Flat battery - Engine Fan kicking in for no reason

Hi There,

My girlfriend owns a TD4 (commercial van version), which she bought second hand couple of months ago and she's really happy with it as she can put the dogs in and go off-road with them. (She's a vet)

About three weeks ago, we went for a drive of 45 mins, parked the car and went for a walk of about an hour, came back and flat battery. Assumed we'd left a light on got a jump start.

ECU light was on and the guy who jump started us turned out to be a LR dealer and said that it might need resetting due to the flat battery.

Took it to Halfords who said the battery was fine and was charging ok. Did notice the fan come on in the car park for no reason. (Very cold weather and we'd only driven for about 10 minutes.)

Got home fine and next morning, flat battery again. RAC comes out, jump starts it and looks at the codes. He said most of them were caused by the flat battery. Resets them and disconnects the engine cooler fan fuse and says that we should take it to an electrical specialist.

Next morning, dead battery again. We could hear some sort of relay kicking in and it sounded like it was coming from underneath the gear box.

Anyways, I put the car on a trickle charger and leave it for 24 hours. Car starts running OK.

Took it to a garage and they couldn't find anything wrong that would cause the battery to run flat.

Called out a mobile electrical specialist who spent an hour trying to figure it all out and couldn't find anything wrong. Both mechanics said the battery is the original one from 2004 and the green ball had disappeared and suggested that we change the battery.

Changed the battery by a garage today and short while later, the fan kicks in again. If I turn the ignition on/off, it stops the fan. It's now happened twice in the past couple of hours and I fear it's going to run the battery down again overnight.

I'm not the most technical person when it comes to cars (i.e. I barely know where the engine is located) but any suggestions would be appreciated. The electrician who had looked it couple of weeks ago offered to come out and test it all over again free of charge if a new battery didn't fix it. He's very kindly coming out tonight to have a look.

Last time, he cleared out the following codes from the computer:

- P1605
- P1844
- C1151
- C1154
- C1148
- C1149

Sorry, forgot to add, FL1, TD4, 2004

Where abouts are you matey ?

In Redhill..

Redhill, Surrey

Voodoo78 said:

Redhill, Surrey

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I was born and grew up in Redhill!! I'll be there between Xmass and new year if it's any help?

Nodge68 said:

I was born and grew uo there!! I'll be there between Xmass and new year if it's any help?

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Thanks for the offer. I've got a mobile electrician coming to have a look at the vehicle. One of my colleagues has found that if we take out the attached relay out, (image attached) then the fan stops working and doesn't drain the battery.

Also, taking it in and out, it triggers the fan. What's interesting is that when you put the relay back in, you hear another relay "ticking" continuously before the fan kicks in and from what we could ascertain, the sound is coming from somewhere underneath the gearbox. (Auto).

If the electrician doesn't have any clues, I'll be sure to ask for help here. Also, if he does find the problem, I'll report back here.

Ok the latest update:

When the electrician came, he found a lot of error codes and suggested that most of them have come on due to the battery running flat.

However, what he has noticed is that even after we lock the car down and wait 5-10 minutes, the little red light by the auto gear box is still staying on, which he reckons means the Central Control Unit is still staying on and not shutting down properly.

Anyone know how long the car is supposed to stay active for after locking the doors?

Voodoo - do you mean the red light on the dash which shows the alarm is set - or the little red lamp near the gear selector stick?

S.

Singvogel said:

Voodoo - do you mean the red light on the dash which shows the alarm is set - or the little red lamp near the gear selector stick?

S.

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The little red lamp near the gear selector stick.

Voodoo78 said:

The little red lamp near the gear selector stick.

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The red light beside the 'P' on the panel shuts down after 15 seconds - as does all the other things that are connected to the ECU.

Thats if you switch the ignition on and then off after a few seconds or so.

If the engine has been running it might take a little longer - but no more than 30 seconds.

Inside the ECU magic box of tricks is a little fan which you can just hear quietly whirring away - I am aware of when it shuts down.

After about another 20 seconds the red alarm / immobiliser lamp starts to flash.

Hope that helps.

Singvogel.

Singvogel said:

The red light beside the 'P' on the panel shuts down after 15 seconds - as does all the other things that are connected to the ECU.

Thats if you switch the ignition on and then off after a few seconds or so.

If the engine has been running it might take a little longer - but no more than 30 seconds.

Inside the ECU magic box of tricks is a little fan which you can just hear quietly whirring away - I am aware of when it shuts down.

After about another 20 seconds the red alarm / immobiliser lamp starts to flash.

Hope that helps.

Singvogel.

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Ah, well, the light has stayed on for 45 mins and the electrician thinks this is the problem. He reckons the car isn't shutting down completely..

Anyone have any ideas as to why this would happen and how to rectify the it?

Well, the plot thickens.

Locked the car up late last night, and this morning, the red light by the P on the gear selector was still on when I went to the car.

I then did two very short journeys and then did another one for 10 mins to go to a park to walk the dogs. Parked up, turned the ignition off and the engine stayed on.

Put the key in again, turned the ignition on and drove around the car park, parked up, turned the key off, pulled it out, got out and locked the car. It kept on running. It was as if it had a "run lock" mechanism the police and emergency services use.

The only way to turn the engine off was to pull out the relay that I'd mentioned in my earlier post.

Engine is behaving normally once again but the Engine Management light has come on.

Voodoo78 said:

Well, the plot thickens.

Locked the car up late last night, and this morning, the red light by the P on the gear selector was still on when I went to the car.

I then did two very short journeys and then did another one for 10 mins to go to a park to walk the dogs. Parked up, turned the ignition off and the engine stayed on.

Put the key in again, turned the ignition on and drove around the car park, parked up, turned the key off, pulled it out, got out and locked the car. It kept on running. It was as if it had a "run lock" mechanism the police and emergency services use.

The only way to turn the engine off was to pull out the relay that I'd mentioned in my earlier post.

Engine is behaving normally once again but the Engine Management light has come on.

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Ignition switch???

Steve_R1979 said:

Ignition switch???

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That's what I thought initially but the lights on the dashboard are switching off.