Battery/electrics on V8 Vantage
Discussion
Coincidence or what. My V8V (2 months old, 1500 miles) this morning just clicked. Must be a flat battery. Of course I have left it standing since late Tuesday night, but thought 32 hours would be OK (irony). I drive it pretty much every day and shortest journey is 45 minutes so it should not happen. For this reason I didn't bother speccing the battery conditioner. Even my TVR, notorious for battery issues, can sit in the garage for over a week and still start with no problem.
Called the AM 24 hour assistance line and two hours later I'm still waiting for them to call back. Apparently it's only a 24 hour phone line, the assistance comes later. To add insult to p155ed off frustration, they also had "computer issues" and so had none of my details to hand. Result, I end up on the phone for 10 minutes telling them the colour of the car, my post code, various contact numbers. Quite frankly, not impressed.
Called the AM 24 hour assistance line and two hours later I'm still waiting for them to call back. Apparently it's only a 24 hour phone line, the assistance comes later. To add insult to p155ed off frustration, they also had "computer issues" and so had none of my details to hand. Result, I end up on the phone for 10 minutes telling them the colour of the car, my post code, various contact numbers. Quite frankly, not impressed.
Have the guy at my place now. Took over 3 hours from my initial call, but at least he's there. Bad news is it's being loaded up and shipped back to the dealer for diagnostics. Seems I have an unexplained battery drain. Hopefully they can fix it today or provide a replacement.
Good Luck
Good Luck
Guys! Had problems with my early model V8. AM Assist were SO bad that in the end I rang my dealer and left him to do all the calls, hanging on hold etc. - seeing as he sold me the product - which to be fair he did. Complained to customer services aswell and as soon a factory got involved everything magically sped up. Might be worth trying. AM Assist is run by an outside contractor so the more complaints Aston get the more likely they are to improve if they don't want to loose the business.
GR1FF1F - sounds like the same prob. I had. It's usually a faulty door relay that drains the battery. DO NOT let them send the car back with a recharged battery, insist on a new one. The factory told me that once these batteries have been completely flattened they are not strong enough to ever fully recover again leading to more troubles down the line if it isn't replaced. I found this out the hard way!
Apologies for repeated edits - spelling and early mornings (by my standards) don't mix!
GR1FF1F - sounds like the same prob. I had. It's usually a faulty door relay that drains the battery. DO NOT let them send the car back with a recharged battery, insist on a new one. The factory told me that once these batteries have been completely flattened they are not strong enough to ever fully recover again leading to more troubles down the line if it isn't replaced. I found this out the hard way!
Apologies for repeated edits - spelling and early mornings (by my standards) don't mix!
Edited by Pugsey on Thursday 17th May 09:27
Edited by Pugsey on Thursday 17th May 09:31
Edited by Pugsey on Thursday 17th May 09:33
coyft said:
The Aston assist guy has been here 15 mins, pretty impressed with the swift respone (after someone answered the phone). He said they don't mess about anymore and just install a new battery. As we speak he is installing it. I find it pretty ridiculous that Aston Martin sell a car when the battery goes flat. I use mine at least once/twice a week and haven't had the problem in the past. In fairness I have to say I'm impressed with their response, which is basically to come out and fit a new battery - free of charge. Guess I need to start using the battery conditioner.
Make sure he checked it for a battery drain first - a VERY common problem (see prev.posts) - if he didn't you may be calling him out again soon! Glad they seem on the ball for you though!
Wow that's consistent. My guy was there for 10 minutes and arranged for the car to be shipped off to the dealer. Now I find out that their idea of replacement car for the weekend is an "executive saloon". Told them not to bother if it doesn't have wings on the front.
Agree with Pugsey, I reckon you need to know why the battery went flat in the first place.
Just have to convince Mrs Gr1ff that she wants to spend the weekend in the TVR now
Agree with Pugsey, I reckon you need to know why the battery went flat in the first place.
Just have to convince Mrs Gr1ff that she wants to spend the weekend in the TVR now
GR1FF1F said:
Wow that's consistent. My guy was there for 10 minutes and arranged for the car to be shipped off to the dealer. Now I find out that their idea of replacement car for the weekend is an "executive saloon". Told them not to bother if it doesn't have wings on the front.
Agree with Pugsey, I reckon you need to know why the battery went flat in the first place.
Just have to convince Mrs Gr1ff that she wants to spend the weekend in the TVR now
Agree with Pugsey, I reckon you need to know why the battery went flat in the first place.
Just have to convince Mrs Gr1ff that she wants to spend the weekend in the TVR now
Pah! My courtesy car was an AMV8 - with the reg. no. AMV8. Got a pic. somewhere but too computer illiterate to work out how to post. Sorry to gloat. Mind you, I was threatening murder by then!
Unfortunately, as I'm sure you are all well aware, the AM VH cars do have one or two insidious electrical current draw faults.
One particularly annoying one is the 'sunvisor short', where assembly of the sunvisors into the cant rail is accompanied by damaging harness, causing a short. It's not enough to cause any other damage, but it will drain your battery in short order.
Simply put, if your car is draining the battery, there is a reason for it. Don't put up with any crap from your dealership, get them to find the fault and fix it. AML are well versed in the commonest if the dealership run out of ideas, ask them to send in an ePDR to Gaydon asking for help.
V.
One particularly annoying one is the 'sunvisor short', where assembly of the sunvisors into the cant rail is accompanied by damaging harness, causing a short. It's not enough to cause any other damage, but it will drain your battery in short order.
Simply put, if your car is draining the battery, there is a reason for it. Don't put up with any crap from your dealership, get them to find the fault and fix it. AML are well versed in the commonest if the dealership run out of ideas, ask them to send in an ePDR to Gaydon asking for help.
V.
These problems are relatively common on Ferraris and Maseratis, we don't have any experience of Aston Martin Assistance (yet). I know it sounds odd but if you are called out to a prestige car most agents do not want to attend and will leave the job waiting for ages, not great service! 
We try to treat all breakdowns the same.
We try to treat all breakdowns the same.Venari said:
One particularly annoying one is the 'sunvisor short', where assembly of the sunvisors into the cant rail is accompanied by damaging harness, causing a short. It's not enough to cause any other damage, but it will drain your battery in short order.
Have been away for a few days and just seen this post. This is the problem. When I got in and the battery was flat I recall that the passenger sun visor had been left down. When I mentioned this to the dealer they said it didn't matter because that didn't turn on a light or anything, and in any case the light would have gone off once the car was locked.So from your comment it seems that the rail on which it hangs causes a battery drain when it's in certain positions. How bizarre. What do they have to do to correct it ? I want to be a real smartass when I let them into the secret.
Cheers
GR1FF1F said:
... What do they have to do to correct it ? I want to be a real smartass when I let them into the secret.
Cheers
I would guess that they'll have to strip the trim from the areas affected and relocate the harness. If the harness has been damaged it'll need replacing, which I would guess would mean more of the interior stripping...Cheers
It might be worth testing the theory yourself if you have the car back (leave the visor up, see if it drains, leave the visor down, see if it drains). Remember that no one likes a "smartass"
Nothing to do with the position - it's the fixings. The fitment is blind and the harness routing is not ideal, so if the harness moves without the operative seeing it do so, bzzt, the fixing goes through the harness. I've seen a few personally, and it is easy to do. No word on a design change to fix it, it's a particularly awkward one.
Because of the way the power is controlled by the Passenger Junction Box, the car is awake and drawing current, and will not shut down or 'sleep'.
A UK car with Tracker option (pre-07MY) should draw no more than 25mA when asleep. This allows it to stay healthy for a good couple of months. Now, if you have a PJB being kept awake due to this fault (or one of the infamous and many varied door module faults) then the car draws around an amp. Easy math - 1 Amp / 25mA = 40 times the current, so forty times less time required before the car is tough to start = it's dead in a couple of days.
Whatever you do, don't leave the keys in ignition overnight - a DB9 will draw 20 amps in this state, more with that 950watt Hi-Fi cranked up.
V.
Because of the way the power is controlled by the Passenger Junction Box, the car is awake and drawing current, and will not shut down or 'sleep'.
A UK car with Tracker option (pre-07MY) should draw no more than 25mA when asleep. This allows it to stay healthy for a good couple of months. Now, if you have a PJB being kept awake due to this fault (or one of the infamous and many varied door module faults) then the car draws around an amp. Easy math - 1 Amp / 25mA = 40 times the current, so forty times less time required before the car is tough to start = it's dead in a couple of days.
Whatever you do, don't leave the keys in ignition overnight - a DB9 will draw 20 amps in this state, more with that 950watt Hi-Fi cranked up.
V.
jus said:
Murph7355 said:
I've heard the sun visors have been redesigned for '08...wonder if this is more to do with the way they attach rather than the shape etc.
Or perhaps the fact that they are entirely useless at present? :P
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