Flat Battery - Again

My car would not start on Monday morning and I had to call out Land Rover Recovery.

The technician who came out (eventually) plugged in his laptop and told me the car's software had ordered the alternator to only put out 50% of the required charge. He told me he had adjusted it and 'it should be fine now'.

I mentioned the afore mentioned situation with listening to the radio with the engine switched off and he told me Land Rover were well aware of the problem and all Evoques were to be recalled to 'have the software updated.

No recall issued here yet.

Would be useful if we did get a recall as we are entering the time of year when our batteries are taking a lot of punishment.

Got in mine tonight after 1 week stood in a cold, windy, damp open car park, was left double locked through all the torrential rain, was a bit misted up on inside of windscreen... but it started on the button, with slight delay for the heater coils, ran with Max for a couple of minutes to clear windscreen, then after 5 mins of 40mph driving stopped at traffic lights and start/stop cut in, so nothing wrong with the battery or charging as such!

Just been out in the cold because of a dead battery, thankfully not on the Evoque but my brothers transit van (again) wouldn't bump start and we had no jump leads. Evoque to the rescue, only option was to tow it as it was sitting in a awkward place after a couple of failed bump starts, must admit it was an awesome sight, a little Evoque with this big transit hooked up on the rear, not something I would attempt too often though.

It was -4c here at 9:00am when I shuffled the cars on my drive. both cars have only travelled down the length of my drive today................ here are the cold weather comparisons:
The Evoque's front and rear screens cleared very quickly (in about 40 seconds) - had to use de-icer spray on the side windows but what has impressed me is NO CONDENSATION on the inside of the panoroof whatsoever despite the outside of the glass being well covered with hoare frost whereas my Defender has icicles hanging down from the sunroof surround and frozen water drops all over the inside of the glass, ready to drip straight down the back of the front seat occupant's neck! Defender has a new battery but it definitely wasn't happy to turn the engine over despite 3 cycles of the glow plugs - Evoque's glow plug light took about 15 secs to go out and the engine fired first press of the button. No sign of any drips from the pano-roof on the Evoque's leather armchairs, the Defender's Gortex seat covers were soaking by midday and I had to go and sponge it before I drove it, also despite cleaning the inside of the windscreen my breath inside the car immediately refroze on the screen rendering the front screen useless until there was luke warm air in the ventilation system. And one small point in favour of the Evoque on a frosty morning - no need to thaw out the locks - couldn't even get the key into the Defender's lock without huffing and puffing into them to thaw out the condensation that has frozen inside them overnight................ thank goodness things have moved on since 1996 when my 90 was built! Defender is now tucked away in it's big shed for the winter - it will still get cold in there but it won't freeze up.
The temperature has not been above -1c all day outside here and as my drive is totally in the shade all day at this time of the year neither car really thawed out all day long although part of the Defender's dark green paint must have insolated a bit of heat during the day as no frost left on the outside of it by 3:30pm

Real sign of how cold it has been was that this afternoon as I was sat in my lounge I had a Great Spotted Woodpecker come to the bird feeder on the tree in front of the house - I have never seen one in my garden before but have heard them tapping on the trees on the common behind my house in the summer

-4 here last night, hasn't got much warmer through the day. The Evoque took a bit longer than normal but fired up no problem, unlike my brothers van . The transit was once described as the back bone of Britain, I wouldn't take one if given it for nothing, it's been trouble since day one and Fords customer service makes LR look fantastic.

Only -2 here this morning, and no issues with battery again. We have our service next week. Only thing I have noticed recently is when starting the car a message appears on the screen between the dials stating a fault but the message disappears before I can read it. thinks it 'Exx Fault'.

Not sure what it relates too but aside from that the car was fine this morning - had the heated steering wheel + seats on for the whole commute!

---

Out of curiosity is there a way to check the history of fault messages that appear when starting the car?

My car has died, appears to be the problem being discussed here, my car is showing all the same symptoms. Land Rover techy coming in the morning, not at all happy really this is a 40k car, very disappointing. Will see what they say in the morning.

(29-11-2012 08:28pm)Alex Wrote:  Only -2 here this morning, and no issues with battery again. We have our service next week. Only thing I have noticed recently is when starting the car a message appears on the screen between the dials stating a fault but the message disappears before I can read it. thinks it 'Exx Fault'.

Not sure what it relates too but aside from that the car was fine this morning - had the heated steering wheel + seats on for the whole commute!

---

Out of curiosity is there a way to check the history of fault messages that appear when starting the car?

Alex,

I have passed 23k miles now since Dec and a few times on a start up over the months, I have seen flash up between the dials for a split second ' gearbox fault' and then disappear, so I have called out LR Roadside Assistance and they have plugged in their laptop to search for error codes etc, and they found nothing!!

So I would think that your 'Exx Fault' you are seeing for a split second is the same as mine above, so I would advise that your dealer, or LRA check your car for any errors..I have never felt the slightest gearbox problem over the mileage that my car has done to date.

I regularly get that fault showing up momentarily on start up too. Never been bothered by it...........