Vehicle Battery & Brake Fluid Maintenance

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Yesterday's Brake Fluid Thread prompted me to check Brunhilde's Service paperwork, and I can find no mention of the Brake Fluid ever having been changed from first registration in 2016. She had covered only 8767 miles when we bought her, and I discovered in those baking days in mid July that the aircon had never been regassed, so the previous owner not having had the Brake Fluid changed doesn't surprise me! Brunhilde booked in for Tuesday next week for this job.

Whilst rummaging round in Brunhilde for the service paperwork, I checked the Control Panel for the vehicle and leisure battery states. Leisure battery was sitting at 13.8v and grazing from the solar panel quite happily. The vehicle battery [Brunhilde hasn't been moved for 20 days because of the fuel shortage] was not so good; the Control Panel was showing a tad over 11.6v, so it was a 'fingers crossed' job when I started her up today. She started instantly, with no hint of any struggle for electrical power. After a 20 miles local trip, including about 6 miles on dual carriageway at GPS measured 55mph, the Control Panel reported the Vehicle Battery at a tad over 12.0v.

The garage that will be doing the Brake Fluid change did a Battery Check, including a Drop Test, and reported that the Battery was sound. They waited around 25 minutes after I arrived before checking the Vehicle Battery to settle and said that the Readings were 14.22v when the engine was running. They said that they regard the Battery as sound and would not recommend replacing it. They suggested that the almost 3 weeks break in using Brunhilde, allied to the Autumnal temperatures was the most likely cause, and suggested more frequent use of the vehicle! [and 'keep an eye on it' ...]

My concern is that the Vehicle Battery is nearly 5.5 years old and, with Brunhilde having covered only 1750 miles each year, the recent voltage drop might be an early warning of failure. I don't want to risk the Battery expiring [especially when we are in Spain!] and it causing an ECU fault, but the garage said it seems silly to replace a healthy battery. Any thoughts? They did suggest that the gradual current drain over 3 weeks [Pioneer stereo that Lenny HB has referred to previously?] might be the culprit. I have left Brunhilde for about 3 weeks in late July/early August, and the vehicle Battery was reporting about 12.25v on the Control Panel, in much warmer temperatures.

While I was at the garage, I booked Tig in for an oil and inspection service, so this month will be another heavy load for the Cretin Card! And that's before we decide on buying Winter Tyres for Spain at around £480 [but the garage will refit the current tyres for Spring/Summer, so, in theory, I should get a boost to the tyre life by running 2 sets on an alternating basis.

Any advice or thoughts will be welcomed as usual!

Steve
 
I've had my 3.5T work van for 10 years, it was four years old when I got it. I've never changed the brake fluid or put a new battery on it.
 
Brake fluid I change every 2 years, but the A/C has never been serviced or re-gassed in 11 years, and its ALWAYS on here in Spain, and still works perfectly!
 
daveinspain said:
Brake fluid I change every 2 years, but the A/C has never been serviced or re-gassed in 11 years, and its ALWAYS on here in Spain, and still works perfectly!
Click to expand...
The aircon was warm air in July, meaning that we travelled back to Scotland from the Woodside Rally with cabin temperatures of 36 degrees, not very pleasant whilst parked on the M6 Car Park through the eternal roadworks ... :giggle:

Steve
 
Doesn't ever garage have a tester now that will measure the quality and water content of brake fluid? Mine does and I have not had it changed on any vehicle in years
 
daveinspain said:
Is your compressor actually engaging? If your A/C drive belt has gone, it would show the same symptoms as a gas leak.
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The regassing worked perfectly, blasting out icy air on each fan setting. Last October, the VW Agents did an aircon regas for Tig, which was almost 5 years old. The garage that did Brunhilde's aircon regas had to check first that the system could be regassed,and I remember the VW Aget trying to wriggle out of a lower price for the aircon by claiming that the figure was for 'the old systems', so I' guessing that the chemical regs or similar have changed.

Steve
 
Hi Marchie.
If you buy & Fit a Vanbitz Batter Master linking the leisure Batts to the Cab Batt (its only 3 small wires, positive lead to each battery & one common negative) that will solve your cab battery running down whilst being stored.
When your solar panel has fully charged the leisure batteries, the battery master will then take a small 1amp trickle charge from the leisure's and pump it into the cab batteries.
If you look on here, somewhere there is a link which will give you the Fun Discount of 10%, hundreds of us have bought one of these useful gadgets.
LES

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Our motorhomes inevitably sit idle for perhaps weeks between use. Meanwhile there will be a slight draw from the engine battery to maintain stuff like alarms, central locking key detection (seems to be bad news for my Toyota car), and other stuff that sits there in the backgound that shouldn't do much but stays alive to keep clocks and such like running. Gradually that engine battery will draw down and as it is probably low overall capacity in terms of Ah, yet intended for a heavy draw current to turn the engine over, your 11 volts after three weeks would be expected. Problem is that let it do that often, and the battery will start to deteriorate.

You have solar, and a habitation battery getting charged from that. Link it up with a vanbitz batterymaster. Then the habitation will trickle the engine battery. even better with a battery master if you use your radio and stuff whilst parked up, again the engine battery will be trickle charged reducing risk of a flat when you've been stuck on a site for a couple of days.

for the brakes, you want to know you can stop. Servicing you should get the fluid checked for moisture. No need to replace if none is found, otherwise replacement is a must.

Aircon, I've never understood why you should need to regas. Implies a leak on the system. Having said that I understand it's best for the aircon in cars to be always on, even in winter. Indeed demisting seems to work better with the aircon on than off.
 
Hi Steve
Dealing with the brakes first - definitely get the fluid changed. My apologies if I am teaching you to suck eggs, but the theory behind this is fluid absorbs moisture from the atmosphere over time and this screws up its performance, basically it ‘boils’ at a lower temperature
 
TinaL said:
Hi Marchie.
If you buy & Fit a Vanbitz Batter Master linking the leisure Batts to the Cab Batt (its only 3 small wires, positive lead to each battery & one common negative) that will solve your cab battery running down whilst being stored.
When your solar panel has fully charged the leisure batteries, the battery master will then take a small 1amp trickle charge from the leisure's and pump it into the cab batteries.
If you look on here, somewhere there is a link which will give you the Fun Discount of 10%, hundreds of us have bought one of these useful gadgets.
LES
Click to expand...
Battery Master Relay.jpg



Kannon Fodda said:
You have solar, and a habitation battery getting charged from that. Link it up with a vanbitz batterymaster. Then the habitation will trickle the engine battery. even better with a battery master if you use your radio and stuff whilst parked up, again the engine battery will be trickle charged reducing risk of a flat when you've been stuck on a site for a couple of days.
Click to expand...
Les, KF,

I seem to have a Battery Master fitted already! I'll check tomorrow that it is still linked up after the Lithium Battery was fitted in mid July ... It sits at front of the EBL 99, and prior to the Lithium swap, I remember it cycling between the Red & Green charge states. If it is still connected and I'm down at a tad over 11.5v, does that indicate that I have a looming problem and that I am on borrowed time?

Steve
 
Yes I would check it out, it maybe the new Lithiums not getting to a fully charged trigger voltage for the battery master to send a charge to the cab battery...not sure.:unsure:
But KF will know as he had Lithiums fitted at Vanbitz I believe.
Good Luck.
LES

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Lasyear having had loads of problems with traction control and the. ABS started playing up. Fiat dealer said nothing wrong and charged me for the privilege.
When I had it serviced this year I had the brake fluid changed, not had any problems since then.
So IMO well worth changing.

I reckon your battery is probably down to around 50% capacity so I would change it, not worth the risk for the sake of a hundred quid.

This is an extract from my thread when I had problems.

Left it with no charge and have been checking it daily. The system draw is approx 80ma (flips between 70 & 80 ma).
These are the results.

1616683035081.png


Today is Day 16, tried starting, started OK although turning over was slightly slower than normal but to be expected.
The Battery is 95a/h allowing for it being 4 years old it is probably down to 86 a/h.
The battery is down to approx 50% by day 13 by my calculations it should be at that level at around 23 days so looks like best to replace it.

If the Pioneer was the problem it would flattened the battery overnight.

Also do your checks with a meter, control panels are often not that accurate.
 
Lenny HB said:
Lasyear having had loads of problems with traction control and the. ABS started playing up. Fiat dealer said nothing wrong and charged me for the privilege.
When I had it serviced this year I had the brake fluid changed, not had any problems since then.
So IMO well worth changing.

I reckon your battery is probably down to around 50% capacity so I would change it, not worth the risk for the sake of a hundred quid.

This is an extract from my thread when I had problems.

Left it with no charge and have been checking it daily. The system draw is approx 80ma (flips between 70 & 80 ma).
These are the results.

1616683035081.png


Today is Day 16, tried starting, started OK although turning over was slightly slower than normal but to be expected.
The Battery is 95a/h allowing for it being 4 years old it is probably down to 86 a/h.
The battery is down to approx 50% by day 13 by my calculations it should be at that level at around 23 days so looks like best to replace it.

If the Pioneer was the problem it would flattened the battery overnight.

Also do your checks with a meter, control panels are often not that accurate.
Click to expand...
Thanks [again], Lenny! The Control Panel check was a convenient 'quick check', for trend, rather than a deadly accurate SOC figure, because I was carrying the Summer 12.3v to 12.5v Control Panel readings as a 'Ready Reference'. On reflection, when I left the Van for a touch over 3 weeks [23 or 24 days] in Summer, the Vehicle Battery was sitting at around 12.25v+ on the Control Panel [clear daylight between the 12.25 markers and the needle], so, even allowing for the temperature fall, it's dropped below this by a tidy margin at Day 20.

£100 to £120 for peace of mind and a conserved ECU is not a great deal to fork out; certainly better than £100 to £120 PLUS the ECU cost and the problems of getting hold of one at present! I will check tomorrow that the Vanbitz Battery Master is still connected and is still working, though!

Steve
 
£69.99 plus delivery for a top quality battery. So I fitted one Sunday. When it fails it’s too late, especially with these delicate airbag ecu’s.
 
The Battery Master kicks in when it senses there is a slight difference in voltage, hab battery being higher than engine. It is a trickle change, less than 1A flows, and it won't go into reverse. Lithium batteries often sit at a higher resting voltage than lead acid, I'm often seeing a tad over 13V compared to lead acid at 12.6/.7V. So only the smallest of use of the engine battery should be triggering the battery master to try and charge. If your engine was down to 11.5V, and hab battery was good the battery master isn't connected properly. It would normally flicker red when it is trying to do the trickle charge bit.
 
Lenny HB said:
I bought a Yausa 5000 battery from Halfords £105 with trade card (apply online for trade card) cheaper than anywhere else.
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That’s £93 + postage (£9.48) on Tayna currently but I went with the Exide as they are as good as each other. 👍🏻
 
I was surprised that batteries were in stock, and the price wasn’t sky high. Thought a bit lazy turning over, and got a few winter trips planned so don’t want issues.
 
Update: The seasonal Scottish weather [hissing down again and heavy grey cloud] hasn't one the solar regime any favours ... Despite this drawback, the Control Panel reading for the Vehicle Battery has risen to about 12.3v from yesterday's 12.0v [Leisure Battery via the App shows 14.19v] and the Battery Master is still connected and showing a green light! For less than 1 hour's gloomy daylight, that doesn't look too bad.

I suspect that the Vehicle Battery is suffering from a combination of Old Age, lower temperatures/reduced daylight, and being left for almost 3 weeks without use, so probably time to get it replaced, now that I know that the Battery Master is trickle charging the Vehicle Battery. The situation is only going to worsen as Brunhilde is used less often, in lower temperatures and reduced daylight and the demand/need for extra Leisure Battery supply kicks in. The Vehicle Battery is nearly 5.5 years old, so a replacement is not going to be premature, but any thoughts would be welcome!

Brunhilde is not booked in for the Brake Fluid Change until Tuesday next week, so I've plenty of time to get the replacement Battery ordered.

Steve
 
tonyidle said:
Brake fluid testers are cheap and accurate and IMO well worth having.
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Yep, preferable to testing by way of a descent of the Pyrenees; it's a bit late then ... (y) Is the Tester a Screwfix buy, or does it have to be Amazon?

Steve
 
marchie said:
Yep, preferable to testing by way of a descent of the Pyrenees; it's a bit late then ... (y) Is the Tester a Screwfix buy, or does it have to be Amazon?

Steve
Click to expand...
Can't remember - it could be either or eBay. They're simply resistance meters.
 
Further update: Just checked the Control Panel before the Solar Panel 'clocks off' for the night, and it's reading about 12.2v forthe Vehicle Battery ['VB'] and 13.2+v for the Leisure Battery ['LB']. When I checked the LB on both the Victron Solar App and the KS Energy App, the LB was reporting 13.64v on both Apps. So the Control Panel is under reporting the LB by 0.35v or even more. If the same discrepancy exists for the VB, then this would be sitting at around 12.5v and closer to the Garage Tester's reading from yesterday ...

If only I had resisted the temptation to press the Control Panel Button on the way out of the door on Sunday ...

Steve
 
marchie can I suggest you get the brake fluid checked and change it out if it's needed and leave the rest alone.

It's not a race to see who can spend the most on stuff that isn't needed, it's meant to be a leisure activity not a worry about what MIGHT go wrong next activity.
 
Eggs said:
marchie can I suggest you get the brake fluid checked and change it out if it's needed and leave the rest alone.

It's not a race to see who can spend the most on stuff that isn't needed, it's meant to be a leisure activity not a worry about what MIGHT go wrong next activity.
Click to expand...
I'm not looking to race to spend money, and certainly not on stuff that isn't needed; more thinking of what maintenance has not been done [or where there is no evidence to suggest that it has been carried out] and getting items replaced before they cause bigger problems, e.g. Vehicle Battery + ECU.

Our first trip to Spain in November 2018, our first 'Winter Sun' in our newly acquired Folding Caravan resulted in a failed mains & 12v fridge, a failed water pump and a broken roof light, generating over £700 of repairs, including a couple of temporary fixes, and a decent chunk of leisure time spent waiting for Mobile Engineers to put things to rights.

I don't want a repeat of that experience, hence wanting to ensure that I have preventative maintenance carried out rather than posting from Spain asking for advice on getting component X repaired/replaced and hoping that the COVID Supply Chain problems don't add further problems

Steve

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