Technical Changing battery (Ducato 2012, 2,3 multijet)

[freestyleframework]

The start battery is broke (won’t charge over 7,3 v). We have a spare battery, we just need to install it.


We are out on the road living in our campervan. We need to go to the veterinary but the car shops are closed due to the curfew here in Albania. We are in the middle of nowhere so if we F it up we are smoked. Can we simply exchange the old and new battery without using a third battery to keep the system powered during the change, or will the system of the car close down? We could maybe use the leisure batteries as a third power source but we would rather avoid it.


Procedure we are considering right now:
1. Release the bolts at negative (6, picture) then at positive (1, picture).
2. Loosen the mid bolt (first picture) and take out the old battery.
3. Put in the new battery and tighten the mid bolt (first picture).
4. Connect at positive (1, picture) and then at negative (6, picture).
5. Wait for 20 minutes and then fire her up.


Any thoughts? Is it risky? Should we use the leisure (independent system) batteries as a third source? None of us are really that experienced with cars and normally we would go to the repair shop for this, but right now that is not an option. We just want to minimize the risks before we do anything, since being stranded here with the car broken down would be seriously devastating right now.

 

[Ocwobio]

Hello,,, sorry about your situation- I can sympathise as we are all in a mess right now, wherever we are. I changed the starter battery on my motorhome 2 or 3 years ago, afterwards the ABSand EBD warning lights came on. The vehicle started and drove OK, but I do not know if the ABS, traction control, etc. would have worked. It eneded up a Fiat garage who supposedly found a damaged earth wire, (they did not say where), and they fixed it- it has been fine since. The only thing I can think of in your case, is your radio may lose its code.

I would suggest when following your method, which is good, is work carefully,do not allow any short circuits to occur and do not allow too much stress on the wires as they come off and you place them out of the way. This is to avoid any possible breakage. It looks like the battery is acessible easily- on mine it was very difficult due to the A class body and it was necessary to remove some stuff to get in and out, and the battery had to be slid along a plank out of and into place!

How are you starting it if the battery is no good? If you have a means to start it and it does start normally from that, to gain confidence, you could disconnect the negative lead for say half an hour, replace it and see that it all works OK. Then if so, go ahead and change your battery. Beware of the radio code, (it may vanish when taking the half hour disconnection) and if you have it, be sure to read how to input the code again from your handbook.

Hope you get this fixed quickly! Let us know if so please. This forum is the best place to get help, electronically at least! Welcome!!

 

[freestyleframework]

Hello,,, sorry about your situation- I can sympathise as we are all in a mess right now, wherever we are. I changed the starter battery on my motorhome 2 or 3 years ago, afterwards the ABSand EBD warning lights came on. The vehicle started and drove OK, but I do not know if the ABS, traction control, etc. would have worked. It eneded up a Fiat garage who supposedly found a damaged earth wire, (they did not say where), and they fixed it- it has been fine since. The only thing I can think of in your case, is your radio may lose its code.

I would suggest when following your method, which is good, is work carefully,do not allow any short circuits to occur and do not allow too much stress on the wires as they come off and you place them out of the way. This is to avoid any possible breakage. It looks like the battery is acessible easily- on mine it was very difficult due to the A class body and it was necessary to remove some stuff to get in and out, and the battery had to be slid along a plank out of and into place!

How are you starting it if the battery is no good? If you have a means to start it and it does start normally from that, to gain confidence, you could disconnect the negative lead for say half an hour, replace it and see that it all works OK. Then if so, go ahead and change your battery. Beware of the radio code, (it may vanish when taking the half hour disconnection) and if you have it, be sure to read how to input the code again from your handbook.

Hope you get this fixed quickly! Let us know if so please. This forum is the best place to get help, electronically at least! Welcome!!

Thank you for your reply! Think I will just go for it then. Good suggestions with testing too but unfortunately it does not start at all now. Could not find anything in the manual about the code though.. is the handbook different from the manual?

 

[Ocwobio]

Hello again. The radio code should be in your document pack for the vehicle, in the owners handbook or perhaps on a seperate card or credit card style of thing? I assume all vehicle documents are in your possession? If it does end up lost, I think there are people on here who can supply a replacement code if they are given the vehicle details. If your new battery is fully charged, just go for it! It should not be a problem just changing a battery on a vehicle, but regrettably I have not done so on a very modern one, my 'newest' vehicle is an 09, nd my motorhome is 05 so no silly OTT electronics, but wiring corrosion can be an issue on Fiats, even fairly new. Take care and you should be OK. Good luck.

 

[chris3234]

Bolt 1 on the positive terminal
And the lever at the end of 7 should just pull open to take the negative off its a quit release connector so no tools required

 

[freestyleframework]

Hello again. The radio code should be in your document pack for the vehicle, in the owners handbook or perhaps on a seperate card or credit card style of thing? I assume all vehicle documents are in your possession? If it does end up lost, I think there are people on here who can supply a replacement code if they are given the vehicle details. If your new battery is fully charged, just go for it! It should not be a problem just changing a battery on a vehicle, but regrettably I have not done so on a very modern one, my 'newest' vehicle is an 09, nd my motorhome is 05 so no silly OTT electronics, but wiring corrosion can be an issue on Fiats, even fairly new. Take care and you should be OK. Good luck.

Emergency, need your help! Car turned on but engine would not stop even when I pulled out the key. Had to put in the key again and turn it “halfways” and keep it there and then the engine stopped. Tried again and same thing happened, but now also a light with a lock shows on the dashboard. When battery is plugged in, I can hear a high pitched constant sound from underneath the hood. I think I heard this once before I changed the batteries right before the last battery died. Could perhaps be one of the reason that the ladt battery died? Voltage on the new battery drops fast when plugged in, everything off. Started at 12.8, then after two starts and 5 min rest, it was down to 12.6 then after 20 minutes was down to 12.4 (nothing on). I plugged out the battery and voltage stopped dropping and the high pitched sound stopped too. So I have two problems:
1. Engine doesn’t stop, lock light on.
2. High pitched sound, battery drain.

I would say that the sound comes right from the engine, loudest behind the grill and below the big air intake under the hood.

Things that I might have done wrong. Last month filled up windshield wiper fluid and I spilled some (kind of right from where the noise is coming). Also the clamp on the positive terminal is not tight and rigid. I can turn it around, but I put some battery pole grease and there seems to be contact since it starts and no lights are flickering etc.

Another thing I might have made to mess things up is that I have previously charged the battery with a modified sinus wave inverter, without disconnecting the negative terminal (both clamps on terminals when old battery was plugged and then charge).

Don’t know if this helps but maybe you guys can help me find the causes?

What steps should I take next to error search?

Can I drive tomorrow to the veterinary?

 

[freestyleframework]

Bolt 1 on the positive terminal
And the lever at the end of 7 should just pull open to take the negative off its a quit release connector so no tools required

Thanks for your help, would appreciate if you could look at my last post!

 

[Ocwobio]

Yikes. This one will be hard for me to call, it seems that the immobiliser light is on, the one with the lock symbol. If that is so, I think it should not start, but it has. I am not familiar with the 2012 model, so will have to allude to a Renault system that has a flap in the air intake that when the ignition is switched off, as well as the fuel injectors being cut off, an electro/ vacuum flap closes off the air intake off as well, to stop combustion by strangling the engine. Renault had to do this following many catastrophic engine runaways resulting in blow ups after the intakes got infested with engine oil from leaks, and even though the fuel got turned off the engine could-and did- ingest the leaked oil and ran on it at full throttle until it went bang. I have seen it happen personally.

I don't know, but maybe Fiat have fitted a similar device in the intake, which might have gone defective, and be shorting to earth internally, hence the noise?Maybe the alternator is not charging, and is draining to earth? Ideally, you would have to check the voltage while the engine is running. If it is vital to get to the vet, then I would certainly go. When you get there, disconnect the battery until you need to move again, but it will depend on how far you need to go, and if the battery will last long enough before dying. Also, this may sound odd, but has yours got a tow bar on it?

 

[Crossingkeeper]

Sorry to read of your problem. On the basis that coincidental simultaneous failures are unusual it may be all down to whatever component is causing the battery to drain; finding this is a matter of methodical disconnection and elimination (there is some useful information in this recent thread:
https://www.fiatforum.com/ducato/479293-battery-drain-alternator.html )

Incidentally for future reference, on your model, there are jump start points under the bonnet which can also be used for charging the battery; easier than lifting the cab floor.

I also changed my vehicle battery without any issues apart from loosing the radio code.

 

[freestyleframework]

Yikes. This one will be hard for me to call, it seems that the immobiliser light is on, the one with the lock symbol. If that is so, I think it should not start, but it has. I am not familiar with the 2012 model, so will have to allude to a Renault system that has a flap in the air intake that when the ignition is switched off, as well as the fuel injectors being cut off, an electro/ vacuum flap closes off the air intake off as well, to stop combustion by strangling the engine. Renault had to do this following many catastrophic engine runaways resulting in blow ups after the intakes got infested with engine oil from leaks, and even though the fuel got turned off the engine could-and did- ingest the leaked oil and ran on it at full throttle until it went bang. I have seen it happen personally.

I don't know, but maybe Fiat have fitted a similar device in the intake, which might have gone defective, and be shorting to earth internally, hence the noise?Maybe the alternator is not charging, and is draining to earth? Ideally, you would have to check the voltage while the engine is running. If it is vital to get to the vet, then I would certainly go. When you get there, disconnect the battery until you need to move again, but it will depend on how far you need to go, and if the battery will last long enough before dying. Also, this may sound odd, but has yours got a tow bar on it?

Thanks for your help! We went to the vet. At first turn of the key, the engine did not start. Did not sound like the start engine fails or, no battery, but rather like it just doesn’t want to fire up the last. Tried another turn of the key and it started. Drive with no problem, no lights. When we arrived, the engine stopped when I took out the key, as supposed to. However, now when we want to start again and drive home, it does not fire up. Similar to ehat we experienced first time today, start engine sounds fine I think (do not know these thibgs though), sounds different from trying to start with no battery (sounds better but just doesn’t work at the last stetp). Checked volatage now, battery still at 12,8v. The theory about the fuel is very interesting. Yes the car has a has towbar in the back. Cannot check voltage when on, since it does not start. Should I check when I try to start? What else could I do to locate the error? Again, thank you for your help!

 

[freestyleframework]

Sorry to read of your problem. On the basis that coincidental simultaneous failures are unusual it may be all down to whatever component is causing the battery to drain; finding this is a matter of methodical disconnection and elimination (there is some useful information in this recent thread:
https://www.fiatforum.com/ducato/479293-battery-drain-alternator.html )

Incidentally for future reference, on your model, there are jump start points under the bonnet which can also be used for charging the battery; easier than lifting the cab floor.

I also changed my vehicle battery without any issues apart from loosing the radio code.

Thanks! Yes I have heard from others too that they usually do not have problems changing from backup.

 

[Ocwobio]

Hello. Reason I ask about the towbar, is on my old Renault, which had a towbar, there was a split charge device to suppy 12v to the electrical socket on the towbar, that charged a caravan battery/powered the fridge. It made a fairly quit, high pitched humming sound all the time, and when I went to get the car from the dealer, it had a flat battery. I changed the split charge device right away. I do not know for sure if this device would have flattened the battery, as I changed it the next day, and all was OK.

Is your red key lock light staying on when you try to start the engine? That is an immo. problem, and maybe your vehicle has an emergency start procedure, or you may need to use the master key ('red key') if it has one? I do not know the 2012 at, I am sorry. There are people on here who do know quite a lot about them! I hope all went well at the vet, of course (apart from the starting!!).