Flat Battery? (humble pie!)

[Bobby Dandruff]

Well this is annoying, considering that a similar thing happened when I had a 4.2...... :-(

I have a 2012 4.7 GTS now with only 17k miles on the clock which has been fantastic, but went to get in yesterday evening and the battery appears completely flat. Neither remotes can unlock the car and the lights on the top of either door that either normally flash red or green, are not illuminated at all. Through the window I saw 2 red warning lights and the green sidelights warning light on the dash, come on briefly and then go off, and the front side lights briefly illuminated and then slowly dimmed; I don't use the car that often and it is kept in a garage but I used the car the previous day on quite a long run and it has been absolutely fine since I bought the car, with a noticeably strong battery firing first time, every time.

A new battery remedied the problem in my 4.2 but that was 5 or 6 years old with seemingly the original Maserati battery, but surely the battery in my current car should still be in working order?

My concern is that I get a new battery fitted, which I am happy to do, but the problem remains.

I don't really want to go down the route of the hassle of a trickle charger etc if possible.

All comments and advice are welcome.

 

[daverichardson]

New battery is the starting point and then see what happens
Get a trickle charger - it is no hassle especially in your own garage
I do my QP every couple of days certainly in the winter
Good luck

 

[safrane]

Cold nights this week and the aging tracker could habe been the final straw dor the current battery.

 

[conaero]

Agreed, you have a power drain somewhere, probably the tracker, you need to take it to an auto electrician and see if they can do a leak test.

I have heard of electric seat switches, AC or the radio causing this.

 

[bigbob]

I got a CTEK when mine flattened it's battery at two/three months old. That would be my first action rather than replacing the battery.

 

[rossyl]

Well this is annoying, considering that a similar thing happened when I had a 4.2...... :-(

I have a 2012 4.7 GTS now with only 17k miles on the clock which has been fantastic, but went to get in yesterday evening and the battery appears completely flat. Neither remotes can unlock the car and the lights on the top of either door that either normally flash red or green, are not illuminated at all. Through the window I saw 2 red warning lights and the green sidelights warning light on the dash, come on briefly and then go off, and the front side lights briefly illuminated and then slowly dimmed; I don't use the car that often and it is kept in a garage but I used the car the previous day on quite a long run and it has been absolutely fine since I bought the car, with a noticeably strong battery firing first time, every time.

A new battery remedied the problem in my 4.2 but that was 5 or 6 years old with seemingly the original Maserati battery, but surely the battery in my current car should still be in working order?

My concern is that I get a new battery fitted, which I am happy to do, but the problem remains.

I don't really want to go down the route of the hassle of a trickle charger etc if possible.

All comments and advice are welcome.

You could connect a battery pack (not another car) to the battery jumping terminals (no idea where they are), and see if the car unlocks etc. That way at least you know that it is a battery fault.

You don't actually need to jump start the car, just connect up the battery pack and see if the electrics start working on the car. If they do, go and buy a new battery.

By a battery pack, I mean a battery jump pack.

Something like this:
http://www.antigravitybatteries-uk.co.uk/microstart-jump-starter/micro-start-xp-1.html
or
http://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/garage-workshop/portable-power-packs/sip-rescue-pac-1600

If you have RAC or The AA they will have these jump packs on board.

 

[Ryandoc]

Massive post on here of mine for Ctek battery charger it's a doddle and works a treat

 

[Mr K]

A new battery remedied the problem in my 4.2 but that was 5 or 6 years old with seemingly the original Maserati battery, but surely the battery in my current car should still be in working order?

At 4 years old or less you shouldn't have to replace the battery. I'd recharge it and monitor the situation. Could have been a one-off; something left on inadvertently. Last drive might not have been enough to make up for the starts and the previous lack of use.

 

[redsonnylee]

Well this is annoying, considering that a similar thing happened when I had a 4.2...... :-(

I have a 2012 4.7 GTS now with only 17k miles on the clock which has been fantastic, but went to get in yesterday evening and the battery appears completely flat. Neither remotes can unlock the car and the lights on the top of either door that either normally flash red or green, are not illuminated at all. Through the window I saw 2 red warning lights and the green sidelights warning light on the dash, come on briefly and then go off, and the front side lights briefly illuminated and then slowly dimmed; I don't use the car that often and it is kept in a garage but I used the car the previous day on quite a long run and it has been absolutely fine since I bought the car, with a noticeably strong battery firing first time, every time.

A new battery remedied the problem in my 4.2 but that was 5 or 6 years old with seemingly the original Maserati battery, but surely the battery in my current car should still be in working order?

My concern is that I get a new battery fitted, which I am happy to do, but the problem remains.

I don't really want to go down the route of the hassle of a trickle charger etc if possible.

All comments and advice are welcome.

Are you near me, I have a ctek and battery pack you can borrow.

 

[Bobby Dandruff]

Well this is annoying, considering that a similar thing happened when I had a 4.2...... :-(

I have a 2012 4.7 GTS now with only 17k miles on the clock which has been fantastic, but went to get in yesterday evening and the battery appears completely flat. Neither remotes can unlock the car and the lights on the top of either door that either normally flash red or green, are not illuminated at all. Through the window I saw 2 red warning lights and the green sidelights warning light on the dash, come on briefly and then go off, and the front side lights briefly illuminated and then slowly dimmed; I don't use the car that often and it is kept in a garage but I used the car the previous day on quite a long run and it has been absolutely fine since I bought the car, with a noticeably strong battery firing first time, every time.

A new battery remedied the problem in my 4.2 but that was 5 or 6 years old with seemingly the original Maserati battery, but surely the battery in my current car should still be in working order?

My concern is that I get a new battery fitted, which I am happy to do, but the problem remains.

I don't really want to go down the route of the hassle of a trickle charger etc if possible.

All comments and advice are welcome.

Update (if anyone is still interested ;-) )

I ordered a new battery from the RAC who came round this morning to fit it. The chap could not have been more helpful and explained that a new battery MAY not be necessary and so started the car, and let it run for a while, before checking for any obvious charge 'leaks or drains' (interior lights etc), of which there seemed to be none. He was unable to test whether the battery was still good as the charge was so low.

So he said that the battery may actually be fine and that fitting a new one may not remedy the problem. He suggested that I leave the car running (it is in a garage so that is fine) and then get the battery tested properly. He was even good enough to explain the situation over the phone to the people at Autofficina! The Autofficina people were equally helpful and said to bring the car in whenever I wanted to and they'd test the battery for me, which I did a moment ago and the battery IS fine.

The solution for now is to buy a CTEK charger which I have ordered. The RAC man said that this will be fine although the nice man at Autofficina said that it wouldn't really help too much and that the 'drain' needs to be identified (which ultimately is true I suppose) and that the drain is too great (so the opposite of what the RAC man said).

So in the short term I am going the CTEK route based on what people on here and the RAC man says. I suspect that the drain can only be the tracker which is really annoying, and I don't REALLY want to fork out a load of money for someone to have to identify this 'drain' if the CTEK partially solves the problem (as the car is garaged).

Nevertheless, a car like this losing battery charge is a bit rubbish I think. It has now happened twice to me on 2 different Granturismos over the space of 3 years. Now let me think if this has EVER happened in any other car that I have owned, even the BMW and Merc that we systematically ran into the ground? Oh no, of course it hasn't..... ;-)

 

[Bobby Dandruff]

Agreed, you have a power drain somewhere, probably the tracker, you need to take it to an auto electrician and see if they can do a leak test.

I have heard of electric seat switches, AC or the radio causing this.

Ah, now could the heated seats be the issue? I'd be surprised, but I have noticed that the heated seats don't automatically switch off after a certain period of time, which seems a bit silly, and so the passenger seat heater can remain ON permanently if it has been used by a passenger recently i.e. my youngest!

 

[CatmanV2]

Ah, now could the heated seats be the issue? I'd be surprised, but I have noticed that the heated seats don't automatically switch off after a certain period of time, which seems a bit silly, and so the passenger seat heater can remain ON permanently if it has been used by a passenger recently i.e. my youngest!

They shouldn't be on with ignition off!
C

 

[Bobby Dandruff]

They shouldn't be on with ignition off!
C

Doh!

Of course...... :-/

 

[bigbob]

Result. FWIW I was told that many Astons and Porsches are the same. Use the CTEK and forget.

 

[Wack61]

It doesn't take much current drain to flatten a battery , I have a Skoda yeti, the *** lighter is permenantly live

My dashcam is plugged in to it , screen off forgot to unplug it and it flattened a 12 month old battery in 3 days.

Edit
Funny how the shortened term for a cigarette doesn't get past the swear filter

 

[Bobby Dandruff]

Update (if anyone is still interested ;-) )

I ordered a new battery from the RAC who came round this morning to fit it. The chap could not have been more helpful and explained that a new battery MAY not be necessary and so started the car, and let it run for a while, before checking for any obvious charge 'leaks or drains' (interior lights etc), of which there seemed to be none. He was unable to test whether the battery was still good as the charge was so low.

So he said that the battery may actually be fine and that fitting a new one may not remedy the problem. He suggested that I leave the car running (it is in a garage so that is fine) and then get the battery tested properly. He was even good enough to explain the situation over the phone to the people at Autofficina! The Autofficina people were equally helpful and said to bring the car in whenever I wanted to and they'd test the battery for me, which I did a moment ago and the battery IS fine.

The solution for now is to buy a CTEK charger which I have ordered. The RAC man said that this will be fine although the nice man at Autofficina said that it wouldn't really help too much and that the 'drain' needs to be identified (which ultimately is true I suppose) and that the drain is too great (so the opposite of what the RAC man said).

So in the short term I am going the CTEK route based on what people on here and the RAC man says. I suspect that the drain can only be the tracker which is really annoying, and I don't REALLY want to fork out a load of money for someone to have to identify this 'drain' if the CTEK partially solves the problem (as the car is garaged).

Nevertheless, a car like this losing battery charge is a bit rubbish I think. It has now happened twice to me on 2 different Granturismos over the space of 3 years. Now let me think if this has EVER happened in any other car that I have owned, even the BMW and Merc that we systematically ran into the ground? Oh no, of course it hasn't..... ;-)

Update II (if ANYONE is still alive out there......)

The CTEK arrived yesterday and when plugged in (which was dead simple - I bought the 12v connector as well) showed 4 lights (READY TO USE) after about 20 mins, and then had reached 7 lights (FULLY CHARGED) by the time that I went to bed.

Is it wrong to feel so excited about each light coming on and continually going into the garage to check? :-/

 

[daverichardson]

If you are wrong, then I am too
I go and check my Lidl special, betting with myself whether the green (fully charged) light will be on.
I try to get it fully charged during the day when I am about rather than overnight when I am not about
The ritual is getting ridiculous, but I am in love (not with the Lidl special)

 

[D Walker]

left mine on while i was away for 3 weeks.
no problem.... been off it for last week and just turned over and ran fine,
all though there is a wee lake under the car - leaky garage door me thinks!!!

Nope its not the garage door - its the nearside headlight washer system - annoying as I had the drivers side sorted at MOT time.

FFS!!!!!

 

[GeoffCapes]

I now no longer chuck batteries away when they're drained. I put them on the charger. 'Just in case I need one' What a sad man I've become!

 

[Bobby Dandruff]

If you are wrong, then I am too
I go and check my Lidl special, betting with myself whether the green (fully charged) light will be on.
I try to get it fully charged during the day when I am about rather than overnight when I am not about
The ritual is getting ridiculous, but I am in love (not with the Lidl special)

LOL

I actually went into Lidl on the way back from Autofficina on the off chance that they had one of their chargers still available (they didn't).

I think that I'll stick to Amazon Prime in future :-/