General ELD not available

[Kwondo]

Hi all i have recently purchased a Panda 2013 4x4 0.9 TA, please could someone answer a few questions,
1.On start up is it normal to see the display showing ELD not available ?(electronical limited differential) It only shows briefly?
2. It has just passed its MOT with no advisories, handbrake seems very poor on hills or it may be just me or is that normal?
3. Stop start does not seem to work, could it be because the battery stand voltage is only about 12.2v, seems a bit low to me? I thought a stand battery is usually 12.4 to 12.6 volts.. when running it gets the charge from the alternator to approximately 14 volts, Nothing else is on and the switch is off ie no light, so stop start is engaged.
4. Can any one recommend a cheap ODB II scanner?
Thanks in advance

 

[Panda IIs]

1&3 "ELD not available" I think you have made the diagnosis already. This plus a number of other warnings such as hill-hold unavailable, ABS, stop/start not working/unavailable etc are indicative of low battery volts. You could try and recondition the battery with an appropriate charger but it may have had its day - check for a date on it.
2. Handbrake operates on rear discs which really only have to go around(!) so get corroded readily (have a crawl under and check the inside surfaces) you could try new pads? I have occasionally driven along with the handbrake held on to give the discs a bit of a clean up but do do it safely!
4. Cheap may not cut it without MES type capability but others on here will know best.

 

[Kwondo]

thanks for taking the time to reply, yes i thought that the battery could be at fault, already tried to charge it..... will get it load tested at halfords. See what they say. will look into Mes what ever that is cheers

 

[Panda IIs]

Does this help https://www.fiatforum.com/guides/what-software-hardware-do-i-need-to-read-obd2-codes.910/ I didn't read it!

Multiecuscan - it is specific to FIAT/Alfa marques

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

agree with the above. A stop/start battery in a Panda is only good for about five years max. After that the stop/start system will stop working (self protection kicks in), and later you well see the various error messages at start up owing to insufficient power to start the engine and keep the electronics happy at the same time. A new battery from the online supplier Tayna will be the lowest cost option. this may be the right one (type 027) https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/types/027-efb/. Or, if the type 012, here: https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/types/012efb/

The handbrake is rubbish on the 4x4s. You can help it by driving around with something heavy in the boot, or passengers in the back seat, and (carefully)braking hard several times. This will clean up the discs and exercise the calipers. (With the back of the car empty, the rear brakes hardly get used at all owing to the load sensing pressure limiter that's in the system to prevent rear wheel lock-up. )

 

[Kwondo]

agree with the above. A stop/start battery in a Panda is only good for about five years max. After that the stop/start system will stop working (self protection kicks in), and later you well see the various error messages at start up owing to insufficient power to start the engine and keep the electronics happy at the same time. A new battery from the online supplier Tayna will be the lowest cost option. this may be the right one (type 027) https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/types/027-efb/. Or, if the type 012, here: https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/types/012efb/

The handbrake is rubbish on the 4x4s. You can help it by driving around with something heavy in the boot, or passengers in the back seat, and (carefully)braking hard several times. This will clean up the discs and exercise the calipers. (With the back of the car empty, the rear brakes hardly get used at all owing to the load sensing pressure limiter that's in the system to prevent rear wheel lock-up. )

Thanks for the replies yes i have bought a new battery from Tayna, have used them for years. Noted your point of the rear brakes yes that makes perfect sense. Not like a freelander 2 that has disk and a drum for the rear. I will have to take a look at my Skoda yeti to see what it has.

 

[Kwondo]

Update from me. Battery replaced. Eld not available now does not show on display. So hopefully was just that the battery was no good. Load test at Halfords shown it as 13%. Now just need to test the start stop. Will give it a run on saturday. Get the engine up to temperature. No lights or accessories on and the switch will be off. No light . So the start stop should work. Fingers crossed

 

[Kwondo]

After the battery was replace the ELD not available on display has now gone, so hopefully will now engage when required. Start stop still dont know if it works as it should too much criteria for it to work? If i was to get the car odb port scanned, is it possible it would call up information about it? No warnings on dash currently.

 

[Panda IIs]

After the battery was replace the ELD not available on display has now gone, so hopefully will now engage when required. Start stop still dont know if it works as it should too much criteria for it to work? If i was to get the car odb port scanned, is it possible it would call up information about it? No warnings on dash currently.

I have a 2013 TA 4x4. Stop start is and has always been variable feast. When I first got the car (on 48k miles) and probably nearly 10 years ago it had the original battery and Stop Start did not work -I wasn't especially bothered.

The battery finally gave up with the attendant failure symptoms (ABS, hill hold unavailable ELD etc) the stop start worked with a new battery for about 2 weeks and then gave up. A couple of years on and same battery it is now functioning no real rhyme or reason it seems. Frankly I'm more concerned about the extra wear and tear on the starter so not bothered. On 104k miles now.

 

[Kwondo]

I have a 2013 TA 4x4. Stop start is and has always been variable feast. When I first got the car (on 48k miles) and probably nearly 10 years ago it had the original battery and Stop Start did not work -I wasn't especially bothered.

The battery finally gave up with the attendant failure symptoms (ABS, hill hold unavailable ELD etc) the stop start worked with a new battery for about 2 weeks and then gave up. A couple of years on and same battery it is now functioning no real rhyme or reason it seems. Frankly I'm more concerned about the extra wear and tear on the starter so not bothered. On 104k miles now.

Could not agree more. As we have only just bought this car a week ago with 80k miles, under 2015 consumer law ever thing should work as advertised when buying from a car dealer. So would have liked it to work, but as you say and i agree not worth the bother stop start ! out of interest it looks like it was still the original battery fitted. More concerned about the hand break. New mot and it passed, the spec although with 6 clicks and fully on it rolls on a very steep hill. 6 to 8 cliks is acceptable. i now the spec for an mot and the rolling resistance only need to pass at the 16 % effientancy which equates to a 1 in 6 slope...... that dosnt mean it will hold on a hill. Thats enough moaning for now, will see what the garage says tomorrow.

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

You can often get the handbrake to ‘bite’ a bit more if you press the brake pedal down while pulling the lever up, so the hydraulics does the donkey work of pushing the pads against the discs. A big part of the issue is the ‘designer lever’ which is too short to get a good leverage from. I’ve had four 4x4 Pandas and they’re all the same. On a hill, I leave it in gear as a precaution.

 

[Panda IIs]

Could not agree more. As we have only just bought this car a week ago with 80k miles, under 2015 consumer law ever thing should work as advertised when buying from a car dealer. So would have liked it to work, but as you say and i agree not worth the bother stop start ! out of interest it looks like it was still the original battery fitted. More concerned about the hand break. New mot and it passed, the spec although with 6 clicks and fully on it rolls on a very steep hill. 6 to 8 cliks is acceptable. i now the spec for an mot and the rolling resistance only need to pass at the 16 % effientancy which equates to a 1 in 6 slope...... that dosnt mean it will hold on a hill. Thats enough moaning for now, will see what the garage says tomorrow.

The only time I found StopStart "useful" was when teaching my teenagers to drive; it allows a quick restart from an unintentional stall by depressing the clutch (almost certainly not best/recommended practice).

Hill-hold assist is a driver aid that reduces handbrake usage so the mechanism gets much less exercise and therefore probably suffers as a result, plus, as Herts says, the Panda "squircal" design theme hasn't helped matters (in terms of mechnaical advantage). It's a bit like automatic cars, they often fail the MOT on the handbrake because very few use the handbrake at all!

 

[WitleyPanda]

Poor handbrake : check the slider pins. Since the rear brakes do little work, the callipers tend to seize and the hand brake then only effectively using two of the four pads. Using the foot brake hard helps apply. ( I live on a 1:3 hill so learnt the had way.) All that, failing that blocks / wedges on the drive!

 

[Kwondo]

You can often get the handbrake to ‘bite’ a bit more if you press the brake pedal down while pulling the lever up, so the hydraulics does the donkey work of pushing the pads against the discs. A big part of the issue is the ‘designer lever’ which is too short to get a good leverage from. I’ve had four 4x4 Pandas and they’re all the same. On a hill, I leave it in gear as a precaution.

It’s not a problem while parking on the drive the main issue is when the wife is driving in stop start traffic jams on hills. Both up and down. The hill assist works as it should. So that helps her. But dosnt feel safe when she must hold on the foot pedal, because the car creeps. I have always told the wife no matter what car when parking on an hill to leave it in gear the opposite way of travel, handbrake on obviously and to turn the wheels into the curb slightly Any way long story sort it going back to the garage to be looked at.

 

[Kwondo]

It’s not a problem while parking on the drive the main issue is when the wife is driving in stop start traffic jams on hills. Both up and down. The hill assist works as it should. So that helps her. But dosnt feel safe when she must hold on the foot pedal, because the car creeps. I have always told the wife no matter what car when parking on an hill to leave it in gear the opposite way of travel, handbrake on obviously and to turn the wheels into the curb slightly Any way long story sort it going back to the garage to be looked at.

Ok end of story, garage adjusted the handbrake now holds on full at 3 clicks.