GTS 2011 Parking Brake issue, advice wanted

[Slinkywizard]

Morning all. Thought I'd consult the hive mind on this one. My GTS 2011 was in the bodyshop last week having a bunch of cosmetic paint issues fixed (from previous owner, scuffs, chips and missing paint etc.). Now, the bodyshop did an amazing job. It looks brand new. However, when I went to drive the car away I got a message: Parking Brake fault: Return to dealer (something along those lines, can't remember exact words).

Now, since the car had just been dismantled and put back together to some extent (side skirts and both bumpers were removed for respray), I turned off the ignition, then fired her up again and the fault cleared. Figured it was just a one-off glitch. 24 hours later I go to the car to drive it into Birmingham and the battery is 100% dead. Nothing works, not even the doors. Got a jump start from my neighbour, then did the drive to Birmingham and back to get the alt to charge the battery a bit, but all the time, both parking brake warning (yellow one, central LCD display behind wheel), and red exclamation brake warning are lit on the dash.

I've parked it up front of my house for now and am keeping the parking brake off. What I would like to know is, is it possible the bodyshop has somehow grounded the battery via the parking brake? I'm not really sure how to proceed. The battery is taking charge and it's pretty new (about a year old), but I'm pretty sure if I put the PB on while it sits the battery will drain again. Anyone have any insight or experience? Thanks in advance.

 

[safrane]

I suspect the colder nights in a unit have shown up the weakness in the battery along with the body shop having the doors and boot open alot, therfore draining the batter more than normal.

New battery would be in order.

 

[Slinkywizard]

Thanks, yeah, I'm beginning to think the same. Just seems weird as I drove the car for two hours after picking it up from the bodyshop, so battery being completely dead next morning seems odd. And the fact I was able to jump start it yesterday, drive it another two hours and now the faults are cleared and seems okay again, also odd.

 

[safrane]

I suspect it will let you down later this week once we have a chilly night again.
It does not take much to make things go wrong in the electronics of the GT.

 

[Ebenezer]

I suspect the colder nights in a unit have shown up the weakness in the battery along with the body shop having the doors and boot open alot, therfore draining the batter more than normal.

New battery would be in order.

This. Battery goosed after I had a some paintwork done as they hadn't isolated it prior to commencing activities.

Eb

 

[zagatoes30]

Batteries and bodyshops always seem to have disagreements, I have had two fail in similar circumstances of car being in bodyshop for 2 or more weeks.

 

[Scaf]

I would do the simple stuff like check battery connections, there is every chance the Bodyshop disconnected it whilst doing the work and may not have reconnected properly.

Then new battery.

Good luck !

 

[philw696]

To be fair as long as the battery is not a cheap one I would be putting it on a decent battery charger and let it have a decent re charge.
When on the car check the voltage with a multimeter first seeing what it drops too with the ignition on and they when you go to start the engine.

 

[Slinkywizard]

I would do the simple stuff like check battery connections, there is every chance the Bodyshop disconnected it whilst doing the work and may not have reconnected properly.

Then new battery.

Good luck !

Scaf is either lucky or a genius! That's exactly what it turned out to be. The connector for the distribution box that sits on top of the battery needs to be banged firmly into place with a small hammer. The bodyshop hadn't done that and it was loose and leaking to ground. Happily, my Maserati guy opened the boot, took one look, said, one sec, fetched the small hammer, tap tap tap, and said 'Fixed'. He didn't charge me, obviously

 

[Zep]

The other option of course would be to loosen the nut, push it on and then tighten it back up. Using a hammer (of any size or type) on a battery terminal is not SOP!

 

[Slinkywizard]

The other option of course would be to loosen the nut, push it on and then tighten it back up. Using a hammer (of any size or type) on a battery terminal is not SOP!

Depends on the size of the hammer. This one was a bit Shawshank Redemption haha.

 

[Scaf]

Scaf is either lucky or a genius! That's exactly what it turned out to be. The connector for the distribution box that sits on top of the battery needs to be banged firmly into place with a small hammer. The bodyshop hadn't done that and it was loose and leaking to ground. Happily, my Maserati guy opened the boot, took one look, said, one sec, fetched the small hammer, tap tap tap, and said 'Fixed'. He didn't charge me, obviously

If I was lucky I would have won the lottery yesterday, so that makes me a genius

Pleased to hear it was a simple fix

 

[Hawker]

Hi , my parking brake on my grancabrio was stuck on , I only moved it from garage to driveway then I found bits of metal , small springs and broken brake shoe on floor , is this an easy replacement to do myself

 

[dickygrace]

Hi , my parking brake on my grancabrio was stuck on , I only moved it from garage to driveway then I found bits of metal , small springs and broken brake shoe on floor , is this an easy replacement to do myself

In short, no, get it trailered to a reputable specialist.

 

[Ebenezer]

Never leave the parking brake on. A lot of us have learnt from experience unfortunately
Eb

 

[Harvey_Tim]

Never leave the parking brake on. A lot of us have learnt from experience unfortunately
Eb

Out of interest, is this advice based on cars that rarely get used - i.e. I have been leaving my parking brake on but my car (QPV) is used at least once a week so the EPB is regularly operated, is it still best not to use it or could there be more risk of it seizing up if it’s not used at all?

Also and apologies if this is a silly question but I am fairly new to automatics (ZF gearbox) but how solidly parked is the car just left with the gearbox in P and EPB off, could it be left on slight inclines like this?

Thanks,
Tim

 

[ChrisQP09]

Recently had my parking break error appear after cold spells and no driving for a while! Run out in car clears it but battery really struggling

 

[CatmanV2]

Out of interest, is this advice based on cars that rarely get used - i.e. I have been leaving my parking brake on but my car (QPV) is used at least once a week so the EPB is regularly operated, is it still best not to use it or could there be more risk of it seizing up if it’s not used at all?

It *can* seize up overnight. I never used to leave my GT with the EPB on. If was popped into the supermarket, though, for example. let it operate or you run the risk of the damned cables locking up instead of the pads....

Also and apologies if this is a silly question but I am fairly new to automatics (ZF gearbox) but how solidly parked is the car just left with the gearbox in P and EPB off, could it be left on slight inclines like this?

Massively solid. Damned great pawl locks the transmission. I suspect the tyres would slip before the pawl let go. Happy to be corrected but I doubt anyone's actually put one on a slope to see

C

 

[Harvey_Tim]

It *can* seize up overnight. I never used to leave my GT with the EPB on. If was popped into the supermarket, though, for example. let it operate or you run the risk of the damned cables locking up instead of the pads....



Massively solid. Damned great pawl locks the transmission. I suspect the tyres would slip before the pawl let go. Happy to be corrected but I doubt anyone's actually put one on a slope to see

C

Until this evening I had never even heard of a Pawl but thanks to you CatmanV2 and Wikipedia I now understand them - every day is a school day … and I think you are right that the car is unlikely to go anywhere in P.

So I suppose the best solution is to leave the car in P without the EPB but regularly operate the EPB just to keep the cables etc. from seizing?

 

[CatmanV2]

Until this evening I had never even heard of a Pawl but thanks to you CatmanV2 and Wikipedia I now understand them - every day is a school day … and I think you are right that the car is unlikely to go anywhere in P.

So I suppose the best solution is to leave the car in P without the EPB but regularly operate the EPB just to keep the cables etc. from seizing?

That's about the size of it. Why they even put EPBs on automatics is still a bit of a mystery to me, but there we are.

C