R230 Dual Battery On-board Electrical System

[PHUNN]

The 'state of play' is now up to Mk6 on the CTEK, so we're getting there, at least in terms of charge state.
The consumer battery was new two years ago, so I doubt that another new one is required just yet...
We'll see what tomorrow and a full charge brings.

 

[Big Janner]

The 'state of play' is now up to Mk6 on the CTEK, so we're getting there, at least in terms of charge state.
The consumer battery was new two years ago, so I doubt that another new one is required just yet...
We'll see what tomorrow and a full charge brings.

Keep at it
Nil Illegitimi nil carborundum

 

[PHUNN]

Well. the 'car' is still certainly a 'conundrum'.
And a bit of a 'B' too.
Ever impatient, with an essential need for some kitchen light bulbs, (to keep 'er indoors slightly mollified) I nipped out to click and collect.
The car and I skipped lightly, and quite enjoyably, over the necessary 14 mile round trip without difficulty. Certainly there was zero dashboard warning of impending doom.
So, home again. But the central locking still does not work and neither does the boot lid.
Back on charge as I type. This time I will wait until the full 'recon' process is complete.....

 

[LostKiwi]

It's entirely possible the pump has failed. Not all that uncommon unfortunately.

 

[PHUNN]

It's entirely possible the pump has failed. Not all that uncommon unfortunately.

Well, it could be.....
The CTEK has completed the task (MK7 'float' achieved) but regretfully no joy with the Central Locking or the boot lid.
And it's 'rain stopped play' too; so further investigations must wait until tomorrow.
Any suggestions about how an amateur sleuth might begin such investigations would be very well received please....

 

[PHUNN]

So we are now booked in for a plug-in diagnosis in two day's time.
Exciting times indeed: and an update.
A Sunday morning pilgrimage to get the paper and drop off the wife's empties at the bottle bank ground to an embarrassing halt.
I mentioned, in the earlier 'first contact' report that the gear stick had refused, for a short time, to move out of 'Park'.
Well, as you may imagine, that can be a bit of an impediment when parked at the bottle bank.
In fact I had to resort to the AA!
Who, by the way, were very efficient. Their phone system worked OK and they were on -scene within 30 minutes.
Patient too.
In common with many dental appointments the pain had gone away when the the AA arrived!
The 'operative' listened to my tale of woe, clambered into the car and.... the car had recovered!!!
No more sticking in 'park'.
But then, within a couple of seconds, it did again refuse to move.
The temporary remedy seems to require pumping the brake pedal. I can only assume this lifts brake pressure to a point which convinces some safety feature that the car may, after all, be safe to drive?
The AA kindly followed me part of the six mile journey home, including a short stop to get the Sunday paper and the car now sits waiting for the trial launch procedure on Thursday morning.

 

[Blobcat]

Have you had the brake pedal switch changed? It's a two part switch at the top of the brake pedal - controls quite a lot of things and can fail / become intermittent

 

[SL63 Mark]

Not sure what car you have, but if its an R23o SL, boot lid and central locking failure likely means the PSE pump has timed out, because of leaks, or possibly failed altogether, as they do. This is often caused by water in the boot. It sounds like your car is left out in the open, so check and see if the foam around the pump is wet. The car sticking in park is a common problem, that will only get worse. This is a relatively simple fix, and needs to be sorted asap.

 

[peterws1957]

So we are now booked in for a plug-in diagnosis in two day's time.
Exciting times indeed: and an update.
A Sunday morning pilgrimage to get the paper and drop off the wife's empties at the bottle bank ground to an embarrassing halt.
I mentioned, in the earlier 'first contact' report that the gear stick had refused, for a short time, to move out of 'Park'.
Well, as you may imagine, that can be a bit of an impediment when parked at the bottle bank.
In fact I had to resort to the AA!
Who, by the way, were very efficient. Their phone system worked OK and they were on -scene within 30 minutes.
Patient too.
In common with many dental appointments the pain had gone away when the the AA arrived!
The 'operative' listened to my tale of woe, clambered into the car and.... the car had recovered!!!
No more sticking in 'park'.
But then, within a couple of seconds, it did again refuse to move.
The temporary remedy seems to require pumping the brake pedal. I can only assume this lifts brake pressure to a point which convinces some safety feature that the car may, after all, be safe to drive?
The AA kindly followed me part of the six mile journey home, including a short stop to get the Sunday paper and the car now sits waiting for the trial launch procedure on Thursday morning.

Not to do with brake pressure, usually just failure of the switch as Blobcat says. The brake lights will still work by the way- the switch operates 2 circuits. I'd replace the switch, they are about £15 and see if this solves the problem. Lets hope it's not the stupid electric motor in the steering column which is a £5 chinese job in itself, but a world of pain and cost to actually replace. The central locking issue could very well be the pse pump starting to fail or a leak in one of the lines. As Mark says look at the foam casing to see if wet.

 

[SL63 Mark]

I think it is the plastic park pawl on the gear selector leaver, rather than the switch on the brake pedal that typically causes these to stick in park, the leather boot and the lever has to come off to fix it.

 

[PHUNN]

Very many thanks chaps for all your useful input. All these arcane factors only come to the attention of the truly dedicated.
Or, in my case, dessicated; which is how the car is kept relatively dry, at least on the inside. It does not appear to leak from the various well-documented points. But there is condensation and I suspect it is caused in part by the inevitable tendency for a wet opening boot lid to dump water inside. Another factor is the 'reservoir roof' panel, which also ladles liquid into the boot if there has been a shower of rain within a week before taking down the roof.
In consequence a 'Moisture Trap' normally lives in the car; and I like the smell of Lakeland's Aloe Vera...
End of advert.
'Mixed' news from the hospital visit today but perhaps only for the truly paranoid, like yours truly.
First we have the not-so-good news.
What makes fuses blow up?
Bigger brains than mine will understand why everything but central locking, the roof and very sporadically the gear shift lock seemed to work fine when, even 'despite' the fact that, one fuse had a problem.
The diagnostic was not Merc/Star; that will take place in a few weeks time when my Merc specialist, 40 miles away, will carry out the annual service.
The system used on this occasion was, I believe, VW. It indicated many stored faults, now cleared, and led to a question. Had I used a battery 'boost'?
The answer, of course, was negative. The CTEK I have mentioned before has been the only recharger, used on both bonnet and boot batteries.
So, to repeat, what caused the fuse to blow? Answer; don't know. Then, vexed question. When will it happen again?!!
However, next is the blinkin' marvellous news.
That's all it was!
A blown fuse in the cabin pannier box.
No pump, relay, sensor, switch, or all the other varied ills which could befall!!
Anyway, then the sun came out and in celebration down came the roof.
And the fairly brief journey home reminded me again of the reason why we persist with our joint and several obsession with these complicated. magical cars!

 

[Big Janner]

Well done that man

Enjoy

 

[LostKiwi]

Be warned:
The PSE pump fuse blowing is often a precursor to pump failure.
The carbon vanes in the pump break up and jam and blow the fuse. Once they start to break up.....

The good news is replacement vane parts are available on eBay but the do need tools to accurately set up correctly.

 

[peterws1957]

Very many thanks chaps for all your useful input. All these arcane factors only come to the attention of the truly dedicated.
Or, in my case, dessicated; which is how the car is kept relatively dry, at least on the inside. It does not appear to leak from the various well-documented points. But there is condensation and I suspect it is caused in part by the inevitable tendency for a wet opening boot lid to dump water inside. Another factor is the 'reservoir roof' panel, which also ladles liquid into the boot if there has been a shower of rain within a week before taking down the roof.
In consequence a 'Moisture Trap' normally lives in the car; and I like the smell of Lakeland's Aloe Vera...
End of advert.
'Mixed' news from the hospital visit today but perhaps only for the truly paranoid, like yours truly.
First we have the not-so-good news.
What makes fuses blow up?
Bigger brains than mine will understand why everything but central locking, the roof and very sporadically the gear shift lock seemed to work fine when, even 'despite' the fact that, one fuse had a problem.
The diagnostic was not Merc/Star; that will take place in a few weeks time when my Merc specialist, 40 miles away, will carry out the annual service.
The system used on this occasion was, I believe, VW. It indicated many stored faults, now cleared, and led to a question. Had I used a battery 'boost'?
The answer, of course, was negative. The CTEK I have mentioned before has been the only recharger, used on both bonnet and boot batteries.
So, to repeat, what caused the fuse to blow? Answer; don't know. Then, vexed question. When will it happen again?!!
However, next is the blinkin' marvellous news.
That's all it was!
A blown fuse in the cabin pannier box.
No pump, relay, sensor, switch, or all the other varied ills which could befall!!
Anyway, then the sun came out and in celebration down came the roof.
And the fairly brief journey home reminded me again of the reason why we persist with our joint and several obsession with these complicated. magical cars!

Which fuse was it though? As LK says above the pse pump fuse can blow prior to it failing. There's a really good YouTube on how to fix if the vanes disintegrate, but a pressure gauge is essential to set the thing up again.

 

[John Laidlaw]

The pumps themselves aren’t ridiculously expensive now

 

[Painter16]

So I change the battery in boot of my sl couple weeks ago and all is well again ,
So mine is not a agm battery what setting do I put it on my cetek to keep it top up and just wounded the old battery that was completely flat is the cetek powerful enough to fully charge this in recon mode if not perhaps this the reason it keep dying might it be worth trying charge on more powerful battery charger

 

[flowrider]

So I change the battery in boot of my sl couple weeks ago and all is well again ,
So mine is not a agm battery what setting do I put it on my cetek to keep it top up and just wounded the old battery that was completely flat is the cetek powerful enough to fully charge this in recon mode if not perhaps this the reason it keep dying might it be worth trying charge on more powerful battery charger

What makes you think the boot battery isnt AGM? It should be! Never use recon on an AGM battery, it will kill it.

 

[Painter16]

What makes you think the boot battery isnt AGM? It should be! Never use recon on an AGM battery, it will kill it.

It doesn’t say agm anywhere on the battery and when I got new battery I ask is it agm and it came up on the info as a stop start battery bog standard acid battery ,

 

[Painter16]

Just got technical details up of the battery and there is no mention of agm anywhere,

 

[Oldcodger]

Stop/start batteries are usually AGM