C4 grand spacetourer tailgate issue/battery drain

[Spacetourerman]

Hi all,

I was hoping for a bit of help/advice, I have a 68 plate C4 grand spacetourer with an intermittent electric tailgate issue. When I try to use the tailgate 80% of the time it's fine but the remainder of the time it'll stop soon after it unlatches or half way through the strut stroke as well as the full open stage. Both in either opening or closing. It'll beep 3 times and stop, with the internal tailgate button flashing. When this happens, the only way to close the tailgate is using force to push it shut.

I've done a bit of a Googling and found that the most common reason for something like this would be a bad battery. I have a multimeter and saw that it was reading around 12.5v with the engine off, then 13.9v with the engine on. I've had Halfords and an independent garage check the battery (albeit on different days/state of charge) and they have report 30% and 50% state of health on the battery. Arnold Clark have checked it today and said that it is 70% and the battery is fine.
I had bought the car from Arnold Clark and almost 2 years ago where they put a new battery in there for me due to my complaining the stop/start wasn't working. The battery has been totally fine all this time until now. Stop/start has been fine.

Some extra info: I had the wet belt replaced under warranty 2 months ago and had them change the auxiliary at the same time. I used to see a message stating that economy mode was activated but haven't seen that for a while now.
I have bought a battery charger (noco genius 2) but the charger only goes upto 25% charge when left for 15 hours

Anyone got any ideas?
Many thanks

[RichardW]

You'll need to get it on Diagbox so that you can look at what the computer is seeing to try and figure out where the fault lies. Whereabouts in Scotland are you?

[Spacetourerman]

I'm hoping to get a multimeter and see if there is a drain. Hopefully have a look tonight.
One thing that I thought about is that small glovebox infront of the gear stick, it has a small light right? With me leaving that open all the time, could that have been slowly draining that the battery all these months?
I'm just outside Edinburgh mate.

[RichardW]

I'm over in Lanark, and have Diagbox, so if you want to get it plugged in let me know. I know nothing about these boot systems, but hopefully we could see what it's doing, and try to figure out why it's mis behaving!

[Spacetourerman]

Oh that would be amazing. I've just spent 1 hour and half pulling fuses to no avail. I believe I'm getting a draw of around 4amps so something is definitely going on.

[Spacetourerman]

Could someone point me in the direction of each of the fuseboxes in a 68 plate C4 grand spacetourer please? I have looked at the one in far right of the engine bay as well as the one in the passenger door well (after taking out the glovebox) but can't find the 4amp culprit. I also would love to see actual fusebox layouts of the types that I have, I still can't seem to find the layout online.
My battery voltage has went from 12.6v to 12.2v over the space of 5 hours.

[Spacetourerman]

Don't mean to spam the thread but can anyone help with this type of fusebox? I can't find a layout diagram for it. Should I remove the plugs as well?

Also, this is the readout that I'm getting, 4amps right? I've tried as many fuses I can get to on that fuse box (which is also the BSI I believe?) but the current stays the same.

I can only find a fusebox behind the glovebox and the the one next to the battery. With the later, is it worth removing the larger plugs, relays right?

Lastly, do I need to do a BSI reset each time I want to try and find the parasitic drain?

Any help would be super appreciated.

[GiveMeABreak]

No, you only need to use a BSI Reset / Battery Disconnect / Reconnect Procedure if you're planning to remove the battery or actually want to reset the BSI.

Be very careful around the BSI as this is the main computer and there are a lot of connections here to all the other systems.

Tailgate
Repeated opening and closing of the tailgate can cause overheating of its electric motor, after which opening and closing will not be possible.

• Allow 10 minutes for the motor to cool down before operating the tailgate again.
• If you are not able to wait, operate it manually.

One other thing if the tailgate is manually interrupted, it normally needs to be reinitialised again:

This operation is necessary where there is no movement - after detection of an obstacle, connecting or recharging the battery, ...

• Open the tailgate manually, if necessary.
• Manually close the tailgate fully

Also be aware there is always going to be a slight drain on the battery due to some systems that are active when the vehicle is not running, like the alarm, the RCD circuit to detect an unlocking signal, Hands free receivers, and also the foot swipe boot opening if you have this feature, as well as the Head Unit etc. I just thought this was worth a mention so you don't go tearing the vehicle apart looking for a parasitic drain that is normal operation.

The best thing you can do is to get it on Diagbox and get any and all codes and post them here with your VIN.

With so many electrical systems on board, the battery is under a lot of strain just to keep everything working and supplied with the correct voltage to operate. If the vehicle is not used regularly the battery can soon become discharged to a degree where some features will stop operating - the economy mode is one indicator of this. Stop start not working is another - which generally requires the battery to be at at least 80% charged before that will work.

I suggest you leave it on a trickle charge overnight and see how it performs afterwards.

[Spacetourerman]

Thank you for the detailed reply Marc.

Do you have any information on how many fuseboxes the car has?

I do have each of those features you mention but 4A seems like a lot does it not? When I read that 50mA is more usual for a regular drain.
I have had the battery on a noco genius 2 trickle charger but when I come back to it, the charger says it has went back to the start of its cycle rather than finished. If that makes sense.

Hopefully I can tie in with Richard regarding his Diagbox and yeah I'll pass on any codes and my VIN.

From what I read, the tailgate issues/beeps can be linked to a low voltage battery? Surely this is connected?

Thanks again

[GiveMeABreak]

These are the units with fuses - some will surround the BSI, others in the engine bay area.

BSI: Built-in systems interface
PSF1: Engine compartment fusebox panel
BCP3: Relay 3 protection switch unit
BPGA: Electrical supplies protection and management unit
BFH5: Passenger compartment 5-fuse box /
BMF4: Maxi fuse unit
BFH3: Cabin relay fusebox 1
BFRM: Engine fuse and relay box

[Spacetourerman]

Thanks for that.
So a bit of 'development'. I retried checking for a draw on the battery however, this time I left the meter connected using crocodile clips. Immediately after closing the door the meter showed 4amps, but after a minute or so I could hear the clicking off of electrics. Slowly but surely, the number went down to 3amps then 1.6amps. then it settled at 0.011amps.

I guess when I was doing it yesterday, I was only seeing the reading when I closed the circuit with the multimeter and things were still awake. Is that right/make sense?

Not sure if I've been chasing a ghost or not here, you did warn me! I did notice when pulling out fuse F7 - 70amps, the reading went down to zero. Not sure what that fuse is for?!

[GiveMeABreak]

This is what happens when we do a BSI reset and why the timings are so important. In order for the data networks to go to sleep, especially the RCD circuit, we have to ensure all the doors are closed and wait for the BSI to shut everything down. Until this happens, some networks are active, monitoring the doors and other kit in anticipation that the car is going to be started, so they won't shut down and of course this is drawing power.

[Spacetourerman]

I've charged the battery and it was sitting at 12.7v after I disconnected the charger.
Hopefully the BSI reset did the trick! Will check in the morning to see what the voltage is, hopefully it hasn't dropped!

[Spacetourerman]

So checked voltage this morning. Initially I was disappointed when I booked up the multimeter as the voltage was 12.25v. But I remembered that it would have dropped when I unlocked and opened the door to pop the bonnet.
After a little while the voltage climbed steadily up to 12.68v. so I think I'm all good right?!

I'll still need to put the glove box back together and reconnect the glove box light and footwell light but I'll check again after I've done that to make sure those aren't an issue.

[GiveMeABreak]

That's correct - you're getting it now and haven't lost the plot!