Technical Starting (after battery charge)

[Motorcyclist Colin]

I have a 4x4 TA bought new in 2018 and still with only 13000 odd miles. Regularly and correctly serviced by my (non Fiat but excellent) garage.
As it stands for longish periods without use I still check a number of things fro m time to time. In this case I charged the battery following all the guidance in the Handbook. After reconnecting I reset the Date, Time etc and switched on to start the engine. Nothing. Switched off and tried again, started immediately and has started first time every time since.. Never had the problem before.
Battery is the original and seems to hold a charge well enough. I normally have "Stop start " disabled but on the start up It was enabled. I disabled again and have no problems subsequently.
I have a number of ideas, (fortunately NO worries) but would appreciate any comments or information
Thanks in anticipation

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

I have a 4x4 TA bought new in 2018 and still with only 13000 odd miles. Regularly and correctly serviced by my (non Fiat but excellent) garage.
As it stands for longish periods without use I still check a number of things fro m time to time. In this case I charged the battery following all the guidance in the Handbook. After reconnecting I reset the Date, Time etc and switched on to start the engine. Nothing. Switched off and tried again, started immediately and has started first time every time since.. Never had the problem before.
Battery is the original and seems to hold a charge well enough. I normally have "Stop start " disabled but on the start up It was enabled. I disabled again and have no problems subsequently.
I have a number of ideas, (fortunately NO worries) but would appreciate any comments or information
Thanks in anticipation

Might relate to the immobiliser? I think you are supposed to do something after changing the car battery to reset the immobiliser— something simple like locking and unlocking twice… but I can’t remember right now.

As to stop/start — your choice (mine too) to turn it off, but actually it disables itself if it senses the battery won’t cope, so no need as such. (I turn mine off as there’s one traffic jam I get caught in where it just gets ‘irritating’ that it keeps stopping then starting It’s always worked well when I do re-enable it)

 

[The Panda Nut]

I regularly have mine on charge and have not experienced this.. Its a bit odd but these electronics seem to have a few tricks to play battery condition monitr

Might relate to the immobiliser? I think you are supposed to do something after changing the car battery to reset the immobiliser— something simple like locking and unlocking twice… but I can’t remember right now.

As to stop/start — your choice (mine too) to turn it off, but actually it disables itself if it senses the battery won’t cope, so no need as such. (I turn mine off as there’s one traffic jam I get caught in where it just gets ‘irritating’ that it keeps stopping then starting It’s always worked well when I do re-enable it)

I very much agree with your comments. In our rural area it just does its thing and I hardly notoce it but in stop start traffic its best turned off. I havnt seen anything regarding the immobiliser in my paperwork, but it makes sense. Its easy to get a double contact when reconnecting and this may disorganise things. My battery will be 7 in April, its not quite as good as was, you can see on the charger it isnt as keen to get to full voltage, Stop start still works, but I anticipate a new battery will be needed maybe next autumn. Id rather step in before I havea breakdown. Our Seats battery lasted 11 years and died slowly. New batteries may be better... Its a shame they cost more, dont last as long and fail without warning it seems. Progress! LOL

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

I regularly have mine on charge and have not experienced this..

Note i said after ‘chaNGing’, not ‘chaRGing’ the battery

After a change, there’s something in the handbook about resetting the locks, which likely resets the immobiliser too.

 

[The Panda Nut]

I shall try and remember when the battery gets changed. It makes you think about what exactly is going on. There isnt much difference between disconnecting and changing except the new battery should be at the top end of performance. All the stuff about the smart charging, disconnecting and battery sensor it seems goes out of the window if you can put on a new battery without some form of ECU reset. May be the locking does more than the immobiliser in terms of response for a new battery. Is this something from Haynes its a bit techy for a Panda handbook?

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

… May be the locking does more than the immobiliser in terms of response for a new battery. Is this something from Haynes its a bit techy for a Panda handbook?

I can’t recall where - but it was one or the other. The Hertfordshire Hillhopper is currently in Norfolk, so the handbook’s a hundred miles away

There was also (in MES) a reset after replacing alternator, which I believe relates to resetting the battery condition monitor. (The alternator failed two year ago this week after not being able to avoid deep, muddy floodwaters near Docking.)

Most ‘newer’ cars have to have an ECU reset after a battery replacement - or so they say . VAG ‘charge’ handsomely for this…

 

[The Panda Nut]

I can’t recall where - but it was one or the other. The Hertfordshire Hillhopper is currently in Norfolk, so the handbook’s a hundred miles away

There was also (in MES) a reset after replacing alternator, which I believe relates to resetting the battery condition monitor. (The alternator failed two year ago this week after not being able to avoid deep, muddy floodwaters near Docking.)

Most ‘newer’ cars have to have an ECU reset after a battery replacement - or so they say . VAG ‘charge’ handsomely for this…

What you doin ear buoy?...
You should come and have a cuppa if you can negotiate all the pot l
holes lurking under flooded roads.

I have been pondering if there is anything that can be done to prempt alternators being affected by floods. I read somewhere about Panda wading depth. Someone in a Panda specifications internet hogwash site said 779 mm I believe. Somehow I think they missed the point that its a road car, not a farm or military vehicle. I reckon it would float away anything in like this depth of water. I suppose the person who peddled that supposed fact would only notice when the lights went off and the radio stopped working after the alternator stopped working.... I think the limits of Panda are really the low set alternator and the height above water of the dmf bearing.
Edit. No hills here for you to do much hopping on LOL

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

... Someone in a Panda specifications internet hogwash site said 779 mm I believe.

yes - a much repeated myth! The wading depth is no more than the height of the door sills (or less) — about 160mm. There was a line in the 4x4 launch Fiat press release that talked of a ‘raised air intake’ and somewhere else if a height of 700-odd mm. But the air intake is the same as other Pandas, level with the headlight, and that’s rather lower than 700mm. Even my 2013 Defender can’t go to 700mm - it quotes 500mm, which is (again) roughly the height of the door sills.

Why I’m here? We run a holiday let on the coast and are here ourselves for a week.