L322 playing silly beggars, help!

L322 playing silly beggars, help!

Author
Discussion

shentodj

Original Poster:

401 posts

235 months

Friday 21st August 2020
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Last few weeks have seen my 2009 5.0 s/c start misbehaving.

It started with it feeling hesitant on part throttle, most noticeably between 20-30mph, but also at 50, 60 and 70mph steady cruising.
Very soon after I noticed this hesitance, I got a flashing light on dashboard for adaptive headlights (extra ones come on when cornering).
I also noticed on roundabouts that the power steering assistance seemed to be coming &going.
I've had another warning about the Forward Alert no longer available.
Also notice that the DAB radio reception goes bad when any of these are in evidence.
ALL of the above symptoms seem to come and go each trip that I make.

When garage plug into OBD they only see the adaptive lights and forward alert alarms, nothing else showing up.

Should the adaptive lights warning (amber coloured; bottom left under speedo) FLASH?? None of the other warning lights flash on/off. Is this an indication of more faults!!? It's quite distracting.

Investigation so far has involved full service and gear box oil change .

I asked if any of these faults could be linked to a faulty cable they fixed a few months back after the AA came out to flat battery (dash said problem with charging system) and said Alternator seemed ok. No sign of this fault now.

The garage had the car for two days and monitored the Alternator output and "it occasionally output slightly higher than normal".

Because faults are random and transient, it's difficult.
Having now spent over £800, I'd love to hear from anyone with suggestions to the source of fault(s) so I can optimise further spending and get back to a car that enjoyable to drive,

Thanks in advance,
Shentodj




coetzeeh

2,726 posts

243 months

Friday 21st August 2020
quotequote all
How old is the battery?

During lock down my L320 started showing the odd error. Took a day and a half on trickle to top battery up and all faults disappeared.

CAPP0

19,900 posts

210 months

Friday 21st August 2020
quotequote all
Agreed, in my experience and often cited over on fullfatrr.com, multiple random seemingly unconnected issues can often be cured with a new battery.

Buy a decent one tho, eg a Bosch. Yes they’re more expensive but you want to cure the issues, not mask them with a cheapie battery which won’t last as long.

shentodj

Original Poster:

401 posts

235 months

Saturday 22nd August 2020
quotequote all
Just been to battery shop.
They said:
1) Battery was accepting charge ok.
2) Alternator outputting plenty of charge to battery
3) However, battery currently very low (only using car once a week to Click & Collect groceries)

So I could either buy intelligent charger and hope to rescue existing battery, or buy new battery.
So I bought new battery, and once re-installed, I drove home. No faults on dash and DAB radio signal ok.....then, turned into last road before home and lost DAB and adaptable headlight warning started flashing on dash!!

Got home, switched off/on again without getting out of car and DAB back and no warnings on dash.

Any more suggestions gratefully accepted.
Shentodj

barchetta_boy

2,305 posts

239 months

Monday 7th September 2020
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Did you buy the proper AGM £250 battery or a cheaper one that looked like it would fit?

shentodj

Original Poster:

401 posts

235 months

Sunday 13th September 2020
quotequote all
Update: battery didn't fix problem.

So have now changed Alternator and FINGERS CROSSED, it seems to have cured the random faults.

I had a fuss over whether the Alternator should/should not have a clutch mechanism. The one taken off the car had a clutch.
No replacements (Rimmers Bros and EuroCarParts) that were Denso OEM had clutches.
Gambled and went without clutch and car seems ok.

Dave S.