Battery issues

[Zaaboot]

Hello people - hoping someone can help.

I went away for a few weeks and came back and the car staretd fine - my wife had started it twice a week and kept it runninf for 5 minutes just to keep it good in the heat.

On Sunday I drove to Hatta and came back, on the way back there was a massive sand storm and it lashed down with rain, as expected to dramas and get home and parked, the next morning the battery was totally dead, i had to open the car with the key, not the zapper - I jumped it from my other car and it was fine. I stopped to get petrol after an 30 minute drive and it was totally dead again after the refuel.

Jumped it at the petrol station and went on my way, drove for an hour on the basis the alternator would get it back to where it should be.

Went away for a day, came back, out of curiosity, tried to start it and it is totally dad again, tried jumping it, and nothing - it wont even jump.

Has anyone had this before, is it just the battery or could it also be the alternator?

Where is the best place to get this checked out? Or somewhere that will come to me as i cannot get it started.

Need to get it sorted asap as it is the family car, my other car is far too small for the kids seats.

Thanks

Z

[joyfulrog]

Presumably your are driving a Land Rover. My insurance company AXA checks faulty batteries free of charge. Alternatively, AAA or Al Tayer, or indeed any reputable battery supplier will check the battery's current (Amps) rating.

Batteries subjected to high ambient temperatures tend to have a short life span, 18 months to 2 years. They have a tendency to go dead without warning. I wrote to Varta in Germany and they confirmed this. A replacement is normally required, and it is best not to skimp on cost.

It has happened to me on two or three occasions.

[Zaaboot]

Thanks Joyfulrog. Indeed I have the last model LR3.

As I needed it so badly, I went to a garage in Al Quoz and bought the best one I could find - cost was not an issue as it is the family ride. It started immediately after change - I took the old battery along with me when buying the new one and the garage said it had completely died - so at least it is not a major issue

Cheers

Z

[KimChance]

Hi Zaaboot,

Joyfulrog's advice sounds spot on to me. It sounds like one of the battery cells had completely collapsed so it was just sitting there doing nothing basically, no matter how much charge you fed it, it was never going to give anything back. When you jump started it you completed the circuit from the donor battery and from then on after you disconnected the leads you were running on your alternator output. Only solution is a new battery, you had no other options.

[basra]

Nice read, everyone. Now its my turn, took couple of attempts to start this morning and again on my way back same. Could be battery dying or on its way. Thanks for this post.

[KimChance]

Hi Basra,

It could be that your battery is on the way out depending on its age, but if a cell collapses the battery tends to die without any warning just as Zaaboot experienced. In your case your electrical system is at least giving you some warning so the problem isn't necessarily the battery, it might be, but there are other possible causes.

First step is to get an auto electrician to check your battery and also your alternator output. Bosche alternators rarely fail but it is cheap and easy to check if they are giving full performance, it could be that one of your diodes has failed which would mean that you are getting some charge but much less than you should.

If that all checks out OK think about your main earth lead that runs between the battery's negative terminal and earth (either the chassis or the engine block). If the earth lead connections look clean externally that does not mean you are getting a full current flow. I have seen earth connections on a Disco 2 where the return to earth was made by a zinc plated connection bolted to the alloy engine block. Zinc and aluminium don't get on well together and even though the connection looked clean there was a very faint layer of corroded material between the two. I polished the corrosion off with emery paper and reconnected the lead still thinking I had wasted my time...... the engine started immediately! This came after wasting half a day trying to track down the cause of the problem.

Earth problems are sometimes (but not always) signalled by strange behaviour by other electrical functions, your security system may do something different for example or your indicators may flash as hazard lights. This is caused by current attempting to return to earth through any available route because it can't return through the main earth lead due to insulating corrosion.

A visit to an auto electrician is highly recommended, especially if he is a Bosche specialist.

Good luck!

[basra]

Thanks Kim, you are really thorough and experienced LR expert. This Land Rover community and you all really rocks with so much of ready information and little secrets to look out for. Especailly this earth issue explanation is a real eye opener and hard to guess.

I will visit the good workshop in Al quoz area this evening, so that i can get good electrician and mechanic in one place. Any recommendation guys.