Had to call LR Assist this morning!

Hello folks, long time no see! I'm still loving my Evoque, just haven't had a lot to report until today!

My car started 'ok' at home this morning but with the benefit of hindsight I have to admit it did sound slightly ropey! Anyhow, my tyre pressure warning came on so I decided to stop for fuel and sort my tyre pressures out at the same time. I filled up and on returning to my car it would not start! Dead as a Dodo!

I rang LR Assist and played the 'puppy card'! We have a new 12 wk old Puggle pup and the car was getting very cold very quickly so I obviously informed LR Assist of this I was advised they would be with me within 40 minutes and they were. To be fair they would have been with me a lot quicker but there are some major roadworks close to where I broke down which held him up but he still arrived within the time frame. He tested my battery which turned out to be completely flat, jump started my car and we then headed off for the quiet end of Tesco's car park where he carried out a number of tests on my battery which all came back as 'good'?!

So we were quickly on our way, had to take a detour to make sure I gave the car a good run and fingers crossed all is well! My car is due it's second service anytime soon so I will get it booked in sooner rather than later.

On another note, thanks to the top tip of using 'gutter guards' to make a dog guard for the car. Hubby did it for me yesterday, two and a bit pieces of gutter guard and some black plastic ties, great job!

Ali

Good to "see" you back again Ali even if it is after a "distress". Has your car had the BMS software upgrade? It is also known as the Stop/Start upgrade which won't apply to your Si4, but it is a bundled upgrade. Made a big difference to my battery's ability to hold charge in cold weather.

(25-11-2013 03:40pm)XFullFatTim Wrote:  Good to "see" you back again Ali even if it is after a "distress". Has your car had the BMS software upgrade? It is also known as the Stop/Start upgrade which won't apply to your Si4, but it is a bundled upgrade. Made a big difference to my battery's ability to hold charge in cold weather.

Hi Tim!

I'll survive my drama - but only just

No I don't think it has had that upgrade as the last time mine was in the dealership was Dec '12 and I am guessing that the software upgrade is a more recent thing?!?! I'll mention it to the Service Manager when I get my service done - thanks.

A flat battery can never be a good battery. Especially since it got hammered enough so it couldn't start your car. Also have an Si4 (USA so, of course) and the first sign of battery trouble (two minute warning instead of the 10 or 15) my dealer did one, single test: load test. Fail. If it fails a load test, the other tests are meaningless. Battery is shot. My car already had the software upgrade to improve charging, but it was too late to save the battery. So they gave me a new battery. And, this was within the first week of ownership.

alibeau did say it underwent tests and they came back as good... not much else rather than a load test can be done, so it's hopefully fine. depends how flat it was drained.

Does sound like you need Q261 Stop/Start and Other updates applied Alibeau.

Best mention the Battery issue at service and get them to retest the Battery just to be sure, no harm in getting a new one if you can.

(25-11-2013 05:58pm)PhilSkill Wrote:  alibeau did say it underwent tests and they came back as good... not much else rather than a load test can be done, so it's hopefully fine. depends how flat it was drained.

Does sound like you need Q261 Stop/Start and Other updates applied Alibeau.

Best mention the Battery issue at service and get them to retest the Battery just to be sure, no harm in getting a new one if you can.

I don't believe the Q261 is applicable for the Si4, even though it shows up on TopiX. What I'm suggesting is... based on experience you folks have related about UK shops on this thread... have someone else test the battery. Or, you can do it yourself. Yes, I'm skeptical of the dealer's test. (BTW, there are plenty of other tests that can be done to measure a battery's health. AFTER it gets a clean load test).

Look at it this way. When you begin the load test the battery -- resting -- should be about 12.6 + (ish) volts. When load is applied, most battery mechanics will say if it then drops below 12 volts (11. anything) it's shot. Some will use a different measure: if it drops below 10 volts (9. anything) it's shot. Since fleet vehicle battery devices used to preserve out of use vehicles all cut out at 11. anything, that's likely the best standard. My car had never left me stranded, never been slow to start; I just got a two minute warning when running the radio. It then failed a load test.

Agree with you Scrannel, my 1st battery showed all the tests as fine, 3 months later LR Assist came out to look at no power again and decided that even though the tests all showed good results in fact the battery was shot. Like me Ali has a relatively early car and LRA replaced my battery with a new type that was being fitted on the production line to cars built after March 2012. Combination of the 2nd battery and the BMS upgrade and I never had another issue.

The LR Assist chappy did seem rather baffled as the battery was near on dead when he arrived and so after he had jump started 'me' he expected to find a fault or drain of some type but didn't. He showed me the read outs, tested and tested again a few more times and even talked me through 'acceptable' drain usage blah blah blah but found nothing wrong. By this point I was so cold I just wanted to get going He said he was unable to give me a new battery unless the reports stated my current one was goosed.....

Anyway, as I say, the car is going in for a service in the next week or two so I will make sure it is properly assessed! It's the first battery problem I've had but if it should happen again I will definitely be asking for a new one!

Thanks guys!

Ali

Hopefully alls well and this little hiccup will be forgotten, and once you have the updates you should be fine, but if you're unlucky enough to suffer again, make sure you tell them its not the first time as each time will weaken the battery depending how far it gets discharged!

Im pretty sure the software update fixes an issue that stops the intelligent charging system from charging correctly which allows it to drop below a safe starting voltage as youre driving and so the battery monitoring software determines its not ok to start next time you try. Thats why these seem to come on quite suddenly and intermittently, and are not always (but can also be) related to a faulty battery.

I've never had a battery problem, and have recently had the battery software upgrade, so hopefully never will. However, I have had battery problems on my boat, and took them to a battery specialist for a CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) test. Instead of the old-style (and potentially battery-damaging) short-circuit test they used to perform, they now have a sophisticated electronic meter that does the test. If you have doubts about your battery, it may be worth having this test done. You don't have to take it out of the car (I had to take them out as the battery place was inland!) and, unlike the LR dealership, they have a vested interest in selling batteries, so will err on the pessimistic side when it comes to the result. (I was also able to see the readout myself, and could compare it to the original CCA). I should add that the test was free.