Mr Meldrew Is Back?

[Paulus17]

Well we had planned a good drive upto Derby to see Mrs Ps brother and family and their new arrival,so thought it a good drive for the New Rav.

So we got the car loaded with what we was taking with us and the car was completely dead

Not even a glimmer of light on the dash or anything.

So i locked the gates shut the garage up unloaded the car and went back up the house,not very happy.

So i phoned the Toyota dealer who told us that we have roadside assistance,and that i had to phone em up and was told that an AA man would be round shortly,and within ten minutes he was here,which was good

He got us running to check the Battery out and he said it was completely drained so we revved it for about ten minutes to get some charge in it so he could test it,and he said it was charging and couldn't find anything wrong with it,probably just lack of use,which might be right as we have only been out in it once since we've had it and only done about 30 miles in it.

So we bought another Battery off the AA bloke,an heavy duty one apparently,and we will be taking the old one back to Toyota to get our other new one out the old Rav as a spare.

Should the Battery drain this quick??

[Hoovie]

when I had my RAV4.2 I maybe called out the RAC/AA over 10 times due to flat Battery issues.

IMO, it is the worst aspect of the car and is woefully undersized in the 2.0VVT-i

so .... SHOULD it drain so quickly? NO! Does it drain so quickly? YES :censor:

The apparent regular response from the Dealers is "don't turn on the alarm if you are parking it for a few days

[Ady-Rav4]

Hi Paul.

Sounds like something's been draining it. Are you sure something like the interior light wasn't left on?

We've got a 53plate XT3, I've recently had to change the Battery. It began slowly starting, then to not quite starting, to no life at all, (the last two where jump-lead jobs). That all took place over 2 weeks though. It was the original Battery I believe.

So, I would have expected yours to have attempted to start if you think it should have done. I know you've not had your XT3 long so you won't know exactly how healthy the Battery is.

PS, next time your up Derby way, let us know!

[crofter]

Is it possible that the car had been standing for a while and that they had to jump start for you,even if they did it before you got there,and they knew you were due to collect it?

If that was the case maybe it was in a low state of charge when you collected it.As you state you have only been for one run,the current from the alternater could have been soaked up by the heater/lights/wipers/rear screen heater in the cold wet weather.

Then even tho' the car had been standing,as mentioned previously,the alarm draws some juice and the atmosphere permits a tiny drain.

Just hypothetical of course!!

Del

[CharlieFarlie]

Paul. The Dealer should pay for the Battery You bought off the AA .. Plain and simple as You have only had the car for a few days...

Sorry to cut You short on the phone today but We were in MaccyDs and it was very noisy and I could hardly hear You..

Let Me know how You get on with the steps and I will arrange the workshop with the lift for fitting them later in January when I'm next in the Midlands..

[crofter]

PS, next time your up Derby way, let us know

And me

Del

[bothwell_buyer]

Can you perhaps get an advert in the Financial Times to let us know when yer next in the Derby area?

Ah mean, why else wuid onywan want to buy it ???

[anchorman]

Batteries can go flat when stood for a period of time. The plates get sulphated and you end up with a dead cell. It is important to make sure nothing is left switched on but there could well be nothing wrong with it. We know the tiny Battery on a 4.2 petrol is a weak spot and batteries hate standing unused.

There is a limit to what you can rob off the old car especially now the deal is done. You might well be asking for the engine back as an extreme example. You might get a payment off the dealer under the terms of the sale (not neccessarily the warranty as it won't cover consumables) as you haven't had it for a reasonable period.

Don't worry, you have done the right thing, this is just a glytch.

[Paulus17]

Can you perhaps get an advert in the Financial Times to let us know when yer next in the Derby area?

Ah mean, why else wuid onywan want to buy it ???

:lol:

Will do Ian,but i think that would cost more than the Battery did

It only occurred to us today that our last visit up to Derby was back in February How time flies.

But yes next time we venture up i will let you know

Yes the car was started without us been there each time we went to the dealers.The first time been when it was thick with frost,then the next day we asked to look at it again and again it was brought round to us without us seeing it start from cold.

But it turned over fine the other day when we first went out in it and that was after four days been in the garage

No lights were left on,apart from the alarm.The AA bloke said it could have been the central locking draining it??

Charlie no problem.I could just about hear you as i was sat revving the Rav up.I will let you know about the steps if Mrs P decides to go for em??

We are going back to the dealership in the morning with the old original Battery.

Also today we noticed that the whining noise i mentioned in my other post was noisier.Sounded like we had a truck right on our tail,when we was on the M-way.

I told my mate what had happened today and about the whining noise and he said it could be a bearing??

[Paulus17]

Batteries can go flat when stood for a period of time. The plates get sulphated and you end up with a dead cell. It is important to make sure nothing is left switched on but there could well be nothing wrong with it. We know the tiny battery on a 4.2 petrol is a weak spot and batteries hate standing unused.

There is a limit to what you can rob off the old car especially now the deal is done. You might well be asking for the engine back as an extreme example. You might get a payment off the dealer under the terms of the sale (not neccessarily the warranty as it won't cover consumables) as you haven't had it for a reasonable period.

Don't worry, you have done the right thing, this is just a glytch.

Thanks Don

We don't use the car now like we used to when i was driving.We would go every where but Mrs P isn't so keen on long trips and mainly uses the car for work,so the car some weekends doesn't get used,so the Battery drain is a worry which is why we decided to go for a new one today.The old Battery is the original.

We did say to the dealers about taking the new Battery out the old Rav which they agreed to do in the new year,so now we have the old one out we can take it back and get the other new one back as a spare.

Another thing we agreed to as well was the MOT.

We was told that a full twelve months would be put on as there was less then six months remaining.

But when we picked it up we was told to keep the current MOT and they would do free MOT when that was up giving us in effect seventeen months free MOT.

But will they pay for the repairs if any are found,such as a rear bearing possibly,or just the cost of the MOT??

Summat else i wanna sort out now.

[anchorman]

They should look after you with it being so new. I'm sure they will sort it out. Don't forget a diesel Battery will fit it.

[Paulus17]

They should look after you with it being so new. I'm sure they will sort it out. Don't forget a diesel battery will fit it.

I hope so Don.

The Battery we had today,we was told is a petrol/Diesel heavy duty that the AA supply now,with a three year warranty,Unipart is the make.

[CharlieFarlie]

I have a Diesel Battery sat in the garage that I took off My car.. It load tested perfectly allright but I changed it as I felt the engine was turning over a wee bit slowly..... Its no different with the new one !! If Anyone wants they can have it FOC.. Its perfectly OK and could help someone out.... Why Oh Why am I such a pedantic idiot ................. :unsure:

[firemac]

Batteries can go flat when stood for a period of time. The plates get sulphated and you end up with a dead cell. It is important to make sure nothing is left switched on but there could well be nothing wrong with it. We know the tiny battery on a 4.2 petrol is a weak spot and batteries hate standing unused.

There is a limit to what you can rob off the old car especially now the deal is done. You might well be asking for the engine back as an extreme example. You might get a payment off the dealer under the terms of the sale (not neccessarily the warranty as it won't cover consumables) as you haven't had it for a reasonable period.

Don't worry, you have done the right thing, this is just a glytch.

Thanks Don

We don't use the car now like we used to when i was driving.We would go every where but Mrs P isn't so keen on long trips and mainly uses the car for work,so the car some weekends doesn't get used,so the Battery drain is a worry which is why we decided to go for a new one today.The old Battery is the original.

We did say to the dealers about taking the new Battery out the old Rav which they agreed to do in the new year,so now we have the old one out we can take it back and get the other new one back as a spare.

Another thing we agreed to as well was the MOT.

We was told that a full twelve months would be put on as there was less then six months remaining.

But when we picked it up we was told to keep the current MOT and they would do free MOT when that was up giving us in effect seventeen months free MOT.

But will they pay for the repairs if any are found,such as a rear bearing possibly,or just the cost of the MOT??

Summat else i wanna sort out now.

If you're going to have a spare battery then it would be wise to invest in a trickle charger to keep it healthy. Otherwise, as Anchs has said, it will eventually sulphate itself through lack of use & be u/s.

[bothwell_buyer]

Regarding batteries, we have a pedestrian pallet truck - I guess its called a pedestrian as it has to be guided by a pedestrian and runs along at the pace of a slow pedestrian.

Anyway, the truck.lump had been in a container unused for 12 months.

When we moved into a massive warehouse in July, we recognised that this truck could now be of use. However as the Battery was flat (well maybe not flat... its a number of Battery cells each one being pretty big), we tried to manually lift it out of the container - too heavy so we used a sling and another telehandler to lift it out.

You can imagine the scene - 3 guys with no idea what they were doing and this lump weighing more than half a ton!

Well, did the bldy thing not coup over onto its side whereupon the Battery juices started draining out.

Panic struck as we all vacated the container for fear of getting our feet burnet off despite wearing safety boots. Hurriedlyish we managed to get the thing upright again and got the truck out of the container.

The next day I bought some distilled water (emptied the shops stock - 3 boxes of the stuff !). They suggested battery tablets to pep it up.. I bought them as I believed that anything would be better than nothing; since found I could have bought acid from the lift-truck dealer..... no doubt at horrendous cost (these guys know how to make a profit!!!) (You thought Toyota was bad??? :eek: )

Tablets shared amongst all the cells then topped up with litres of distilled water; put on charge for 2 days and its been working fine since with the battery lasting properly before needing a recharge.

Moral of the story?

Fit a pallet truck battery to yer RAV :wacko: :wacko:

[firemac]

Regarding batteries, we have a pedestrian pallet truck - I guess its called a pedestrian as it has to be guided by a pedestrian and runs along at the pace of a slow pedestrian.

Anyway, the truck.lump had been in a container unused for 12 months.

When we moved into a massive warehouse in July, we recognised that this truck could now be of use. However as the battery was flat (well maybe not flat... its a number of battery cells each one being pretty big), we tried to manually lift it out of the container - too heavy so we used a sling and another telehandler to lift it out.

You can imagine the scene - 3 guys with no idea what they were doing and this lump weighing more than half a ton!

Well, did the bldy thing not coup over onto its side whereupon the battery juices started draining out.

Panic struck as we all vacated the container for fear of getting our feet burnet off despite wearing safety boots. Hurriedlyish we managed to get the thing upright again and got the truck out of the container.

The next day I bought some distilled water (emptied the shops stock - 3 boxes of the stuff !). They suggested battery tablets to pep it up.. I bought them as I believed that anything would be better than nothing; since found I could have bought acid from the lift-truck dealer..... no doubt at horrendous cost (these guys know how to make a profit!!!) (You thought Toyota was bad??? :eek: )

Tablets shared amongst all the cells then topped up with litres of distilled water; put on charge for 2 days and its been working fine since with the battery lasting properly before needing a recharge.

Moral of the story?

Fit a pallet truck battery to yer RAV :wacko: :wacko:

Sounds a bit " Keystone Kops 'R Us"

[anchorman]

Trouble is bothy you should top up losses with electrolyte so it will have reduced the effectiveness of the Battery. In normal service, only the water is evapourated off so when topping up only distilled water should be added. Mixing electrolyte is very dangerous so should be done seperately. It can explode violently if not done properly.

[Parts-King]

My very first job when leaving school, filling all sorts of bus, fork lift, vehicle batteries with Battery acid. They give off hydrogen when being filled for the first time, ive seen many explode It was the 70's and nobody had heard of elfin safety in thos days :D:

King Acid Drop

[bothwell_buyer]

No worries tho as I cowered behind 2 trainees whilst filling the batteries. They were just curious as to what was going on. I offered them goggles, hats and a hiz viz vest whilst i wore the bomb-proof gear.

We all survived the explosion :lol:

I do wonder how the Battery unit is performing so well after being abused.

For others interest, our Ford transit batteries also 'go flat' after 2 weeks of the truck not being used. I've identified that things like leaving the taillift isolation switch switched on drains the battery; and the locking/alarm system doesn't help. The trackers don't seem to drain much. With one of the trucks, the radio doesn't actually switch off properly if the ignition is off and I was told its a problem with some Renault trucks.

Number 1s Battery is well flat having been stood for 6 months. I need to get it onto a charge!

[Paulus17]

Well we haven't long got back in after going to the dealers this morning.

So after two hours,they tested the Battery,thoroughly and found nothing wrong with it and there was no drain on the car itself,so it's a mystery as to why it went so flat so quick???

We got our other new Battery back from the old Rav and we was told we would get a refund for the new Battery we bought yesterday,but this will be in the new year,so that was fair we thought.

They also checked out for the whining noise by road testing and up on the ramp which again they could not find anything wrong mechanicaly,but said it could be the hard Bridgstone tyres.

They did offer to swap em round but they also said the noise would come back eventually,so we didn't bother???

[firemac]

Well we haven't long got back in after going to the dealers this morning.

So after two hours,they tested the battery,thoroughly and found nothing wrong with it and there was no drain on the car itself,so it's a mystery as to why it went so flat so quick???

We got our other new battery back from the old Rav and we was told we would get a refund for the new battery we bought yesterday,but this will be in the new year,so that was fair we thought.

They also checked out for the whining noise by road testing and up on the ramp which again they could not find anything wrong mechanicaly,but said it could be the hard Bridgstone tyres.

They did offer to swap em round but they also said the noise would come back eventually,so we didn't bother???

"the noise would come back eventually" Don't know how they figure that unless they have a crystal ball. I swapped mine successfully back in Sept and have done 6K miles since with no further noise issues. It's definitely worth a try.

One other thing though, Paul. I don't know what your previous RAV was but if it was higher spec than your new XT3, then it could be noisier simply because the higher spec models tend to have more/better sound proofing. Our '02 VX is a lot more refined & quieter than the '54 XT3.

[Paulus17]

Well we haven't long got back in after going to the dealers this morning.

So after two hours,they tested the battery,thoroughly and found nothing wrong with it and there was no drain on the car itself,so it's a mystery as to why it went so flat so quick???

We got our other new battery back from the old Rav and we was told we would get a refund for the new battery we bought yesterday,but this will be in the new year,so that was fair we thought.

They also checked out for the whining noise by road testing and up on the ramp which again they could not find anything wrong mechanicaly,but said it could be the hard Bridgstone tyres.

They did offer to swap em round but they also said the noise would come back eventually,so we didn't bother???

"the noise would come back eventually" Don't know how they figure that unless they have a crystal ball. I swapped mine successfully back in Sept and have done 6K miles since with no further noise issues. It's definitely worth a try.

One other thing though, Paul. I don't know what your previous RAV was but if it was higher spec than your new XT3, then it could be noisier simply because the higher spec models tend to have more/better sound proofing. Our '02 VX is a lot more refined & quieter than the '54 XT3.

To be honest Jim we had both had enough of waiting.My back was killing and we were both starving.

My mate is going to have a look tomorrow so i will see what he comes back with.

Our other Rav was a 2002 GX VVTI with over 100,000 on the clock.

The engineer said that the Nexen tyres that we had fitted to that Rav are a softer rubber so wouldn't have been as noisey as the Bridgstones??

[Grenadekidffere]

Just a point of reference on those Battery packs bothwell, if you ever find its not lasting long on the charge one or more of those Battery packs will be at the end of its life so test to find which one and bypass it. If its only one which i found on our own fork it will work ok without it and the faulty one usually keeps the rest of the pack linked after it from charging.

[jedi134]

It wouldn't suprise me if there is nothing wrong..... Could be the nexen tyres?....... I advised my sister to buy some once as they were cheap....she had pirrellies previously........

Sister reported back to me these tyres are poo......so much wheel spin for them in the wet.... When I sat in the car I could hear the tyres nothing but a tyre rummbeling noise....... I think nexan tyres are rubbish even thou they look good. Didn't tell my sister that though....:-). They were safe enough for the type of car they were on..... But were very noisy.

[Grenadekidffere]

My very first job when leaving school, filling all sorts of bus, fork lift, vehicle batteries with battery acid. They give off hydrogen when being filled for the first time, ive seen many explode It was the 70's and nobody had heard of elfin safety in thos days :D:

King Acid Drop

Seen a few explode myself mostly while charging, not a nice sight luckily nobody injured although one time when i was at the training centre some lads were charging a tractor Battery and one of the lads was sitting in the cab and reached out to wiggle the terminal and boom, luckily the glass windscreen saved him from being showered with acid. He had no arm left in his boilersuit when he put it on the next morning and slight acid burns to the hand. To this day i always get the jitters when disconnecting a Battery after charging