Battery problem

[Db n j]

We have a modern car for everyday, a Nissan x-trail. Within months we had a replacement battery, and 18 months on, two recent flats.

Nissan say there is no fault. The only thing they say is that the battery needed a good charge.

We did a 4 hour trip to Bristol and back yesterday. Apparently this would not charge a low battery.

Does this make any sense ? (Dry day, daylight, so limited draw etc)

Any thoughts ?

[John Hitchins]

I would get an EBay £3 cigar socket plug in digital reader. Saved me many times. Reads 13.8 on normal running.

[mikemillen]

We have a modern car for everyday, a Nissan x-trail. Within months we had a replacement battery, and 18 months on, two recent flats.
Nissan say there is no fault. The only thing they say is that the battery needed a good charge.
We did a 4 hour trip to Bristol and back yesterday. Apparently this would not charge a low battery.
Does this make any sense ? (Dry day, daylight, so limited draw etc)
Any thoughts ?

No... that doesn't make sense at all.
A 4 hour drive should fully charge any 18 month-old battery with ease.
Can you measure the battery voltage with the engine > 2000 rpm and the headlights on?
It should be in the region of 14.0 - 14.4v.
If it's much below 14v then the voltage regulator or alternator is faulty.

[Db n j]

Thanks. Just checking on my level of senility - think the dealer may not be able to find a fault (which I understand), but why try to convince me that a four hour journey wouldn’t be any good ??

Going to collect the car in the morning, so let’s see what they have to say.

[Brian-H]

Nissan say there is no fault.

Ask them what they checked.

When a dealer says "there is no fault" they mean "our technician plugged in the OBDII Diagnostic System and found no stored codes", to which you should say "is that a faultless way to find a fault ?".

The truth is that faults can happen without any of the ECUs in the system noticing i.e. finding a fault code does indicate a fault, not finding a fault code doesn't indicate there isn't a fault (sorry about the triple negative in the latter part of the sentence).

A couple of good ideas mentioned already - which are more reliable methods to find this type of fault on a car than any dealer would try, whatever the make or model or year.

[Db n j]

Just a quick update.

No problem found - battery test, charging test, no leakage found.

Long discussion about why the battery won’t get fully charged.

Conclusion, the car assesses how much charge it needs (rather than trying to fully charge the battery) if I understand correctly this is a fuel saving idea. Hence going to Bristol on a low battery, will not give me a full one, just one the car things is enough.

Very clever, but how to detect a low battery ? Listen for a sluggish starter motor.

Then get a remote charge.

Interesting if not reassuring

[Sydsmith]

Modern cars us either an EFB or AGM type battery both types can be very tricky, they are designed to cope twith the high current loads of modern cars plus if you use the eco button the stop start that demands.

The batteries need a special tester that older garages tend not to have, as you say there is a special charging regime and that is complicated but when my daughter had exactly your problem I bought her an intelefent trickle charger to top up the battery with and that with anew battery cured the problem, as you say when the starter sounds lazy she puts the charger on over night and it sorts it out.

They call it progress.

[Stan Thomas]

So right you are!! Remember the days of the good old starting handle?

[Brian-H]

It seems to be a major problem in the Niissan squashed cow

I found a long thread on a qashqai forum ..... https://www.qashqaiforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=3969

Any opinions on contacting BBC Watchdog?
The amount of problems that are down to the battery being duff or not charging properly is overwhelming . Nissan know there's a major problem but are not sorting it. Customer service have said again that when my car goes in to garage this month after another week of jump starting , if no fault appears on diagnostic read-out they can't replace battery or anything else under warranty . They say they can't make dealer change battery & dealer says they can't change without nissans say-so!!!

[Sydsmith]

No 1 Grandson was recently given a 2003 BMW Mini with a cooling problem, we diagnosed thermostat, remove air cleaner remove battery, remove ECU remove battery box, remove three bolts, clean engine face and sta holder, replace stat, put it all back together, drain system by removing bottom hose, replace hose, fill with new antifreeze, bleed cooling system twice to remove air, two hours.

1958 Mini drain system by opening tap, undo two bolts clean faces replace stat replace two bolts repace antifreeze 20 minutes.
i
As I said Brian Progress