New(ish) car with failin non OEM battery fitted - Solutions?
Discussion
Hi
I have just encountered a bit of an issue and thought i'd bounce it off people here for thoughts.
My DS9 was a late June 22 reg date, apparently a part of a fleet order that fell through. When I bought the car 13 months later from Nissan Leicester I was told the lease co was a partner/ subsiduary of the group and they were offloading them. This was plausible, i saw some at other Nissan dealers, Scarborough springs to mind, and then a few were at motorpoint.
I have just taken the car in for warranty repairs, the usual things which arent quite perfect, a light and bumper, but the dealer also then did a health check because I had mentioned 2 additional things. First the radio presets seem to have vanished for no reason and the driver side airflow is always cool. All things being equal the first point of call here would probably be the aerial and the heater matrix. However things are not what they seem.
When performing the health check the technician found that the battery fitted was not the original one, at first this seems weird because I bought a car with 100 miles on the clock. Trying to rationalise what may have occurred the DS service guy suggested with the car sat for so long, perhaps the battery died and they replaced before selling to me, then couldnt find an original/ didnt return to manufacturer under warranty and replaced with something not quite as good. This could mean the battery hasn't quite got the power it should have to deal with the car. By the way I do notice it shuts down quite quickly if the ignition is on the car isnt running.
Now I'm waiting for the DS service guy to email me the exact details of what is fitted and how this is substandard. I have the option to change for a new proper one at the dealer (£391 inc fitting with a 3 yr guarantee) or get a Bosch from Kwik Fit at £221 after discount code applied with a 5 yr guarantee https://www.kwik-fit.com/batteries/search/details/...
Obviously however the option of sending the battery back to the manufacturer and it being a warranty repair does not exist, as the battery is not an original part.
The option is to change nothing and retain what's there but this is not worth considering. First if it is the cause of the 2 gremlins I'm having it's just easier to eliminate them, but then theres something else. One thing I love about the DS9 when it is operational is the freewheeling mode in ECO mode. If im driving at motorway speed, lift off the accelerator, the revs fall from from circa 2k to 800rpm...idle, and the car freewheels. Early after getting the car I had instances where on a gradual decline this could occur for a distance of 2 miles at a time. Recently though I have noticed it happens far less often, and only when I am a long distance into a run, its like the battery needs to have a lot of charge available for it to function. MPG has dropped off a bit too, once i was maybe looking at 50mpg+ on a long run, and I think I could get 55mpg with freewheel activated using speed limiter. These days its more like 40-45mpg.
So I need to change, makes sense, i'll save more on petrol than retaining whats there and crosses off a possible reason for the gremlins so it looks like I'm in a hole for £221 as I'd prefer the Bosch option. It isn't the end of the world by any means.
Question is, do i just suck it up, or have I any leverage in going back to Nissan Leicester who sold the car to me?
I have just encountered a bit of an issue and thought i'd bounce it off people here for thoughts.
My DS9 was a late June 22 reg date, apparently a part of a fleet order that fell through. When I bought the car 13 months later from Nissan Leicester I was told the lease co was a partner/ subsiduary of the group and they were offloading them. This was plausible, i saw some at other Nissan dealers, Scarborough springs to mind, and then a few were at motorpoint.
I have just taken the car in for warranty repairs, the usual things which arent quite perfect, a light and bumper, but the dealer also then did a health check because I had mentioned 2 additional things. First the radio presets seem to have vanished for no reason and the driver side airflow is always cool. All things being equal the first point of call here would probably be the aerial and the heater matrix. However things are not what they seem.
When performing the health check the technician found that the battery fitted was not the original one, at first this seems weird because I bought a car with 100 miles on the clock. Trying to rationalise what may have occurred the DS service guy suggested with the car sat for so long, perhaps the battery died and they replaced before selling to me, then couldnt find an original/ didnt return to manufacturer under warranty and replaced with something not quite as good. This could mean the battery hasn't quite got the power it should have to deal with the car. By the way I do notice it shuts down quite quickly if the ignition is on the car isnt running.
Now I'm waiting for the DS service guy to email me the exact details of what is fitted and how this is substandard. I have the option to change for a new proper one at the dealer (£391 inc fitting with a 3 yr guarantee) or get a Bosch from Kwik Fit at £221 after discount code applied with a 5 yr guarantee https://www.kwik-fit.com/batteries/search/details/...
Obviously however the option of sending the battery back to the manufacturer and it being a warranty repair does not exist, as the battery is not an original part.
The option is to change nothing and retain what's there but this is not worth considering. First if it is the cause of the 2 gremlins I'm having it's just easier to eliminate them, but then theres something else. One thing I love about the DS9 when it is operational is the freewheeling mode in ECO mode. If im driving at motorway speed, lift off the accelerator, the revs fall from from circa 2k to 800rpm...idle, and the car freewheels. Early after getting the car I had instances where on a gradual decline this could occur for a distance of 2 miles at a time. Recently though I have noticed it happens far less often, and only when I am a long distance into a run, its like the battery needs to have a lot of charge available for it to function. MPG has dropped off a bit too, once i was maybe looking at 50mpg+ on a long run, and I think I could get 55mpg with freewheel activated using speed limiter. These days its more like 40-45mpg.
So I need to change, makes sense, i'll save more on petrol than retaining whats there and crosses off a possible reason for the gremlins so it looks like I'm in a hole for £221 as I'd prefer the Bosch option. It isn't the end of the world by any means.
Question is, do i just suck it up, or have I any leverage in going back to Nissan Leicester who sold the car to me?
Its a battery FFS, cant you just buy one and fit it yourself? OK you may need to get someone with an OBD thingy to code it to the car but ive just been looking at a new one for mine which is not at its best, and i can get the exact same battery as the dealer quoted me for roughly a third of the price.
Lack of freewheel could be down to a weak battery, I've found most modern cars will log a code for a weak/failing battery but it won't be readable with a generic tool. It might also be because it's much colder out now so the electrical load is higher.
The cold air from the vent will probably be an issue with a blend flap in the HVAC system and potentially quite a big job to access it and repair. It won't be the battery. It should have logged a code for this too.
I wouldn't be surprised if the battery is specifically exempted from the warranty. Just buy a Bosch or Varta or other decent one from Halfords of Tayna and get on with having your HVAC system fixed. Ideally you want to code it to the car but in my experience if you drive it around for a bit it'll sort itself out for start/stop and so on.
The cold air from the vent will probably be an issue with a blend flap in the HVAC system and potentially quite a big job to access it and repair. It won't be the battery. It should have logged a code for this too.
I wouldn't be surprised if the battery is specifically exempted from the warranty. Just buy a Bosch or Varta or other decent one from Halfords of Tayna and get on with having your HVAC system fixed. Ideally you want to code it to the car but in my experience if you drive it around for a bit it'll sort itself out for start/stop and so on.
Edited by GeniusOfLove on Wednesday 24th January 15:09
Thanks for your comments everybody.
In particular the Tayna recommendation (and discount code) is very helpful.
Thinking about it I agree my heater issue is likely to be something more expensive, non battery related. That said the car's under warranty so I can get it sorted for free.
Touch wood I'm hoping the DS9 will be like my previous car, a Fiat 500x 2L 4WD auto where I had a few small issues in the first year followed by 5 years of total reliability.
In particular the Tayna recommendation (and discount code) is very helpful.
Thinking about it I agree my heater issue is likely to be something more expensive, non battery related. That said the car's under warranty so I can get it sorted for free.
Touch wood I'm hoping the DS9 will be like my previous car, a Fiat 500x 2L 4WD auto where I had a few small issues in the first year followed by 5 years of total reliability.
Hi all
Finally just got more info back from the dealer regarding the battery.
The proper spec should apparently be 70Ah 760A. What is actually fitted is a NAPA 74Ah 680A.
They say it's not original factory spec but it appears as though the varinces between the Ah/ A are quite small.......or are they?
I have just had a casual look around and expected the price of what I have and what I should have would be around the same.....however it seems as though the one I have is a lot cheaper. At Tayna the S4 009 is £84 and the S5 A08 is £154.
So it does look like I have a far inferior battery than I should have.
I have pushed back to the dealer I bought from and he's willing to consider the matter.....promising.
Finally just got more info back from the dealer regarding the battery.
The proper spec should apparently be 70Ah 760A. What is actually fitted is a NAPA 74Ah 680A.
They say it's not original factory spec but it appears as though the varinces between the Ah/ A are quite small.......or are they?
I have just had a casual look around and expected the price of what I have and what I should have would be around the same.....however it seems as though the one I have is a lot cheaper. At Tayna the S4 009 is £84 and the S5 A08 is £154.
So it does look like I have a far inferior battery than I should have.
I have pushed back to the dealer I bought from and he's willing to consider the matter.....promising.
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