I had a 2007 Freelander 2 SE for two years and 40,000 miles and during that time it would not start on three occasions due to a flat battery. I traded it in for an HSE model in October 2009 and since then that has done the same trick three times!! The garage does not have a clue and in a way I don't blame them - something is clearly discharging the battery overnight and by the time I have turned the car on any clue to the discharge has disappeared. On two of the occasions with the current vehicle I was in situations where the failure was very inconvenient, although in one case I jump started it and in the other LRA were out within half an hour. I now carry a £120 jump start pack around with me - a strange accessory for a £30k new car!!

Anyone else had a similar experience? Any clues or comments before I summon the courage to do battle with the garage (again)? Any help much appreciated.

Early Cars had a problem with the satnav not powering down

Could they put a volt meter on it, then when it should have gone to sleep start pulling different system fuses, that way they might, through process of elimination, work out what's draining the battery?

Also is the battery getting a full charge between drains?

Hope you get it sorted  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

The problem arises when the car is locked and left overnight (after substantial use during the previous day in dalylight conditions), so whilst I understand your suggestion it seems to me that as soon as the key is activated the car will come alive again and the condition causing the discharge will be obscured before any fuses can be pulled. It's the mechanical equivalent of Schrödinger's cat!

The only explanation offered so far was the first time when it happened on the 07 model. LRA said that a software glitch caused the radio/CD player to stay on if switched on (perhaps accidentally) after the ignition key was removed, i.e. the low power mode was not causing it to switch off after 15 mins or so as it should do. They upgraded the software, but I still had two more instances, one two months later and one six months after that, with no evidence that the radio was on when I got into the car.

There is no apparent reason for the failure and it can happen any time, hence the decision to buy a jump start kit. I would welcome any comment from anyone who has had a similar problem and who has had some apparently helpful advice from a dealer. My dealer (Marshalls of Cambridge) are not - IMHO - at all good at this sort of thing, having failed miserably to diagnose a clear fault with the cold start routine on the 07 model that - it turned out - caused it to attempt to start without running the glowplug cycle. You can imagine the struggle to fire it up the morning it was minus 11. Their diagnosis? "They are all like that, mate..." Now that I have one that does run a proper colde start cycle I can see what was wrong with the old one!

I have had a flat battery once on my 09 GS ie: no sat nav. or blue tooth. 2 things i have noticed, when you lock the car with the fob, first click, there is a slight whistle from under the bonnet that stops with the second click on the fob.
one time it continued even after second click, so unlocked and locked again and noise had stopped.
second thing when you turn on the radio it is almost quicker than instant to come on, like it is coming on from standby as opposed to off. where as my company vauxhall takes about 1 second to come on.
I would be interested to here if others are the same  Al C

I have EXACTLY the same issue!!

I now leave the car on a trickle charger when not in use... thats no way to run a car!

Lookers (Park Royal) changed the relay.... to no avail

I have know of two different faults causing flat batteries.

1:- Automatic lights left to automatic somehow flattened the battery. Try leaving them in the off position.
(I think this is covered on a remap under code P60? not sure if I’m remembering that correctly)

2:- In tank fuel pump ran after switch off and flatten the battery. New fuel pump relay needed.


Ed Freelander 2 XS 2.2 TD4 Met Black, with Winter pack, 18" alloys with General Grabber AT2 wellies, MANTEC Sump and Tank Guards

My car is often left for 2 to 3 days without being used and five times (all cold mornings) this year it has failed to start. The car has had two lengthy visits to the dealers who have been unable to replicate the fault or find any drain on the battery.
The last instance of this was in March and now that the weather has warmed up it seems to be behaving itself (although I keep the jump start pack fully charged just in case).

My question is of those that have had similar problems is what was the temperature when the car failed to start?

I am beginning to believe that this is cold related, could it be that there is no drain on the battery but when the the car is unlocked that something kicks in and has drained the battery enough that the starting procedure cannot be completed.

When my battery went flat temperature was very mild ie: 10oC +, my battery has not gone flat since, but it dents your confidence in the car and like yourself i now carry jump start pack. Not good!
But still best car i have ever owned  Al C

I had a flat battery after the car was left in the garage for 5 days without using. The RACV mechanic who came out and started the car without any problems via a second battery, said it was a common problem with modern cars that have electronic components running even when the car is switched off and the keys removed. He likened it to switching the TV via the remote, it shuts down but is still drawing a small current from the power because it's in standby mode. The answer - later confirmed by Land Rover - is to always lock the car with the remote even if it's sitting, as mine was, in a locked garage. Land Rover also said that if the car is left locked for an extended period, say 3 plus weeks, it will shut down completely and not respond to the remote. In those circumstances you need to unlock the car with the metal standby key, via the the front passenger door, and then insert the remote key as usual when everything will wake up again. So, not a fault as such, and certainly not restricted to Land Rovers, which came as a relief.

Just had my second flat battery episode. The first i put down to low outside temperature -7C and not using the vehicle for four days however this time the vehicle had been used the day before and the outside temperature was 14C. On both occassions the battery was checked as good and no apparant drain when all doors locked. so whats causing this problem???
Apart from carrying a spare battery in the back I think LR should extend the Land rover assist for vehicles suffering this problem.
Why should I have to Pay to call out a garage just to jump start the Freelander when it is out of warranty!!!

Thats two problems i have had on the freelander that i have not had on any other new car and i have had a number over the last 46 years of driving, first the steering rack and now flat battery syndrome. Freelander 2 TD4 GS Auto with Winter Pack, Stornaway Grey, Ebony, Grey Mirror Caps. Removable towbar with 13 pin Electrics

EdSnow wrote:

I have know of two different faults causing flat batteries.

1:- Automatic lights left to automatic somehow flattened the battery. Try leaving them in the off position.
(I think this is covered on a remap under code P60? not sure if I’m remembering that correctly)

2:- In tank fuel pump ran after switch off and flatten the battery. New fuel pump relay needed.


Ed

Simon CSK wrote:

2:- I had a fuel sender tank problem which caused me to run out of fuel. I spent an hour with LR assist at ASDA one evening after filling up with fuel whilst the technician treid to lift the fuel from my tank to the engine all because there was no in tank fuel pump fitted on the FL2. The car eventually had to go to the dealer to be bled.

Not that LR would reccommend it, but if your stuck and you need to lift fuel from tank to engine you can try this:
Remove air filter.
While assistant cranks over engine, spray either brake cleaner or "easy start" into air intake.
Periodically stop to give starter time to cool - 30 seconds cranking is a long time.

Works for 07 Astra and 08 Defender, if you rip out the fuel line when off-roading - Defender was following 2 x FL2 and didn't make it.  Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

Don't know whether this helps, but I've had no further problems since following the routine of always locking the car.

egipp wrote:

I had a flat battery after the car was left in the garage for 5 days without using. The RACV mechanic who came out and started the car without any problems via a second battery, said it was a common problem with modern cars that have electronic components running even when the car is switched off and the keys removed. He likened it to switching the TV via the remote, it shuts down but is still drawing a small current from the power because it's in standby mode. The answer - later confirmed by Land Rover - is to always lock the car with the remote even if it's sitting, as mine was, in a locked garage. Land Rover also said that if the car is left locked for an extended period, say 3 plus weeks, it will shut down completely and not respond to the remote. In those circumstances you need to unlock the car with the metal standby key, via the the front passenger door, and then insert the remote key as usual when everything will wake up again. So, not a fault as such, and certainly not restricted to Land Rovers, which came as a relief.

Had the same thing last Friday went to the car in the morning and the battery was discharged completely this was after driving back from Devon so no way the battery was low the previous evening.

I had HDC error and terrain error etc and after the car was jumped by Land Rover Assistance it had no instruments so the car had to go to Land Rover for a software re-boot so they say

Surely this should now be being investigated by Land Rover as it must cost them time and money to drive around re-booting our dead cars

This is a very interesting thread/subject, my thanks to you all for constructive inputs (not always the case on FreeL2) which may well prove useful in the event of such a breakdown.

With regard to our MY2010 FL2: It has so far never not started. It sits outside (garage full of other 2 & 4 wheeled vehicles) and is often not used for days (or a couple of weeks) in temperatures down to minus 27°C last winter. It is however always locked.

So maybe the RAC-VM & LR have got it right - you must lock down the FL2 always on very occasion.