit (YNI500040K) which took them about 3 hours to do.


I was told the electronics are so extensive on the car that it continually drains battery and that in a parking garage, each time someone of any car make hits a remote key, the Range Rover “wakes up” and drains more battery.

Thanks, Jonny. Sounds like the problem. Will mention the HVAC and TSB to my specialist as well.

started having the odd battery issue, always when i least needed it. Pre heater seemed to kill it off

Installed new battery and fine ever since. Batteries dont last forever either, your car is old enough to require a new one by now.

paid less than £100 for a new unit, not sure if the diesel needs bigger battery than the petrol. Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

New battery installed on Tuesday after minor gearbox issue (wouldn't change up beyond 2nd in auto - ok in manual). Everything now back to normal or so it would appear. If certain computers aren't getting enough voltage, they reset which can cause a few issues. Watch this space....

Just left it parked up for three days and it started first time with no problem whatsoever. Guessing the battery was mullered.