Vantage 2009 Tracker Question

[retromodcoza]

I have recently gotten myself a 2009 Aston Martin Vantage RHD in Black.
Nice. I see why everyone loves these things.

I'm in South Africa. I did not pay a lot for it. I took it on knowing :

1. It needed a new clutch
2. Its right rear headlight needed the oven trick mentioned on this forum due to condensation building up
3. It needed new door gas check arms (doors wouldn't stay open), along with new bonnet struts (Fixed)
4. It badly needed a service, brakes bled, new brake pads all round, plus spark plugs , oil, transmission fluid etc (Fixed)
5. Its passenger side window was not winding down (Fixed by reseating fuse 82 + 83)
6. It only had one key on its last legs, and no emergency key (All fixed, coded the new keys myself and picked the physical lock on it myself)
7. Replaced the radio unit with a new aftermarket "OEM" looking one with Apple Carplay and Android Auto.

All standard, expected problems on these cars with solutions that were either spelt out for you or more or less easy to figure out. As a side note, if anyone needs advice on these items, PM me.

Now to the tough part which I can't solve on my own :

I have battery drain due to what I suspect is the factory installed tracker (Part Number EG33-37-10667). This has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum. I have pulled fuse F2 and F9 (F9 suspected to be the main tracker fuse) and the draw goes from 0.3A to 0.09A and the car refuses to start. Put them back in and the car starts fine but the draw is back. The battery is being depleted to the point where it cannot start the car in about 3 days. After 10 days, the battery is completely dead. This car lives on its battery maintainer at the moment.

All this points to the common tracker problem where apparently the tracking units battery backup to it fails, it thinks its being tampered with, and its starts repeatedly sending distress signals and drains the cars main battery.

Bamford Rose states in a video that its a 30 min job requiring AMDS and 50 Pounds:

I have contacted the only dealer in South African with AMDS. They say this might be a job requiring pulling the dash apart, and that it may take 3 days to 3 weeks in the shop to do and is complex (and expensive). Moreover, the particular technician hasn't done one on a Vantage before. There are probably 20 vantages in the country, so that part makes sense.

They have asked Aston Martin directly for feedback on how to do the job, which we are still waiting for a week later.

- I might be able to get them to do an AMDS tracker "turn off" if I can find the tracker. The technician at the dealer is a helpful and friendly guy
- An alternative option would be to crack open the backup battery to the unit and replace it (I have some electronics/soldering skills) so that the tracker does not go into distress mode.
- Another alternative would be to replace the tracker with a new one

I know this is a contentious topic, but can anyone PM me the location of the tracker and how to get to it? Or a backup battery? The image in the above link gives me an idea. Happy to provide proof of ownership. Happy to pay. Happy to get on a video call. Happy to do whatever it takes to get this sorted.

If anyone has any ideas about where it is or the route to take please PM me.

In addition, please request any tutorials you need on how to solve the problems in my solved list above. I can post them with pics.

[Jon39]

I hope no one is going to reveal the tracker location.
If BR charges £41.67 + VAT, disabling and coding cannot be a very time consuming job.

The 2009 4.7 V8V was the basis of James Bond's vehicle of choice, the DB10.
James Bond uses a tracker detector, because he obviously needs to know if any spy devices have been secreted in, or on his car. Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the supreme leader of the global criminal organization SPECTRE, cannot be allowed to know JB's whereabouts.

[retromodcoza]

Thank you for this - but asking folks not to reveal the tracker location isn't helpful. I understand they may not want to do it on an open forum, but I do need a solution to the problem. The tracker cannot be activated in South Africa anyway, even if one wanted to activate it, because no network here supports it.

Thus, this is not a security concern.

I'm trying to resolve the different opinions on this. The dealers opinion and the independent shops opinion differ drastically. Both have good reputations.
Update - the dealer came back and said both original keys need to be available for the procedure, which has been a narrative pushed by dealers mentioned by on this forum before. Its also been discredited on this forum. So hence I'm trying to work out whats possible

Edited by retromodcoza on Wednesday 22 July 16:23

Edited by retromodcoza on Wednesday 22 July 16:26

[LTP]

retromodcoza said:

<snip>

All this points to the common tracker problem where apparently the tracking units battery backup to it fails, it thinks its being tampered with, and its starts repeatedly sending distress signals and drains the cars main battery.

Bamford Rose states in a video that its a 30 min job requiring AMDS and 50 Pounds:

I have contacted the only dealer in South African with AMDS. They say this might be a job requiring pulling the dash apart, and that it may take 3 days to 3 weeks in the shop to do and is complex (and expensive). Moreover, the particular technician hasn't done one on a Vantage before. There are probably 20 vantages in the country, so that part makes sense.

They have asked Aston Martin directly for feedback on how to do the job, which we are still waiting for a week later.

- I might be able to get them to do an AMDS tracker "turn off" if I can find the tracker. The technician at the dealer is a helpful and friendly guy
- An alternative option would be to crack open the backup battery to the unit and replace it (I have some electronics/soldering skills) so that the tracker does not go into distress mode.
- Another alternative would be to replace the tracker with a new one

I know this is a contentious topic, but can anyone PM me the location of the tracker and how to get to it? Or a backup battery? The image in the above link gives me an idea. Happy to provide proof of ownership. Happy to pay. Happy to get on a video call. Happy to do whatever it takes to get this sorted.

Firstly, welcome to the forum and to Aston Martin ownership

You'll have to forgive Jon39 - sometimes in his desperation to be the forum clown he finds it difficult to differentiate between when a serious reply is required or when a flippant one will suffice.

I have a copy of the 2006 Vantage Workshop Manual which details the procedure and, having had a quick look, it appears your local dealer is correct. I'll happily send you a copy but, being a new member, you don't appear to be able to receive PM's yet - it may a time thing or it may be the settings in your profile. You could try to send me a message and see if that works and, if you put an email address in that message I'll send you the .pdf with pleasure. Having said all of that I wouldn't think physically replacing such and old and fallible unit would be a sensible option, especially as you say it wouldn't work in South Africa, unless it is an action of last resort.

I think Mike at Bamford Rose does the work not by accessing the module, but simply by connecting AMDS to the car and disabling the tracker - hence the short time and low cost. I suggest contacting Mike at BR to see if he can provide advice or guidance as to how this may be possible in South Africa - he may have an affiliate or be able to instruct your local guys

If South Africa doesn't support a tracking network then I'm surprised it wasn't disabled when the car was built - do I assume the car has been imported from a territory where the tracker is supported?

And finally, while revealing the location of any security item may not be a risk in South Africa, where they are not supported, on an open forum the information then becomes available to anyone in the territories where they are used.

Edited by LTP on Wednesday 22 July 17:02

[retromodcoza]

Thanks for this response. I really appreciate it. I do have a copy of the V8 Vantage workshop manual, but the bit involving the tracker doesn't mention keys in the procedure so I'll be interested to see what your version says.

Email Edited Out - Post if you would like it again (I'll edit this out in time)

Replacing the unit would have been my last resort if I can't find another way to stop the drain. I plan to talk to the dealer on Friday in person, but if they want both original keys and won't do it any other way then I may be out of luck. I do have 2 keys, but one of them I bought on eBay (original AM key) and programmed it to the car myself. Both work, but I'm not sure if this will work for the procedure or what the procedure requires at a deeper level.

I will phone Mike at Bamford Rose, but I strongly suspect they won't give me the information on how to do it for security reasons. I'll try. Apparently there is only 1 AMDS system in Johannesburg and in South Africa, which is why the dealers opinion here will matter. If they decide they won't do it in the Bamford Rose way then I can't force them to.

The car was imported from the UK as far as I can gather.

Edited by retromodcoza on Thursday 23 July 02:12

[LTP]

retromodcoza said:

Thanks for this response. I really appreciate it. I do have a copy of the V8 Vantage workshop manual, but the bit involving the tracker doesn't mention keys in the procedure so I'll be interested to see what your version says.

[e-mail] (I'll edit this out in time)

Replacing the unit would have been my last resort if I can't find another way to stop the drain. I plan to talk to the dealer on Friday in person, but if they want both original keys and won't do it any other way then I may be out of luck. I do have 2 keys, but one of them I bought on eBay (original AM key) and programmed it to the car myself. Both work, but I'm not sure if this will work for the procedure or what the procedure requires at a deeper level.

I will phone Mike at Bamford Rose, but I strongly suspect they won't give me the information on how to do it for security reasons. I'll try. Apparently there is only 1 AMDS system in Johannesburg and in South Africa, which is why the dealers opinion here will matter. If they decide they won't do it in the Bamford Rose way then I can't force them to.

The car was imported from the UK as far as I can gather.

Message sent with link to the file.

My copy of the workshop manual makes no mention of keys and, having had a quick look at the relevant section, I (obviously don't know but) wonder if the key requirement is the dealer making sure the car isn't stolen by having access to both keys to check - they can check the number of keys registered to the vehicle in AMDS.

You may be right about Mike not wanting to reveal how he does it. I believe the tracker was optional and, if the option didn't apply to SA it may be as simple in your case of telling the car that it's a South African car now, or telling it it doesn't have the optional tracker. I wouldn't ask Mike how he does it (you don't need to know) but if, between him and someone in SA, there's a way to solve your quiescent current drain issue.

One other company that knows a lot about VH electronics that it might be worth having a word with is Aston Installations - they are helpful guys too.

I guess one of your issues is being able to convince anyone who could help that you are legit and haven't just stolen a Vantage, or received a Vantage stolen in the UK and shipped overseas in a container.

[retromodcoza]

Ok - appreciate the responses above. I have more information and some avenues to follow to get a resolution. I'll post any further updates here.

[retromodcoza]

Thanks to all who helped. I really appreciate the assistance.

I managed to locate the tracker.......location. I found the empty connector with the 5 - 4 - 5 configuration that fits the tracker 7G43-19G311-AG. The type and size of the connector also match and it was in the right place.





Turns out I don't need the dealers help with this one after all, and will need to find the real cause of the parasitic drain. I will be able to narrow it down from here given other components that may cause the problem aren't "hidden". I still have no idea why the drain stops when pulling F9, but maybe I need to retest this.

In time I will post my story on getting the keys coded to the car fairly inexpensively and other useful bits that I have picked up along the way.

[retromodcoza]

So with the help of everyone here I found the source of the parasitic draw.

The tracker reprogramming helped the draw.... but it was less than a 0.01A draw improvement over its baseline of 0.56A at rest.
So now that I knew the tracker wasn't the bulk of the problem,I went hunting.

I asked AI (Claude in this case) to list the components of the car in the probable order that they would cause parasitic drain, then went pulling fuses.
I put the voltmeter in series with the battery and measured the draw, then pulled each fuse one at a time to see what might be causing the issue.

After pulling 22 fuses, I found that 0.49A of the 0.56A draw was being caused by the alternator. According to AI there may be a leaky rectifier diode causing the draw at rest.

I'll need to replace/refurbish the Denso SC1 120A alternator, but at least my battery maintainer won't be working overtime anymore.

See my worksheet below.