Pathetic Aston Martin

Pathetic Aston Martin

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rick-dms-

1,105 posts

186 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
There is a jump point under the bonnet on the V8 Vantage, bonnet release catch is in the passenger footwell under the glove box, once this is powered up then boot release and glovebox will work, the conditioner is only really for keeping battery topped up but not really suitable for rechargeing a flat battery, don't forget you may need to reset seats and windows, if you require more comprehensive help and instructions just let me know,

iluvmercs

7,541 posts

226 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
How odd!

Dad went to use his Aston yesterday and the battery was dead - admittedly after 7 weeks or no use.
His is a DB9, and also a jump start point under the bonnet - although only a "+ve" terminal. You have to earth the "-ve" (they recommend to the alternator). Apparently it only needs a run of about 20 miles to fully charge the battery!

Despite the flat battery, the boot still opened on Dad's car. He was told today (by an Aston dealer) that the battery conditioner will actually charge the battery, too. There's a switch under one of the front seats that you flick to switch off the car's electrics. Plug in the conditioner over-night, and the car will be charged.
HTH
I'm afraid I can't help with the manual boot release, though.

Darren

Edited by iluvmercs on Monday 23 March 22:16

Murph7355

37,648 posts

255 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
From inside the car you should be able to remove the parcel shelf. This'll give you access to the boot and either the charge point and/or the manual boot release (think there's a glow in the dark one in the boot area in case the person you transport in there needs to get out).

Not that it helps, but mine will go at least 3 weeks without being on a conditioner.

bogie

16,342 posts

271 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
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mmmm...definately no pattern here as mine has gone 7 weeks before ...admittedly starting a bit slow, but still starting none the less....

Tonto

2,983 posts

247 months

Tuesday 24th March 2009
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Why not use the socket in the cabin to charge the car? That's what I use.

Soul Reaver

499 posts

191 months

Tuesday 24th March 2009
quotequote all
coyft said:
Why Aston can't make a car that doesn't need plugging in every time you leave it for a week or two is beyond me. Anyhow my battery is flat yet again, the boot release is electronic (where the input for the battery conditioner is), the glovebox (where my manual is) is electronic so I'm unable to open the boot to plug it in or open the glovebox to read the manual to tell me how to open the friggin boot argghhhhh. Can anyone tell me where the manual release is for the boot?
It's all a matter of physics ol chap smile

The car uses electricity to power the clock, the gps tracker and the alarm. There is not a battery on earth that could power those items continuously without needing to be trickle fed. So not really an Aston issue more an issue with the way the universe is made up smile

williamp

19,213 posts

272 months

Tuesday 24th March 2009
quotequote all
'twas always thus. If I dont disconnect the battery on my 1971 aston, the battery goes flat- they even had a battery osilator switch fitted as standard in everything from the DB4 onwards.


steve_amv8

1,886 posts

209 months

Tuesday 24th March 2009
quotequote all
My battery happily goes for at least four weeks and probably more (not let it fo that long!) ... but if you leave the car for a prolonged period then you should really use the isolator switch in the boot. It's all in the manual ...


rick-dms-

1,105 posts

186 months

Tuesday 24th March 2009
quotequote all
has your car got a bluetooth module as these have a none concern with high battery drain,

rick-dms-

1,105 posts

186 months

Tuesday 24th March 2009
quotequote all
hi i would think from the timescale that yes there is a battery drain, as part of a service battery drain is tested and recorded on the service sheet, so either the dealer or specialist will have the equipment to test this,

Soul Reaver

499 posts

191 months

Wednesday 25th March 2009
quotequote all
coyft said:
Soul Reaver said:
coyft said:
Why Aston can't make a car that doesn't need plugging in every time you leave it for a week or two is beyond me. Anyhow my battery is flat yet again, the boot release is electronic (where the input for the battery conditioner is), the glovebox (where my manual is) is electronic so I'm unable to open the boot to plug it in or open the glovebox to read the manual to tell me how to open the friggin boot argghhhhh. Can anyone tell me where the manual release is for the boot?
It's all a matter of physics ol chap smile

The car uses electricity to power the clock, the gps tracker and the alarm. There is not a battery on earth that could power those items continuously without needing to be trickle fed. So not really an Aston issue more an issue with the way the universe is made up smile
Really old chap, funny that 'cause none of my other cars need trickle charging if I leave them for a week or two. Perhaps they live in a parallel universe where the laws of physics don't apply.
I would guess your's has some other drain issues as you state as I left my AMV8 for 5 weeks whilst in the states and it started no problem on my return. I did hit the button in the boot mind you which turns some things off I think.

Mark.

Edited by Soul Reaver on Wednesday 25th March 12:53

Pugsey

5,813 posts

213 months

Wednesday 25th March 2009
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Coyft. Bad luck mate. Is yours a fairly early car? If so there was a fairly common problem whereby the door sensors/locks constantly drain power. Only takes a couple of days to drain the battery. Get them checked - Aston dealer should know what you're talking about as it was common early on and it's an easy fix - apparently.

timhum

154 posts

182 months

Wednesday 25th March 2009
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I had a similar issue with my 2007 4.3, turned out to be the tracking system that was the cause. This was changed and problem disappeared.

Tim

oops

11 posts

279 months

Monday 30th March 2009
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Everyone appears to be discussing AMV8s (I think), but are there similar known issues with the DB9 ?

rick-dms-

1,105 posts

186 months

Monday 30th March 2009
quotequote all
There are a couple of items that can cause unexpected high battery drain on both the V8 Vantage and the DB9 and there are fixes for both, one being the bluetooth modules and the other door modules, also in the us i believe it it the sdars that can cause a battery drain problem, one other point is car batteries do not respond well to being discharged and recharged this in itself can damage batteries and severely shorten there life, If anybody wants i will do a pdf with details on battery care, charging and resetting windows etc in the event of a flat battery.

Just as a point Aston Martin are one of the very few manufactures that test battery drain as part of the standard service, so these faults can/are sorted out, so if you look at your last service sheet the reading should be on there,as with any computerised systems there can be gremlins caused by interference, non standard accessories, software programming errors, just look at the updates for your computer as errors come to light updates are made available, this is the same with cars, annoying but true,

Edited by rick-dms- on Monday 30th March 22:21

UH-Matt

2,172 posts

239 months

Tuesday 31st March 2009
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Heard about this when buying mine and insisted the dealer threw in a battery conditioner..

Have left her for 2 weeks, twice now, both times no need to be plugged in and started first click on my return...

XXXAngelXXX

1,711 posts

227 months

Tuesday 31st March 2009
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as Rick mentioned its just a software update - i had it done on my former V8V Roadster...

NDA

21,485 posts

224 months

Tuesday 31st March 2009
quotequote all
If you have a tracker fitted, this will add to the drain...

Unless they're daily drivers, I leave all mine on trickles.

Murph7355

37,648 posts

255 months

Wednesday 1st April 2009
quotequote all
NDA said:
If you have a tracker fitted, this will add to the drain...

Unless they're daily drivers, I leave all mine on trickles.
Shouldn't need it though.

I have a tracker, bluetooth, doors (smile) and can leave mine for a good while not on trickle.

Either the battery's buggered or there's excessive drain. And whilst it may be possible to detect the latter's happening, I suspect finding the root cause will be tricky.

froggie

896 posts

241 months

Wednesday 1st April 2009
quotequote all
i would try sticking an amp meter in line and pull the fuses one by one until the current drops should find the drain(s) afer having the battery checked out.(on my old cerbra it was the lambda sensor pulling the battery down)