Stereo won't switch on following dead battery

[Shnozz]

As posted elsewhere, my Ctek plugged into the boot failed whilst my car was in storage over the last year with the lockdowns.

Having now fixed most of the little quirks arisen over storage one large one remains. The stereo system is not functioning at all. No display, no sound, no anything.

I've checked all the stereo and infotainment fuses and no sign of any blowing. I have tried a battery reset via the boot switch and button and nothing. The sat nav disc doesn't eject on opening the CD slot in the boot and the ski slop sat nav is unresponsive when pressing the button to raise it.

Any pointers? I have searched on previous threads on here and read of similar issues and suggestions, but no follow up and no resolved threads on the subject.

Oh, and the handbrake handle has come unattached. No grub screw so any pointers on what compound is used to fix this in place before I use a glue would also be welcome.

[paulrog1]

Have you had your tracker disconnected? this could make certain systems to fail until disconnected. Other than that a linn hifi power failure,

Keep the car on a trickle charger all the time.

Re the handbrake i replaced the cable last year so i had all that in pieces and found the leather cover just velco in place it was quite obvious.

I hope this helps

[Riddochg]

I have a 2006 Vantage and have had similar problems with the stereo. Aston Installations warned me the the ICE is incredibly sensitive to the battery condition.

I have had a few occasions where the car started up fine but not the ICE or satnav. Plugged the battery into a charger for a bit and hey presto everything came back to life.

Ultimately changed the battery despite the fact that the car was starting ok. Hope that helps.

[Shnozz]

Thanks both.

Car has been on a charger now for a few days straight and showing fully charged. Will check the voltage later to be sure.

Bloody frustrating.

to be clear on the handbrake, it is the alloy sleeve that has come loose, not the leather gaiter.

[Riddochg]

Give me a minute & I'll have a look at my handbrake.

[Riddochg]

Give me a minute & I'll have a look at my handbrake.

Cant shift it and as you say no grub screw. My guess it screws on. Have you tried twisting it back on?

[Shnozz]

Riddochg said:

Give me a minute & I'll have a look at my handbrake.

Cant shift it and as you say no grub screw. My guess it screws on. Have you tried twisting it back on?

I'll have a look but do not recall seeing any thread on the inside when it was off in my hand. Also happened whilst the vehicle was sat stationary over the last year of lockdown so I can only assume some sort of bonding agent broke down in humidity.

Many thanks for your help.

[raceboy]

A quick google and all the diagrams or parts at resellers show the handle always attached to the mechanism and never available as a separate part so I'd go with some sort of adhesive to fix it back on.
https://www.scuderiacarparts.com/part-finder/aston...

[Shnozz]

raceboy said:

A quick google and all the diagrams or parts at resellers show the handle always attached to the mechanism and never available as a separate part so I'd go with some sort of adhesive to fix it back on.
https://www.scuderiacarparts.com/part-finder/aston...

Yes, that was what my own research suggested - one piece unit.

The absence of any online presence (and particularly youtube) on showing dismantling the handbrake made me think it had to be 1 piece.

Will pick up some Wrigelys at the shop this afternoon and get chewing.

[Riddochg]

If you cant get the stereo to start up give James at Aston Installations a call.

He sorted mine and what he doesn't know on the topic isn't worth knowing. He's also extremely helpful. 01684 276752

[Shnozz]

So with all fuses checked and none blown, I noticed that on doing a "minor" battery reset via the boot switch, on pressing the cabin button the CD player makes the shuffle sounds and whirs into life. Still nothing displayed on the screen but its a start. So there is power but it seems that the battery reserve power thingy that triggers the infotaintment system to go into shutdown has not been overridden to come back to life since the battery was recharged and all systems are powered up.

The manual talks of driving the car for 30 min to restore power but I presume this is no different to me having had it on charge for a week or so giving full 14v power at the battery. Nonetheless, its been driven for 30 mins since and no joy.

Any other ideas?

[Riddochg]

That’s what mine does when coming out of sleep mode. As I flagged there may be enough power to turn the engine over but not enough to power up the electronics. Try giving it a thorough charge, or change the battery.

[Shnozz]

Riddochg said:

That’s what mine does when coming out of sleep mode. As I flagged there may be enough power to turn the engine over but not enough to power up the electronics. Try giving it a thorough charge, or change the battery.

As I say, its been on charge for a week and showing a decent 14volts at the internal socket, so battery is certainly full and retaining a decent charge. The battery was brand new in April last year and since being fully recharged suggests its discharge hasn't rendered it beyond repair.

[Sprakie]

Hi Shnozz,

Did you ever find an answer to this??

[Krhuangbin]

Massive thread resurrection here…!

But was a solution ever found to this radio issue? I have exactly the same issue after a dead (now replaced) battery.

Radio and nav will not power up/blank screen

Don’t suppose you still nosey in these parts Shnozz, but if you do did you ever sort it?

Cheers

[Shnozz]

I do occasionally pop in as haven't ruled out a return to marque one day in the future...

I am afraid, however, that is as good as my information gets. I never did get to the bottom of the stereo issue, together with a battery drain and a few other gremlins that sadly brought my ownership to its end. In somewhat rushed emergency conditions I departed the UK in between early Covid lockdowns and despite thinking I had the car on a ctek in the extended period I was away, it turned out it wasn't correctly connected. That, and then several additional rust bubbles caused by its time exposed meant I was chasing faults and decided to sell cheaply and let someone handier than I to fix them. Real shame as I had enjoyed years of 100% reliable service prior to it being laid up, not helped by being outside.

[Krhuangbin]

Thanks Shnozz

Same situation….. car has been perfectly behaved for years, tucked away over winter for first time when usually used, ctek “operator error”, killed battery, now problems

Hopefully Aston Installations can help

[Handyman2009]

it happen to me once that the radio didn't come on after reconnecting the battery, to fix the problem for me I went into the boot fuse box remove the fuse for the radio and amplifier I believe and put them back in. Next time I got into the car everything was back to normal, it seems that those involved modules didn't start in the right order or got confuse when the battery was connected

[Krhuangbin]

No joy sadly - I also just disconnected battery and bridged the positive and ground together to remove any residual capacitance in the body. Reconnected and still nothing.

I am fearful that this is going to result in a costly dismantling of the car testing each of the infotainment modules