Constant Battery Failed On New VW Tiguan - Adelaide

[lemonlimetaing]

Thanks Maverick and NZTiguan for your reponses.

I am taking the car to Solitaire to test for a second opinion as per ACCC.

[Transporter]

Thanks Maverick and NZTiguan for your reponses.

I am taking the car to Solitaire to test for a second opinion as per ACCC.

I have only good experience with Solitaire Automotive. They should be able to get at the bottom of the fault and fix it, if that's what for is your car heading there. (and not just for a second opinion)

[lemonlimetaing]

Yes, hopefully Solitaire can find the fault, otherwise I'm at a loss.

I was hoping to drive to Melbourne in the near future but I fear the car will not make it.

[Maverick]

What was the aftermarket headunit you had installed?

I can't help but think that your CAN bus gateway may have been damaged by the aftermarket headunit, hard to tell without scanning the car but I would assume that the dealer would have picked up on any obvious faults with it.

Hopefully the other dealer will fix the problem, it may just need a new set of eyes to see the problem.

[The_Hawk]

With all things there is always going to be an example of when things go horribly wrong and this seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Don't get me wrong, this is a bad situation and I feel your pain, there is nothing like having a vehicle that gives you constant trouble that no one can track down.

At this point in time I think your heading down the right path taking it to an alternate place to get it checked over, but to play devils advocate for a moment the dealers can only attempt to fix what they can see/replicate, so as frustrating as it is, sometimes these things can take time. It would be nice if the dealer would just swap the whole car for a new one or at least give you an equivalent loaner while they track down the problem, but for lots of reasons thats not the most attractive of options to the dealer.

Hopefully you will get it sorted in the very near future, failling that I would suggest getting legal advice, something we can't offer. I'm sure there are plenty of experts in this field that can help you out (not that I can recommend any).

[Maverick]

Hopefully you will get it sorted in the very near future, failling that I would suggest getting legal advice, something we can't offer. I'm sure there are plenty of experts in this field that can help you out (not that I can recommend any).

All the motoring organisations offer free legal advice so if he has (whatever it is in SA - RACSA?) membership it might be worth calling up to get their advice. It would be best to wait until the other dealer takes a look at the car first so he has something to go on.

[jfranek]

I am also confused trying to follow your story.

What is the latest? Is the problem still that the battery gets drained? How long does it take from fully charged to empty? Overnight? It takes pretty high current to drain a full car battery overnight.

I had a brand new from factory Citroen 5 in Europe two years ago and the electric fan drained the battery overnight. Faulty thermostat relay.

Joe

[lemonlimetaing]

Unforntunately Michael at the dealer cannot give me a loan car - they ran out (I have book the car in for test next Monday 21/9/09).

For jfranek - the problem is still relating to the battery, if I didn't notice the car park lights coming on, I guess it would have drain the battery eventually. The dealer tells me even if the headlights are on, it should last 3 days but Im no expert here on this thing.

[borbor1313]

Hey Lemon
What you really need is a exhorcist.

Sorry to hear that you are still trouble by this issue.

Techs should be able to sort it out now.If the lights are coming on by themselves is suggests it has nothing to do with your original aftermarket headunit. A real red herring if there was one.


For this to occur I assume you have a tig with auto headlights and wipers ??

Try blocking out the light and rain sensor above the with thick tape and leave the headlights switched to "AUTO" to see if you can reproduce this fault.

If you can reproduce this then it is a issue with CAN as this should not be active when the car is off.

Hope this helps you.

[lemonlimetaing]

The dealer had a look at the car yesterday and says there is a fault with the battery as its not holding the load (hmmm I believe this is the fourth battery that has been replaced now, so far on track record of 1 per month...haha)

They were not able to find any other fault with the car, my question is

"What is causing the battery to not hold the load?"

Its ridiculous how they can only keep replacing the battery when there seems to be some internal damage to the car already.

I have to admit a dealer were not organised when they knew my car was book in to have a look, they didnt have the paperwork ready and Michael was hesitant in testing the car as the dealer did not want to get involved with any legal matter. (btw, Michael has look at this forum...good for him, now they know how I feel, I wonder if something like this happen to one of them, Im sure they would do the same)

I ask for a hard copy of the report but they werent prepared to give it to me yesterday, they say they will post it to me.

Once I have the information will lodge formal complaint with ACCC

[Gravey]

My mate has had all sorts of issues with his Tiguan too, all electircal from memory - dealer keeps fixing but it's been in countless times. His opinion is the car is a complete lemon as far as electrics is concerned. It's been hard for him because the issues are always different - the dealer fixes, which is all they have to do by law, and then a differnt issue occurs. I've emailed him to ask the details of his issues and where he's at at the moment to see if the issues are similair and if he's got any advice for you. Not sure what dealer he went through but I'lll find that out too.

Personally I would stick with the one dealer fixing your car - it will only delay finding the fault as the same ground is covered by the next person. IMHO most of the dealers are as good/bad as eachother. I have a mate who used to work for solitaire in their service department and without going into details, his opinion was they certainly werent better than any other dealer.....unfortuantly you have to keep working with them, if you dont this will harm any potential retribution you may receive from the ACCC. The dealer does have to fix the issue, if you dont let them go through the troubleshooting steps right until the end, then the ACCC will simply tell you that this is what you have to do. Keep working with them mate, as soon as they become unsure of what to do next you need to start busting balls and get a 3rd party involved to mediate.

[ploz58]

flat battery as well

i trust you get your car sorted as its a shame the tiguan is such a good rig

I fitted a AVC9000-1 and after three days away from the car, i went to start and had a flat battery, never happened before.

I contacted Rob at Auspack, he replied promptly and advised me there is a fix which involves a relay and some wiring, which he testing and will send a "fixed" connector.

According to rob the Car is still looking for the original radio and this is the reason for the battery drain.

The AVC is a good thing and i have confidence Rob will get it sorted

Im not sure if it helps in this case, but hope you get to enjoy your car

Phil

[Transporter]

I've suggestion which could prevent possible no start condition in Tiguans and other VW cars that just had AVC-9000 installed and are not sure if the AVC-9000 unit would discharge the battery or not.
All you guys need is Voltmeter and knowing what is normal battery voltage after 1,2,3 and more days if the car is left standing without starting. In general the fully charged new battery will have across the terminals around 12.6 Volts if left without starting for several days, even for a week. If the voltage is below 12.5V after parked just overnight, expect excessive battery drain caused by the unit or something went wrong during installation and the car that will fail to start, if you would leave it standing for 2 to 3 days.
In that case you would want to start the car every day and run in for at least 1/2 hour than seek the installer of the unit to fix the fault..

Average Battery;
State of charge test:
1. Turn the ignition to OFF position
2. Turn the headlights ON for 30 seconds to dissipate the surface charge.
3. Turn the lights and accessories OFF

Battery voltage:
12.6V or above fully charged
12.4V – 12.5V 50 – 70 % charged
Under 12.3V needs charging

[Arctra]

I fitted a AVC9000-1 and after three days away from the car, i went to start and had a flat battery, never happened before.

I contacted Rob at Auspack, he replied promptly and advised me there is a fix which involves a relay and some wiring, which he testing and will send a "fixed" connector.

According to rob the Car is still looking for the original radio and this is the reason for the battery drain.

The AVC is a good thing and i have confidence Rob will get it sorted

Hey Phil

This worries me as I got the AVC9000-1 from Rob too and recently had it installed. Before I had it fitted I came across a post on the MKV forums about some guys in Argentina that had designed the work-around you describe. I actually emailed that to Rob so suspect that's what he's talking about. These are the posts:

http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1944583&postcount=4099

and the picture:

http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1945250&postcount=4103

Please let me know when he sends you the fixed connector and if it works as I'll be requesting that from him when he had them. I just don't want to be caught short with a flat battery when I do eventually leave the Tig idle for a few days.

Miro, I'll get myself a tester and do the tests you mention sometime soon too just to confirm whether I do in fact have the problem or not. Thanks for the advice.

[Transporter]

Dean,
you can buy a digital voltmeter like a clamp style for around $50 from JayCar and hook the clamp around the battery negative wire to check battery drain directly in mA (it measures Volts as well - very handy around the cars). I posted in the forum battery drain in rest on Golf5TDI I don't know exactly how many mA it was but buy memory I think aprox. 20mA shortly after locking the car.

Testing battery parasitic current drain