Why I slowly start to hate my V8VR....
Discussion
Disclaimer: you might read unkind things about AM in this post; I'm somehow sorry for that but on the other hand I'm not because this car pisses me off - for every day of joy it gives me a day of trouble & headache. Any advice is appreciated.
Why I hate my V8VR:
1) Because it sometimes doesn't open the roof (message. "stop to open roof", the issue is: I'm standing still). Topic disappears usually after a while, problem is not reproducable, AM says "nothing we can do"
2) I get since a week randomly the "break failure, please stop immediately" message. No reason whatsoever, the message comes and goes, sometimes within 30-60 seconds while driving. Car has been to full AM dealer inspection about 4 weeks ago, is only 7 years old with 36,000km (22k miles).
3) When this message comes, all electronics go dead on the car: no revs, no speed, no indicators. Which idiot programmed this crap?
4) Since today my roof doesn't work anymore - no, not the issue 1), I don't get any message at all, it just doesn't work.
5) The clutch seems to be slipping at random: the car has low milage and is a manual. Now the clutch starts to behave crazy. 2,500 revs, 4th gear, full throttle: 70% of the time the engine revs up about 1k without main acceleration, like a very bad old school automatic. No issue in 2nd or 5th gear. In 3rd sometimes. It's a manual with only 22k miles!
6) Today not even the remote worked anymore. I couldn't lock the car and I could open the boot anymore. All ok again after 30min waiting but I can't work like that...
Why I love my V8VR:
Read the rest of the forum, the good spots are all there but every day I go for a drive I wonder if it's a good or a bad day. On a good day, it's one of the best cars in the world, the drive, the sound, everything. On a day like today, unfortunately that every other day, it's a piece of s
t that I would sell immediately. If on such a day someone comes across with the right offer, it will be gone in a second...
Sorry for letting off the steam but this car is just fked up in it's electronics...
Why I hate my V8VR:
1) Because it sometimes doesn't open the roof (message. "stop to open roof", the issue is: I'm standing still). Topic disappears usually after a while, problem is not reproducable, AM says "nothing we can do"
2) I get since a week randomly the "break failure, please stop immediately" message. No reason whatsoever, the message comes and goes, sometimes within 30-60 seconds while driving. Car has been to full AM dealer inspection about 4 weeks ago, is only 7 years old with 36,000km (22k miles).
3) When this message comes, all electronics go dead on the car: no revs, no speed, no indicators. Which idiot programmed this crap?
4) Since today my roof doesn't work anymore - no, not the issue 1), I don't get any message at all, it just doesn't work.
5) The clutch seems to be slipping at random: the car has low milage and is a manual. Now the clutch starts to behave crazy. 2,500 revs, 4th gear, full throttle: 70% of the time the engine revs up about 1k without main acceleration, like a very bad old school automatic. No issue in 2nd or 5th gear. In 3rd sometimes. It's a manual with only 22k miles!
6) Today not even the remote worked anymore. I couldn't lock the car and I could open the boot anymore. All ok again after 30min waiting but I can't work like that...
Why I love my V8VR:
Read the rest of the forum, the good spots are all there but every day I go for a drive I wonder if it's a good or a bad day. On a good day, it's one of the best cars in the world, the drive, the sound, everything. On a day like today, unfortunately that every other day, it's a piece of s
t that I would sell immediately. If on such a day someone comes across with the right offer, it will be gone in a second...Sorry for letting off the steam but this car is just f
ked up in it's electronics...Edited by TKP on Monday 24th April 20:35
Thanks for the advice, hornbaek & Bincenzo. I would have guessed they check the battery for 1,700 EUR (that's the inspecition tag at AM Germany). Any other signs for a weak battery? I had so far no issues at all with starting, roof up or down while engine not running etc.... and I just drove about 70 miles highway yesterday with up to 170 mph, so whatever is left of the battery should be charged.
I have no clue how old the battery is, I'm the second owner since 7 months and 3.5k km.
I have no clue how old the battery is, I'm the second owner since 7 months and 3.5k km.
Thanks for all the advice, I'll start with a new battery and work it from there... regarding the clutch: it's not so much about the price tag, I'm aware that this part needs to be replaced sooner or later, however, 20,000 miles on a manual is very, very little for a clutch failure from all I read.
And of course in Germany AM dealers are scare and specialists that offer better clutch solutions are even less widely spread so it's a major "administrative" hassle to get that fixed...
And thanks for pointing out the potential issue wih the roof module, I would have expected an AM dealer to bring that up.
And of course in Germany AM dealers are scare and specialists that offer better clutch solutions are even less widely spread so it's a major "administrative" hassle to get that fixed...
And thanks for pointing out the potential issue wih the roof module, I would have expected an AM dealer to bring that up.
Thanks again for all the good input, highly appreciated. The prospect of fixing the whole topic with a new roof ECU for about 500 quid and a new battery sounds very positive.
I'm just not sure if I should order the roof ECU via AMbits and install it myself (or in a garage I trust) or if I should risk going to that dealer again...
That things should do it: https://astonmartinbits.com/models/5-V8-Vantage/pa...
btw: TPMS is disabled on my car, the AM dealer did that...
I'm just not sure if I should order the roof ECU via AMbits and install it myself (or in a garage I trust) or if I should risk going to that dealer again...
That things should do it: https://astonmartinbits.com/models/5-V8-Vantage/pa...
btw: TPMS is disabled on my car, the AM dealer did that...
Thanks, Emilio, I read the German forum from time to time and I've read a lot of very good advice from "Superman"; however, my decision was overall to stick more to PH as the activity level here is about 10 or 20 times as high (that's at least my perception). I guess there are more AM in Wales than in whole Germany ;-P
No clue - it just doesn't work anymore, so I get no messages anymore. E.g.my wintertyres don't have the TPMS valves and it doesn't matter. But I think the box is still physically present (it's that square one under the dashboard, co-driver side, the one with the four colors on it, correct?)
So I pulled fuse 10 in the boot this morning, error messages are gone for the time being. Thanks a lot.
My AM dealer claims that pulling the fuse is not suffient and that I have to pull the plug from the CRM itself.
And for anyone who believes in "fair" or even "good" offers from AM dealers: not in Germany, about 1,000 GBP for the module, without the installation which will be another 200 GBP. I'm aware that an AM is an expensive car but in Germany they rip you off because you have no options as there is only a few dealers across the whole country and very little independent specialists.
My AM dealer claims that pulling the fuse is not suffient and that I have to pull the plug from the CRM itself.
And for anyone who believes in "fair" or even "good" offers from AM dealers: not in Germany, about 1,000 GBP for the module, without the installation which will be another 200 GBP. I'm aware that an AM is an expensive car but in Germany they rip you off because you have no options as there is only a few dealers across the whole country and very little independent specialists.
Many thanks again for all the advice and the help offered in getting the bits & pieces. As I am not a patient person and it's "roof down" weather" I will fix the thing next week at my local dealer; if the dealer is not able to do this on short notice I can still order at astonmartinbits for some 476 GBP.
sf1969 said:
Hello
Have a look at Moonhawks thread on his 'weird electrical gremlin' and my reply.
I initially tried pulling the fuse in the boot but it won't work as that is the high load circuit and not the CANBUS. The CANBUS has the rogue message coming into it from the roof control module, only by pulling the plug on the module itself, or by pulling the tiny fuse under the passenger floor(I think it's 5mA) will you isolate the electronics in the RCM and consequently ascertain the fault.
I read the thread, thanks; I currently only pulled the fuse 10 in the boot (30A) and the messages are gone... however, I can also remove fuse 69 in the cabin (5A), no problem.I have now an appointment at my AM dealer next week to replace the CRM, they have it on stock anyway.Have a look at Moonhawks thread on his 'weird electrical gremlin' and my reply.
I initially tried pulling the fuse in the boot but it won't work as that is the high load circuit and not the CANBUS. The CANBUS has the rogue message coming into it from the roof control module, only by pulling the plug on the module itself, or by pulling the tiny fuse under the passenger floor(I think it's 5mA) will you isolate the electronics in the RCM and consequently ascertain the fault.
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