Have just replaced my old Grand Voyager with a late model 2007 and the auxillary cabin light comes on and have noticed smoke or steam coming from drivers side near sliding door, is this normal, have had it back to the car sales where I bought it and they it is but quite alarming to see what looks like smoke pouring out from under car, only does it when this light is on never had this on my 2000 model. Thanks

 

- a useless test, good for quick & dirty analysis only
- all garages swear by the 'drop test', till they use a proper test
- is so old and useless as a main battery, even top on the rage six year guarantee batteries are only good for three years
- is a given, even if you put a brand new top of the range battery on """not using the vehicle as much as I should""" will kill the battery

(1) Lifestyle, then (2) age then (2) wrong choice in that order, search this forum for >lifestyle< and you will find many opinions on why our GV's are bad starters in the winter and why lifestyle is the primary issue. I'm in my 4th week of de-sulphing my 18 month old Bosch wet calcium S5 - see Leedsmans post here.

Come back with any questions, but essentially your GV needs to be plugged into a 'smart charger' if you park it outside and are only using it once a week in the winter. or £16 for the LiDL one below will do the job.

liDL

 

Yes start a new thread as there is several issues associated with flat batteries on here.
But first of all you need a good battery and if its seven years old that maybe the problem. But saying that there are threads on here relating to parasitic battery drain that you should read about. Interesting to say the least.

 

This is the actual LiDL model on :

 

4th week of de-sulphating was in fact an exact 22 days in total to get the SOC [6x2.1] to 13.7 volts. My feedback conclusion for the group on 'lifestyle' is that two 15 minute trips once a week meant the battery will never ever get to absorption mode, and subsequently the plates at the bottom level of the battery will flake & sulphate. we all know how important the state~of~charge plays in modern computer driven cars is in general and in the particular how critical it is when control is determined by the PCM in CRD GV's. For myself I might one day get around to making a super-capacitor starter / lifepo4 [Li-ion not li-Po] hybrid, but I'll have to think through transitient voltage spikes and current current fluctuations not just for the battery but for the 3 on board puter modules. There has to be an alternative to these great big antiquated heavy battery lumps that should have been obsolete 50 years ago, designed for carburettor engines that took 5 minutes of spinning to pull petrol into their cylinders and engine oil that was as gloy as araldite, the modern ignition off draw is also huge by comparison with permanently running memories - radio - compass - keyFOB - alarm functions etc, years ago we had only one tiny clock and even then only if you owned a Jag or similar.



Conclusion : My lifestyle and lack of use cased the problem and will cause the same problem again, a spare full size backup battery on 'maintenance mode' will work. The works well in a jam and is an instant 'get out of jail card'.

 

The steam smoke you see coming from the under the car is the aux heater exhaust, If you look just under the o/s sliding door, you will see the exhaust pipe. The aux heater wont work by the way if your fuel is just hitting the quarter full mark on the gauge.

 

One thing you don't want is steam coming out, smoke yes. Check your coolant level to confirm its not steam.

 

This webasto thing irritates me. The wiggly heater light sign goes on and off without any pattern I can see and if I turn the engine of when it happens to be on there is a 'buzzing' for a few minutes.

I there an easy way to dissable the webasto?
Is its only purpose associated with comfort?

Thanks

 

- fuel consumption in the first 20 winter minutes is considerably reduced
- cabin temp in the first 20 winter minutes is considerably improved
- it goes on and off without any pattern, not in my case, it is in control, stop fiddling with it
- set your preferred digital temp and leave it alone to work its magic in your favour
- the 'buzzing' for a few minutes after switch off is the Webasto emptying unburnt fuel to protect you and itself
- when your tank is less than a quarter full it switches off - to protect you - put more fuel in your tank
- just get underneath and pull the electrical connector, that will disable it and its fuel supply - Best of luck !

 

Thank you for your reply.

it does however come accross as a bit aggressive, although you can never be sure when reading forum replies.

I'm not 'fiddling' with it, the light can stay on for the whole of a 250ml trip which suggests to me there is something wrong. I would assume that being on this long may cause other problems to develop.
I don't want to go to the expense of a new replacement unit, thinking that dissconecting it may be the easiest solution.

If it did turn off when less than qiater full I would keep the fuel level low - not add fuel which would make the fault return.

I wasn't aware that this unit improved fuel consumption when cold, what effect is it having when it stays on for this length of time when the engine is up to temp.

As for the cabin temp, I've never found the heater system very effective compared to smaller cars I've owned, putting it down to the size of the cabin that requires heating.

Thanks