Hi everybody!

A very strange thing happened. I drove my Freelander 2 TD4 S daily, for about 4 days, for short trips (around 5km each). After that I left the car in the garage.
After about 2 weeks I needed to start the car and a very strange thing happened. I got in the car, I tried to insert the key in the slot, but the electrical mechanism which pulls the key in didn't work. After a few tries I noticed that the interior lights had very low intensity. Than I realized that the battery could be the problem. When I checked the battery voltage (with the voltmeter), the value was 4V! Immediately I have charged the battery (for about 24h). On the next day I have tested the battery (with a battery tester) and the test was OK (the battery was well charged). I installed the battery on the car, the engine started very well and since than everything works normally.
Since than I check the current value (with an ampermeter) when the car is stopped (parked). The value, after about 2 minutes from stopping the engine, is about 0,005 Amps, which seems to be OK (could never discharge the battery so hard as presented above),
Also I have checked the alternator voltage when the engine is working and the value is around
14,1 Vdc, which means the battery is well charged by the car’s alternator.
Could anyone help me with a suggestion of what I have to check or to do on this situation.
Thank you.

When you do very small runs, it takes more current from the battery than is replaced by the alternator.

Therefore every short run reduces the available charge in the battery, especially in this cold weather.

I usualy use the car for long drives (at least 20 km).
It was an exception that time that I have to do short drives.
Anyway, on that situation the battery voltage dropped to 4V. so it was verry discharged.
I think that one of the internal consumers of the car (not the ones I can turn off) remained connected and so discharged the battery.
It's not because of the short runs, that's for sure.

Last edited by Ionut on 20th Sep 2011 12:55 pm. Edited 1 time in total

Did you leave the car double locked - two presses on the key lock
If not I believe your likely to run the battery down faster - this has been discussed earlier on the forum  2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.

I don't remember exactly if it was double locked.
Anyway, thank you for the information

Last edited by Ionut on 20th Sep 2011 12:55 pm. Edited 1 time in total

My Battery went flat after about 4 days standing still in temperatures of -7c. Dealer Checked battery drain and charging ok.

I am monitoring the battery drain by checking the votage drop on an hourly/Daily basis by leaving a voltmeter in the auxillary socket as i do not want to disconnect the battery.

After leaving the battery voltage to settle down, after 12 hours the drain seems to be in the order of 0.06volt drain in 24 Hours. Don't know at present if this is acceptable.

My charging voltage when running, again with the test meter in the Aux socket, is about 14.5 volts.

Hope this helps you compare your FL2 Freelander 2 TD4 GS Auto with Winter Pack, Stornaway Grey, Ebony, Grey Mirror Caps. Removable towbar with 13 pin Electrics

It is almoust the same situation.
Still, my car was parked for about 2 weeks in the garage with the temperature between 12 - 18C.

I'm also monitoring the battery, and the current drain.

If you have noticed, the current drain drops to 0,01A after about 3 minutes after stoping the enigine and locking the doors.
My question is if anybody knows which are the consumers (that produce the current drain) that stop automatically in this 3 minutes interval after stoping the engine and locking the doors

Ionut wrote:

My question is if anybody knows which are the consumers (that produce the current drain) that stop automatically in this 3 minutes interval after stoping the engine and locking the doors

Thank you for the info.

I bet its ur altenator draining it. Seen it scores of times on machinery.

Have you checked for the bleedin' obvious? I don't recall if the vanity light stays on once the car is locked but it's the kind of thing that can be overlooked: did a passenger turn it on then fold the visor up, perhaps?
A 5w bulb left on for two weeks would do this kind of damage (anything drawing more current would have killed the battery stone dead). SE on an 07 plate

Yes, I have checked the interior lights and all of them were in normal position (turn off after closing the doors).

And I have checked the current drain since then and now everything looks OK.

I realy don't know what happened.

Hi,Im an electrician and by the sounds of it your battery is faulty.Firstly the average age of a batteries life is 3-5years max in a healthy one.Allthough we think of the battery as being 12vdc a healthy battery holding charge should be arround 13.5 volts. In realy cold conditions the voltage will drop and rise accordingly.the best way to see if your battery is on the way out would be to take a voltage reading then turn on the headlights for two minutes then off again and recheck the voltage,it should still be the same,if not then theres a problem internaly with one or more of the batteries internal plates.
Another way would be to check the batteries fluid with a Hydrometer which will test it and tell you if its still within the spec.if you dont feel that you want to do this most garrages will check it for you.You said that the battery discharged down to 4volts,well if this is the case then the battery is now permantly damaged as dropping so low will kill the batteries ability to fully recharge and to be able to hold the charge for periods of time.Hope this helps

The questions is what could discharge the battery to 4V

After that situation I have charged the battery 24h and than I have tested it with a battery tester (I work in the field of batteries, so I have this kind of devices). You are right that this very deep discharge could damage the battery, but it recovered very well during the charge and the tester showed a healthy battery.
Now I'm monitoring the battery and seems to be OK and the engine starts very well

Thats a hell of a lot of current drain for such a short period of time.there are many things that could be causing a current drain from a sticking relay to a loose connection some where.
Have you had any extra electrical devices fitted,do you have a phone charger permantly plugged into the rear power point witch is permantly live with keys out of the ignition.
Personaly i still think you have a faulty battery as they can go duff realy at any time.you could always try returning to landrover or if you have your own fault code reader plug it in and scan for stored fault codes but its unlikely its stored any fault codes but worth a try.
Do you double lock the car when not in use because if you dont and only single lock it the car stays in standby mode ready for a quick getaway if you like.Heavy current drain would be things like heated screens,heated seats,blower and aircon etc.Anyway if it still keeps happening the cheapest route to go down would be changing the batery for a more heavy duty one but i hope you find out the outcome as ive heard of a few cases of batery problems and would be good to know for the future.