i had similar problems on swambo's merc as we did not use the car on a regular basis. sometimes the car did not want to start, other times it seemed sluggish,etc. i bought a trickle charger, put the battery on it for 2 days and voila! after that treatment its been working since. must add that the vehicle is mostly used in town for total of about 8 kms per day.

someone on the forum already suggested asking the dealer to put the battery on charge before collecting the car

just something else, the other day i bought batteries for my camera - when i put it in it was totally flat, which shows that it is not only car batteries that do that.

Noticed what I think is an issue with 'timed climate' on our MY11 vehicle now too.

OH uses car almost daily in the week for regular commute to work and this is enough to keep battery topped up-ish. I.e it's @40 miles each way.

But when the car is parked up at home I've noticed on a few occasions the car seems to be buzzing away quite happily...I.e making a noise form what I can only assume is tbe timed climate.

And I definitely have timed climate set to 'off'. And yesterday after I'd started and moved the car around on the drive a few times I did get the dreaded 'low battery' warning on tbe dash.

Thoughts? Is there something else in the settings I can disable?

Will stick on charger. Tried it yesterday but the cig lighter sockets aren't live when the car is engine off so will try and work out how to attached to normal terminals

Well after my visit to the workshop on Thurs and reporting it on here on Friday, we took the car away for the weekend to Newcastleton - about 11/2 hours away and over 65 miles.

Jumped in this morning and the low battery start vehicle was on again.

Returned home and off for the new battery tomorrow but I think there is a more serious problem than just the battery. Since I picked the RR up on 1st March I have now done over 1260 miles so it can't really be a charging issue as my trips are not short etc.

Will contact the dealer tomorrow again as the repair ctr is not at the dealers so need to keep them informed.

We did not use the pre-heater today so think the battery is goosed - let's see what tomorrow brings  "UNDERSTEER" ----is when you hit the fence with the front of the car.
"OVERSTEER" ------is when you hit the fence with the rear of the car.
"HORSEPOWER" ----is how fast you hit the fence.
"TORQUE" -----------is how far you take the fence with you.

Tomw2000 wrote:

Noticed what I think is an issue with 'timed climate' on our MY11 vehicle now too.

OH uses car almost daily in the week for regular commute to work and this is enough to keep battery topped up-ish. I.e it's @40 miles each way.

But when the car is parked up at home I've noticed on a few occasions the car seems to be buzzing away quite happily...I.e making a noise form what I can only assume is tbe timed climate.

And I definitely have timed climate set to 'off'. And yesterday after I'd started and moved the car around on the drive a few times I did get the dreaded 'low battery' warning on tbe dash.

Thoughts? Is there something else in the settings I can disable?

Will stick on charger. Tried it yesterday but the cig lighter sockets aren't live when the car is engine off so will try and work out how to attached to normal terminals

jez000 wrote:

This sounds the same as my problems, I had a software update done to the HVAC system last week to stop the fans from running, before the update I could pop out to the car to get something ,not even start the car and the fans would kick in.

This is exactly what ours does. Just unlocking the car starts the fans/blowers going.

Will get it booked in.

She seemed to happily take a full charge off the battery conditioner overnight. But just removing the charger, started the fans going again this monring!?>!??!

I refer to my previous post.

Insist on a new Gel battery, software updates and new BMM. (battery monitoring module)

This should save a lot af time and hassle.

As for a battery "bedding in", what a load of rubbish. If that was the case, every car in the world would have the same problem !!

Have booked the vehicle in. Mon 11th....

Anyway they did say all the relevant updates _should_ have been done as part of the PDI.

Hmmmm.

obviously am trying to liaise to get it seen sooner. But I'm sure many of you have the same problems as the wife and I....we're at work in the week and not able to drive around willy nilly dropping cars in.

Hey ho.

Won't they come and collect it? My local dealer will do this even though I didn't buy the car from them. They don't leave a loaner though and I'm 17 miles from the dealership and a £7.50 bus journey each way away. 2018 Mini Countryman Cooper S E All4 PHEV in Melting Silver - it’s whisper quiet in EV and polluter modes

Gerrard, sorry but don't agree regarding new batteries and not "bedding in" - well I'd say initial conditioning of battery.


"When first installing a newly purchased battery a "top up" charge at a low rate with an external battery charger (available at auto parts stores) may maximize battery life and minimize the load on the vehicle charging system. The top-up charge can be considered complete when the terminal voltage is just above 15.1 V DC. 15 V DC is the voltage level where any sulfation that may be present is driven from the plates back into the electrolyte solution. A new battery can have some sulfation even though it has never been in service."


It's not essential and can get a battery up to spec without this. My personal take is that the RR has large engine options requiring a large crank to turn over and get started, and the diesel is the worst of the bunch. This has a major drain on the battery. Also there are a LOT of toys in the RR that all drain the juice very happily.

Reason every car in the world does not have this problem is because it's not a critical process and most cars have far less drain and smaller engines.

Why do large lories with big diesels have multiple batteries (often 2, sometimes even more), this is just to get the engine cranked. I'd personally place the RR at the high end of the scale in terms of required crank power.

Anyway, it's only my opinion and probably a load of rubbish, there you go...

Still agree there is a bigger problem in this case too, but think the above certainly isn't helping either. Interesting if you could take the duff battery and put it in a smaller, less demanding car and see what happened.

Oh and just to really draw this out as far as I can. To run the tos without the engine the cars are fitted with the wrong type of battery, need a leisure battery, like on caravans, boats etc. These don't mind being discharged and recharged often due to plate design. A car battery offers much greater power to start the engine but shouldn't be dischraged fully/often as only takes a few times and it's cooked as the plates are thin and easily damaged. Yet another reason to start with fully charged battery ? ? ? ?!

Tim in Scotland wrote:

Won't they come and collect it? My local dealer will do this even though I didn't buy the car from them. They don't leave a loaner though and I'm 17 miles from the dealership and a £7.50 bus journey each way away.

Well, new battery fitted and the service guy told me that whilst it may not be "fully" charged it was dry charged when they got it so is ok the just use as normal.

Got a decent run tomorrow both ways so it should be fully charged and as such I will report on it on Wed when I will regardless of weather be using the pre-heater to see what happens

Going to the dealers on Thrus to see what they say and if on Wed she comes up with the expected "Low Battery" etc will start the rejection process as having a battery that starts the vehicle but wont run the pre-heater is not IMO what I bought  "UNDERSTEER" ----is when you hit the fence with the front of the car.
"OVERSTEER" ------is when you hit the fence with the rear of the car.
"HORSEPOWER" ----is how fast you hit the fence.
"TORQUE" -----------is how far you take the fence with you.

good luck jasper..  ... - .- -.




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Scene247, You have a great knowledge of batteries. You appear to be accepting the dealers reason for the fault. I hope you don't have too many breakdowns in the future !

Remind yourself how much you paid for the vehicle.

I've had a number of large engine petrols and diesels, from new, with loads of extras and this is the first time I have experience such a fault.

LR have accepted the issue and have resolved it.

Good luck

cheers Gerrard.

I've not accepted anything as I've not had a problem. The dealer didn't tell me any of this info and make it an excuse. I was simple using deductive powers to offer up a suggestion, not necessarily correct or even relevent.

I agree totally that there is an expectation a new car should work straight away without a hiccup or having to compromise. I also agree and feel that there is certainly a problem, whether it is specific to individual vehicles, or the entire model range or even just a bad design (i.e. not having a meaty enough battery and alternator to run all the toys).

As stated in another thread somewhere, I feel for those who are experiencing issues and hope they get them sorted soon so full enjoyment can be had of, IMO, a brilliant car. I now consider myself lucky to be an early adopter of the MY2011 FFRR as mine is great, seems the more recent ones are suffering.

(oh, and also think that LR should think of every scenario and use some magic battery so people can sit in the car with every device on and not have to run the engine to charge, ever! - this last bit is a joke.)

scene247 wrote:

(oh, and also think that LR should think of every scenario and use some magic battery so people can sit in the car with every device on and not have to run the engine to charge, ever! - this last bit is a joke.)