Shot battery - dealer won't replace under warranty

JohnCleary

I had a long post written and it disappeared!

Long story short, see report below from Mercedes Main Dealer in Galway City.

Originally reported to salesman in Feb 2020 via e-mail. The response was "No problem, we'll replace the battery when it's in for service"

Car was in for service (under warranty), I requested the battery be replaced (under warranty), they refuse.

Battery reading 12.04v (door locked, allowed to sit idle for a while)

Customer reported, on various occasions, that the low battery warning appeared on the instrument cluster "Start engine, see owners manual [battery icon]" - NOTE, I am not talking about the alternator warning light!

During lockdown (hence couldn't get the car in for service easily), left the battery on charge over-night several occasions, but battery wouldn't hold charge)

kdevitt

12.04 is probably about right if the car was idle for a while. Either way - its a consumable - have never heard of a battery being covered under a general warranty - unless of course you bought the battery itself within the last 12 months.

colm_mcm

Leave the car with them overnight and replicate the fault.

GinSoaked

The batteries voltage is the way you work out how much charge is left in the battery. iirc 11.8 V is considered to be an empty battery and around 14.4 volts is fully charged. 12.4 is a lot nearer empty than full.

colm_mcm

GinSoaked wrote: »

The batteries voltage is the way you work out how much charge is left in the battery. iirc 11.8 V is considered to be an empty battery and around 14.4 volts is fully charged. 12.4 is a lot nearer empty than full.

14.4 would be with the alternator charging.

12.6V would be the bottom end of what a healthy charger battery should be putting out with engine off.

kirving

Plus, a multimeter with engine off isn't telling the whole story at all. As you increase load on the battery, the voltage will drop. The battery needs to be powerful enough to cope with the load, without dropping voltage.

I'm astonished they didn't pull any codes from the car? My dads '01 Focus recorded a DTC when the battery was low.

All that said, I'm not sure a warranty would cover a battery anyway.

Miscreant

I have had 1 battery replaced under warranty after 3 weeks as it would not hold a charge immediately out of the box. In fairness, it was not already in a car when I got it but I had to show there was no parasitic load on the battery from the car before the retailer would invoke the warranty process.
I charged the battery to full after removing it from the car and then tested it the following day with a multimeter where I could show the voltage had dropped to less than 11v so the retailer relented and replaced it.
If it is already in the car and is several years old, I don't see how they will replace it under warranty TBH but I would have expected a little more testing on their part in the dealership (like reading codes as another poster said). When already in a car, it is considered as a consumable part just like brake pads so unless there is something seriously wrong or the car is only a few months old then I would not hold out much hope for a replacement under warranty.

Spook_ie

I have the same problem on my Skoda 141 reg, replacement battery is not 9 months old yet. The car reports low battery but as long as I drive it for a good run the warning goes off. If you're not driving it as often due to covid 19 then it's more likely just not getting charged enough due to short or no journeys.

So many cars today have a constant battery drain via dash cams, alarms and various ECU's that most cars will get low battery warning conditions after 2 or 3 days of low or non use.

aido79

JohnCleary wrote: »

I had a long post written and it disappeared!

Long story short, see report below from Mercedes Main Dealer in Galway City.

Originally reported to salesman in Feb 2020 via e-mail. The response was "No problem, we'll replace the battery when it's in for service"

Car was in for service (under warranty), I requested the battery be replaced (under warranty), they refuse.

Battery reading 12.04v (door locked, allowed to sit idle for a while)

Customer reported, on various occasions, that the low battery warning appeared on the instrument cluster "Start engine, see owners manual [battery icon]" - NOTE, I am not talking about the alternator warning light!

During lockdown (hence couldn't get the car in for service easily), left the battery on charge over-night several occasions, but battery wouldn't hold charge)

There's no point in testing a battery while the car is sitting idle. It needs to be tested under load I.e. while the car is being started.
Whoever wrote that report can hardly string a sentence together so not sure I'd trust anything they done.

sundodger5

12.04 is pretty close to flat.
If left up a while that would not be unheard of.
To test it properly you would need to charge it fully. Or as fully as you can.
Then read the voltage. The more critical test would be putting it on a drop tester that simulates a large load. Similar to an extended crank time. Most auto factors can do this.
Final part would be to check it is charging properly.
Read voltage with the engine running at around 2000rpm with a load on e g heated rear window.
Should get between 13.4 and 14.8 volts.
Either way if they said they would replace it they should. Bring in the email.

Your local motor factors will test a battery for free (a load test) ........... how any garage with technicians reckon a multimeter reading with the battery sitting in a switched off car is a test is mind boggling.

Add in the Mercedes Main Dealer bit and it's frightening levels of incompetence. It looks like Alan the tech isn't great and whoever wrote that rubbish on a service report is a total numpty.

biko

"cheked"
"presant"
"carring"
Hope they are better mechanics than spellers..


On topic, just the confirmation they would change the battery should be enough to get it changed.
Not sure why they are so cheap.

kravmaga

JohnCleary wrote: »

I had a long post written and it disappeared!

Long story short, see report below from Mercedes Main Dealer in Galway City.

Originally reported to salesman in Feb 2020 via e-mail. The response was "No problem, we'll replace the battery when it's in for service"

Car was in for service (under warranty), I requested the battery be replaced (under warranty), they refuse.

Battery reading 12.04v (door locked, allowed to sit idle for a while)

Customer reported, on various occasions, that the low battery warning appeared on the instrument cluster "Start engine, see owners manual [battery icon]" - NOTE, I am not talking about the alternator warning light!

During lockdown (hence couldn't get the car in for service easily), left the battery on charge over-night several occasions, but battery wouldn't hold charge)

The short and simple answer here is Battery is never covered under any warranty.

I bought my 1st car at 20 yrs of age, its usually parts, labour and gearbox offered only.

My current car which I bought last year has a 2 yr warranty and I just read it over, parts labour and gearbox , no mention of a battery being covered.

kravmaga

aido79 wrote: »

There's no point in testing a battery while the car is sitting idle. It needs to be tested under load I.e. while the car is being started.
Whoever wrote that report can hardly string a sentence together so not sure I'd trust anything they done.

Definitely failed English in The Leaving Cert anyway

frozenfrozen

I've a battery that reports 12.8V with ignition on but drops to 4v when you try to crank the engine. A reading of 12.xx volts means nothing if you have a bad battery

kravmaga

kravmaga wrote: »

The short and simple answer here is Battery is never covered under any warranty.
.................

A battery is of course covered under warranty......... with a new car.
And also a battery purchase itself comes with a warranty.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

my batt - start stop efb type - shows 11.8 volts after two days idle and after opening bonnet and leaving for a while , starts ok though . 5 year old battery

zg3409

Hyundai typically cover 2 years 12v battery warranty. However I had an issue (doors would not unlock, battery dead, ) and dealer said they needed to charge battery, then put it on battery tester machine. Only if the machine printed out as faulty, and they provided that printout to Hyundai Ireland, only then would a battery be replaced under warranty and even then they did not have one in stock so HQ would need to ship one out. In the end after 2 dealer trips where battery tester said it was OK, I replaced it myself for 90 euro.

So for op, might be better to go to motor factor and get it swapped, then going back to dealer with more inspections , checks, delays.

Now if the battery is OK, but something on car is making it go flat like dash cam on 24.7 , then a new battery will not fix it.

The sheet you gave sound like main dealer does not have a proper battery tester or did not bother.

JohnCleary

I'm biting the bullet and just replacing the battery myself. I have plenty of experience with 12v systems. I know the battery is on it's way out. I was posting, more so, to get the opinions on the dealer (Main MB Dealer, Galway) response.

I asked them, before I left, if they were happy to send a customer on their way, despite the customer raising concerns (since Feb) about the battery issue.

This wasn't a matter of money, it was a matter of principal.

It's a pitty that such a trivial issue has ruined the relationship between customer / dealer. Their sales / after-sales / warranty has been EXCELLENT up until now.

The sickener for the sales guy... an hour beforehand we'd priced up a E220 Coupe for the GF and I was tempted to return with a deposit. Told him that unfortunately they won't be seeing me again, for sales or service.... but especially service. Very let down by the quality of their service / 'technicians'. I was keeping the service with them for warranty reasons. Unfortunately i'll have to look elsewhere.

mickdw

JohnCleary wrote: »

I'm biting the bullet and just replacing the battery myself. I have plenty of experience with 12v systems. I know the battery is on it's way out. I was posting, more so, to get the opinions on the dealer (Main MB Dealer, Galway) response.

I asked them, before I left, if they were happy to send a customer on their way, despite the customer raising concerns (since Feb) about the battery issue.

This wasn't a matter of money, it was a matter of principal.

It's a pitty that such a trivial issue has ruined the relationship between customer / dealer. Their sales / after-sales / warranty has been EXCELLENT up until now.

The sickener for the sales guy... an hour beforehand we'd priced up a E220 Coupe for the GF and I was tempted to return with a deposit. Told him that unfortunately they won't be seeing me again, for sales or service.... but especially service. Very let down by the quality of their service / 'technicians'. I was keeping the service with them for warranty reasons. Unfortunately i'll have to look elsewhere.

As I see it, the issue here isn't whether its covered by warranty or not, it the fact that they appear to have carried out a test that is not anywhere near sufficient to identify a failing battery and let you off on your way after a service with a car that may not start on some random day with a report of battery being serviceable.

If this is Connollys Mercedes, Id follow up with service manager and query whether this was a proper battery diagnostic check. As described, it certainly was not. A voltage reading as reported is meaningless.
Id expect a true and accurate report on battery condition from a main dealer.
Argument over warranty is a different issue.

frozenfrozen

penny wise pound foolish by the dealer not replacing it when its clearly an issue, even if they said it's not covered we have to charge you, you would be happier than you are now anyway

Maybe they could have swapped the battery with a new car there, if yours is so perfect according to their multimeter

Spook_ie

Just as an aside, seeing as my battery went flat yesterday and the on call mechanic tested it with something similar to this, pronounced it as OK and said he'd been to a massive amount of flat battery callouts since June 8th because cars just weren't being used.

https://www.anceltech.com/product/detail?id=1086150239221444608

Is it possible they actually tested it with an MB version of this rather than a multimeter?

Spook_ie

Spook_ie wrote: »

...........

Is it possible they actually tested it with an MB version of this rather than a multimeter?

If you use one of them and the engine is not running I don't think it'll read 12v for more then a few seconds.

techguy

I would say to take that email from the dealer to the small claims court and see how you get on.... but before that, write them a letter saying it will be going to the small claims court if they don't settle the matter, as promised.

It could be argued that the salesperson email meant that the battery would be replaced if a problem was detected. But if the email didn't have that provision, and they straight up promised to replace when in for service, you have them bang to rights.

You might want to double check the OEM approved method for diagnosing battery and what the warnings indicate. Also have photo's of the error as it appears in the dash.