Iq Battery Problems

[barrycoll]

a frantic phone call from my dear wife to say that the IQ 2 wouldn't start.....

the problem was a bit garbled but it seems as though on first try, the green light came on with the foot on the brake pedal, but no mechanical action

I told her to get out of the car, and lock it, and then start again

the second time, there was no green light, only orange, and then nada....apparently all the dash lights were on, which was a mystery

I phoned our local Toy factory, and the guy said that it was probably the Battery, but this seemed very odd at only a bit less less than 3 years, and no car I have owned went futt in that time

......on the other hand, no car has had auto lights that stay on when you switch the engine off, but dont open the door!

nor have I used a head-up-display that must be a drain even when not in use

in fact the HUD should have some sort of switch to shut it down....

the breakdown folk put jump leads on, and the car was fine............but what to do next???

new Battery??

no HUD??

sounds like Tarquin needs to put his thinking hat on!!!

cheers folks barryc

[s44gtw]

Just have a 'Drop Test' carried out on the Battery,

if it is not going to hold a charge with regular long runs or some extra charging in the winter when doing only short runs, get a new Battery.

(here comes the cold weather)

Toyota have no idea of the life of the Battery they have fitted for UK use in an iQ untill the 3 or 4 years have passed.

Many batteries now die at around 3 years old and a bit.

Much depends on users usage.

In fact the Battery is not 3 years old if the car was Registered for the road 3 years ago, who knows how old the Battery actually is.

(or if some cheeky monkey swaps your good battery for their older one when your car is sitting getting work someplace, it happens as talked about on here before.)

Funnily i had a Saxo in for a MOT last week & after it passed i thought 'treat it to a new battery,'

as it was still on its original from 2001 and a few times now needed a boost after sitting a few days.

The guy had 5 'new wrapped 'Toyota' Batteries sitting and i bought one for £40.

Nice strong battery for an Automatic.

My iQ's did not actually have Toyota Branded batteries fitted!

Others here will know or may soon know how long their 2009 iQ's go before the battery expires.

george

[barrycoll]

thanks for the input George....

you are so right about the age of the Battery.....it could well be a quick swap in the car lot, or just be an old batch when the car was assembled....

in a weeks time, I will be leaving the car in the drive for 5 weeks, so I can't imagine it surviving that sort of treatment....even if it shows life now

what Battery replacement would you suggest George, a Tot original (quoted £80....!), or a Kwikfit at £70, or other on-line suppliers quouting £41

alternatively I could trickle charge while I am away, but what would other folk do out there???

cheers barryc

[s44gtw]

My choice would be my Local Motor Factors and ask for a quality Battery at a good price.

(If you can change it yourself.)

I would avoid Halff truthfords & kwink flit cheats at all costs.

A Toyota dealership might actually be cheaper or better quality than either of those.

I always trickle charge vehicle batteries during the Winter Months if they are not doing long trips daily & when parked up i use a Solar charger if needed when parked away from Electric Sources.

george

[sweet-dentist]

My choice would be my Local Motor Factors and ask for a quality battery at a good price.

(If you can change it yourself.)

I would avoid Halff truthfords & kwink flit cheats at all costs.

A Toyota dealership might actually be cheaper or better quality than either of those.

I always trickle charge vehicle batteries during the Winter Months if they are not doing long trips daily & when parked up i use a Solar charger if needed when parked away from Electric Sources.

george

Yes... trickle charge is what I do with the batterie of my motorcycle... it has an alarm... and otherwise the batterie is empty in a couple of weeks.... and then also very dead.... :-(

[craggle]

I have an Accumate Battery charger, maintainer thing that stays connected on my other car during it's winter retirement. It monitors Battery voltage and does all sorts of fancy things apparently to keep the Battery in top codition.

The battery in there has lasted 6 years so far and is still perfect spining the big V8 over with no troubles.

Would the iQ complain if you disconected the battery for 5 weeks?

Craig.

[Soeley]

I have wondered in the past with the Stop Start technology. Does it mean the Battery will not last as long as they do on more conventional cars.

As now you could do 10 engine restarts in a journey, where as you would only do one (unless you stalled it of course).

[SallyIQ]

I have had this happen a few times recently and my car is a Feb 2009 one so pretty much 3 years old. I havent queried it with Toyota yet as Ive always managed to get it to start after a few minutes and then it doesnt happen again for a few weeks...

[tarquin]

I have only one thing to add if you are thinking of disconnecting the Battery. It is far better to disconnect the iQ Battery for longer than 30mins than a quick discon recon because it effects the management map in the ECU and confuses it. It is better to let the components lose their charge (30mins) so on re-connection it can re-build. Disconnecting it for long periods is fine but remember they will slowly discharge on their own even with no load.

David

[barrycoll]

thanks for the Battery advice George......will look up motor factor prices/quality

what do you think of the continuous HU-display drain Tarquin???...is there a way around this, other than disconnect at the OBE socket???

cheers barryc

[tarquin]

Its nice to know you have a socket in your car that has got an OBE for outstanding contribution to socketry

This is a difficult one if you dont have a meter for measuring current. Ideally you should disconnect the fully charged battery's positive lead and connect a current meter in line with it. Most even cheap multi meters have a 10amp mode. Take a reading with out the HUD connected and nothing switched on. Make a note of it and connect the HUD. On my peugeot the OBD connector is not powered until ignition is on. Thought the iQ was the same. Will check tomorrow. If you managed to do the measurements. Then let me have the results i can tell you the what the drain effects would be. Hope that helps. Should be in the order of low milliamps

Davis

[tonyishuk]

in a weeks time, I will be leaving the car in the drive for 5 weeks, so I can't imagine it surviving that sort of treatment....even if it shows life now

alternatively I could trickle charge while I am away, but what would other folk do out there???

cheers barryc

You can leave an intelligent charger such as http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk Used by motorhomers to keep up Battery levels whilst in storage .

I have a 3600 and 7000 both over 2 years old. Boring really, does what it says on the label very well

Rgds

[sweet-dentist]

Strange thing is though... that when I use my trickel charger on my iQ... happens that my DRL go on, while charging...

So you see the lights go on and off and on and off and on and off..... in time lapse.....

Strange...

Peter

[tarquin]

After that do they go, On and off on and off on and off

David

[sweet-dentist]

[dash]

Got a panic call from the wife today before she departed for work to tell me there was nothing more than a click when pressing the starter button.

I thought maybe starter solenoid sticking (never imagining the problem to be a flat battery). Our iQ is 2 weeks short of 3 years old with 11000 miles on the clock.

When I got home it was obvious the Battery was flat (dash display dim, fuel gauge not indicating anything, everything dimmed to nothing when pressing starter button). Tried jump leads from my Saab, but no joy, just a very slow 'churn' of the engine and smoke from the jump leads!!

Called RMB Toyota who wanted the car not just the Battery (as, understandably, they needed to check/report the charge rate as well as Battery condition). How to get the car to Toyota if unable to start the car? This is where their Knight in Shining Armour came in... One of their maintenance technicians came to our house on his way home armed with power booster. The idea being that if he could start the car from the booster today, he would come back in the morning, start the car with the booster again, take the car to the dealership, get the battery replaced (and electrics checked) and return the car once fixed.

He put his meter on the battery to find it was showing only 9V. Got it started using his power booster and then measured 13.5V charge level.

So now awaiting outcome. Looks to me like at least one cell has failed in the battery, which should be covered by warranty.

Never had a battery fail at this age. Last failed battery was on a 12 year old car...

Dave

[dash]

Hmmm.. the plot thickens.

After assisted start last night (our Battery being completely flat) using a power booster, and then leaving engine running for 5mins, our iQ started this morning (easily) without power booster support.

So the Battery obviously lost no power last night and appears to be amazingly healthy (not having a failed cell).

Awaiting feedback from RMB Toyota while they continue discharge monitoring.

I'm very confused/concerned as how the Battery discharged itself completely over a period of 36 hours, and now appears so healthy that it started the car after only a few minutes of charge.

Could proximity of keys (inside the house) cause significant battery drain through wireless chatter?

Last night the keys were in the same place as usual (just a brick wall between the car and the keys), but this time interior light was set to off, not the usual auto position.

I'm wondering whether if the keys were just close enough to register with the car that maybe the interior light was coming on.

I will check, but if the keys are close to the car does the interior light stay illuminated or go off after a few seconds?

Could the wireless connection, if at the limit of range, be making and breaking causing the interior light to keep activating?

After that I'm stuck for ideas...

Dave

[tarquin]

Having spoken to you off line and had another think, usually when the Battery drains down over that period with a unknown load on it, it goes down to 2volts or less. It still looks like a poor cell having ended up at 9v. I assume she got into the car by normal means i.e smart entry, one assumes that circuitry can operate at around that voltage. On the Monday morning i assume the car didn't crank over but was inhibited by electronics.( I think you said it just clicked a lot). I still suspect the cell in the Battery intermittently going short.

david

[dash]

Well, after more tests at RMB Toyota this afternoon the Battery scored only 40% on the Toyota Battery test. So Battery replaced. Our iQ is back home now after its transplant and any worries hopefully behind us!!

I think we need to do regular long trips; the car currently only does short commutes and trips around town

Dave

[tarquin]

Excellent result Dave. Puts your mind at rest

David