[Damo]

Hi All,

I'm having issues and would really appreciate some opinions with this.

I have a 2002 V8 which had a flat battery a few months ago and the alarm went off 2am and woke the neighborhood. I disconnected the battery and charged it next day. Same thing again and again until one day I heard the navigation CD unit going when the car was off. I took out the CD and saw it was scratched through long term use. I figured the unit was trying to load it unsuccessfully and constantly which caused the drain.
Charged battery yet no good so I bought a new battery and though I was ok. A few weeks later, flat again, waving to the neighbours at 3am.
I have had it in to an auto electricians who said they found leakage at a fuse and after discussing it with a Landrover mechanic (there isn't one where I live) decided to disconnect the navigation unit. Apparently it stopped the leakage but when reconnected the leakage still wasn't present. They were told the screen wouldn't work with it disconnected although it still did too. Anyway they gave me the car back with it disconnected and after 24 hours, battery is dead. Again!

Any ideas? I'm not sure if it is relevant but I do have an 'AIR SUSP INACTIVE' message on the dash which has been there since I fitted a trailer a few months ago. The suspension whilst not operable by me, is up and level.

Please help!

Damo.

 

[srgsaibot]

First thing I would change out is the final stage resistor , Very common part to fail which causes the heater blower to run when the car is shut down and flaten the battery pretty quick . When mine went battery would be flat over night.

You would do your self well to do a bit of searching on this forum as there are already a lot of posts about this topic.

 

[Damo]

Hi,

I did do some searching here and read about the resistor. I also made sure to mention it at the auto electricians to get them to check it. I'll give them a call and see what they say about it.

Cheers,
Damo.

 

[Damo]

OK, I rang them up and they checked out the Final Stage Resistor and said it was ok. They said the problem was intermittent and if it were the resistor it would either have failed or still be ok so they ruled it out on that basis.

Any other ideas? Please.

Cheers,
Damo.

 

[gyrogypsy]

Whilst FSR is the logical candidate for this problem, and the garage have ruled this out (I don't believe a word so called "expert garages" tell me as I have always proven them wrong), you need to get them to check the following.

1. Battery voltage when car is off and key removed.
2. Battery voltage when car is running on idle (less than 800rpm)
3. Battery voltage when car is running over 1500rpm

The above will determine if the alternator is working OK.

Next, using a DC clamp-meter (if they are auto electricians - they should have one!), measure the discharge current at the battery during these times.

1. Turn engine off, get out and lock the car. Measure the current drawn after this.
2. After 5 minutes, measure current again.
3. After a further 5 minutes measure current again.

If you still have a substantial current (ie greater than 500mA) being drawn after 15 minutes (when BCU goes to sleep - you can tell this when the gear selector lights go off), then something else is drawing load. The easiest thing to do is to pull fuses one by one and see if the current drops.

Do you have any other accessories plugged into the 12v outlets?
Any lights remaining on inside the car when locked?

If you can answer these questions then I can help more.

 

[Damo]

Great post, many thanks. I will be taking the car back in a day or so and will pass this info on.

I have nothing plugged in to any outlets and there are no lights on. 'The Air Susp. Inactive' message is the only thing out of the norm at present. It happened just before the battery drain issue. Is there any chance it could have anything to do with it?

Cheers,
Damo.

 

[gyrogypsy]

Could be an issue with the compressor relay. These are prone to problems - especially on older cars. The relay controls the compressor on/off, but unless you are having problems with the compressor (depends what is causing your Air Susp Inactive message) it is most likely OK. Is the car leveling itself? You will not be able to manually change the height, but if the car is leveling itself and you can hear the compressor cutting in and out then it is most likely OK. That being said, it is a $7 item to replace, so may not hurt. (it could be that the compressor is starting and stopping when the car is parked up and this would flatten the battery quickly!)

 

[dgelfuso]

Here are some threads that might help:
1. Water ingress causing nav CD to run all the time
http://www.rangerovers.net/forum/6-...y-drain-after-resistor-change.html#post293170
http://www.rangerovers.net/forum/6-...s-without-navigation-computer.html#post288852
http://www.rangerovers.net/forum/6-...nge-rover-mkiii-nav-led-stays.html#post288731
2. EAS
http://www.rangerovers.net/forum/6-...sion-inactive-fault-code-dash.html#post288743

Good luck

 

[L4FLIROP]

I tend to park and enter access mode that stops the car from repeatedly trying to maintain ride height when its parked for long periods. That solved my battery draw issue. Also when I park for long periods of time like at Airport Long term parking, I open hood and double lock the doors then Disconnect the battery and close the Hood. OK so yep the Alarm wont activate but who is going to pay any notice to it if it did go off. Besides that I come back after a trip and reconnect and I am able to drive off without needing to call AAA to give me a jump.

 

[srgsaibot]

OK, I rang them up and they checked out the Final Stage Resistor and said it was ok. They said the problem was intermittent and if it were the resistor it would either have failed or still be ok so they ruled it out on that basis.

Any other ideas? Please.

Cheers,


Damo.

From my Experience with the FSR problem it was intermittent. It would serve you well to find someone with Range Rover experience to work on your car.