Battery/power Problems On A 2007 Diesel Rav4

[Andy at Bosham]

Hello all,

New to this forum but hope you can offer some advice:

I have a 57 plate Rav4 Diesel XTR - great car and no problems to date but lately we have had flat Battery problems. here is a summary of what has happened:

About a month ago I foolishly drained the car Battery leaving ignition on and when discovered jump started the car from my wifes Mini. Car started and no further problems for about a month. Last week I was unloading the car in the dark and so left the lights on but for no more than 5 minutes. Car would not start and seemed to be a Battery issue so jump started the car again - it started no problem on jump start.

two days later having left the car overnight (with nothing left on) would again not start the next morning - seemed again to be battery issue. This time I charged the battery from a charger and following the charge it started fine. It's driven since (4 days) with no problems but obviously I have a worry that this could occur again at any time.

Took the car to my Toyota dealer who did a quick check but they could not find any problems either with the battery or alternator. I have booked it in for a more detailed check next week. Clearly the battery is loosing charge but the dealer says its reading fine.

Any thoughts on this from the RAV4 experts on this site?

On a separete point I have had a slight oil loss over the year (am aware of the problem with the D4D engine for this year) although car drives fine with good fuel economy. Should I investigate this futher. I did mention this to the dealer but they said the oil loss quantity did not suggest a problem.

[igormus]

hello

you might to have the following issues:

- electricity leak in glow plugs relay flatting battery;

- Battery internal (+) contact about to die.

i ve has something similar before on two cars.

regards / Igor

[crofter]

Hi Andy and a warm welcome to a great club.

To add to Igors responce.

It sounds as if it may be you are not doing enough miles to replace the juice you take out the Battery when you start the car and if so it will then go flat. Charging the Battery overnight will make it last longer which is what you have mentioned where as a jump start will add nothing.except a liitle bit that is left over from the alternator after it has supplied current to the electrical items you use whil'st driving.

Could you also add a bit more about what happened when the car would not start,like,did it turn over too slowly to "catch" or did it just click when you turned the key and do you have a multimeter?

The more info you give will help the members to offer solutions and you to maybe save you some £££££s and time.

No expert Del

[Andy at Bosham]

Hi and many thanks for the welcome and advice,

To give some more detail when the Battery lost power I had all the usual lights on the ignition but then not enough power to turn the starter, so it did not turn at all. Car lights, radio etc all were fine however.

I do not do many miles in the car (8-9 K a year) and most of my trips are small local journeys so it's possible it could drain the car and not have an opportunity to recharge the Battery. I have had the air con on a lot lately with the warm weather but don't run any extra in car accessories such as sat nav using the Battery will be what was on the car when built. I don't have a multimeter.

[DjRav]

Hi and many thanks for the welcome and advice,

To give some more detail when the battery lost power I had all the usual lights on the ignition but then not enough power to turn the starter, so it did not turn at all. Car lights, radio etc all were fine however.

I do not do many miles in the car (8-9 K a year) and most of my trips are small local journeys so it's possible it could drain the car and not have an opportunity to recharge the battery. I have had the air con on a lot lately with the warm weather but don't run any extra in car accessories such as sat nav using the battery will be what was on the car when built. I don't have a multimeter.

Found this;

"The average car Battery has a life expectancy of three to five years. Extreme temperature changes or frequent, short trips can adversely affect a car battery's life span"

Could be as simple as "needs a new battery". They are consumable items so won't be a complete waste of money either way (and if it doesn't help you'll have a spare!)

Shame they're so expensive!

Dave

[anchorman]

It may never fully charge if you completely depleted the Battery.

You need to trickle charge the Battery for at least 12 hours or better still 24. Only then should the proper Battery drop test be done. Of course, renewing the battery will cure it as you will be fitting a charged battery. A CTEK battery charger can be pluged in while you are not using the car (with a plug in the glove box) and you will never have battery problems with low mileage.

[Andy at Bosham]

Many thanks for the comments - that gives me much more of an insight.