Simon737

I have a ‘17 GT-R and have recently had 2
occasions where the car has basically juddered to a complete stop throwing up both the ‘Stop’ Battery symbol and also my OBD reader said all 8 ignition coil’s had failed.

Im fairly certain this is an electronic/battery issue….what are the downsides to changing the battery to a lead acid battery (other than weight) rather than trying to get hold of a new lithium battery (which are on back order)?? I realise the SAM will need to be ‘told’ the lithium battery has been removed but again other than weight will it cause any other issues??

I’ve been charging/trickle with the CTEK lithium charger as I don’t have the MB charger balancer, is it worth trying to get hold of one and bring the battery back to life or with the age of the car coming up to 7 years is it time to swap it out??

Thanks.

sevenhead

Just curious - how did you restart the car after the two incidents?

Simon737

Turned everything off, turned everything back on again and drove home normally on both occasions 🤷🏼‍♂️ albeit with the amber engine light on. Got home plugged in my OBD reader cleared the fault to see if it happened again - which it did eventually. Car is now with tech’s trying to get to the bottom of the problem.

FrazerH

Hey Simon,

I have had exactly this issue! It ended up being an earth strap that had been knocked off underneath the car. Once it had been put back (might have knocked it off on a speed bump) it went largely back to normal. Hope that helps!

Simon737

I’ll pass that on to my tech, thanks very much for that, with all of the battery issues on the forum it’s good to finally find someone that resolved the problem!

FrazerH

Sadly I have the 'STOP' battery issue on mine now, but this issue I had before was definitely resolved by fixing the earth strap

Simon737

That’s great to hear! Do you know roughly/approximately where it’s located underneath the car??

FrazerH

Not sure on exact location, but here's what I was told:

"The Earth from the Engine to the Subframe and then Subframe to the Body were both slightly corroded, so these were cleaned up and refitted which resolved the issue."

Simon737

Great info, thank you - I’ll pass it on to my tech

Case1906

Curious, is your GT R on its first or second battery.

I’m replacing my lithium battery on the Pro with a new one. They are scarce, but my SA sourced one in Texas last week which arrived in Maryland today.

Simon737

I’m fairly certain this is the original battery so it is approaching 7 years old now.

Case1906

Wow- so you are due for a new one. When these lith batteries die— they can go dead dead….

MBNRG

Interesting, since Pro model is 2020, and these batteries should last longer than 4-5 years.
How many miles on your Pro? Was your Lithium battery developing faults?
Ever do trickle charger maintenance on it, and if so, how often did it receive trickle charge?

These OEM Lithium batteries seem to do much better with regular trickle charges. . .

Case1906

Only 4700 miles. I do you use trickle chargers, but got caught out on the Pro when it was not driven or actually connected for 3 months. I connected the OEM charger after 2 months but subsequently figured out that it was not charging. Bad luck of the draw because my GT’s battery lasted 6 years. Not taking chances going forward and will go no longer than a week or two without trickle charging or driving. The problem with the older OEM Lith’s is that when they run down, it can be game over.

user33

Agreed. As I've posted in other GT/lithium battery threads, I used the "power supply" mode of a NoCo charger to revive the Li battery in my GTR Pro when I accidentally ran it into its "protection" mode. The MBZ/Ctek charger wouldn't wake it (even after holding the reset button for 30 sec) and the NoCo "revive" mode (or whatever it's called) wouldn't do it ... but about 5 min on the NoCo's "power supply" mode woke it up and it charged in the regular mode, after that. I'd bet there's a good chance that your battery was in the "protection" mode.

As a family, we drove 1982/1983 MBZ 300 TurboDiesel cars (at one point we had 3) for over a million km (one I drove for 27 years). Now there's a case where the batteries almost always had a sudden catastrophic failure. Due to the high starting current (glo-plugs + high compression), every battery I ever replaced (8 IIRC), except one, failed by "internal fusing" (creating an open internal connection) when being started. Fortunately, the majority of the time it was at home.

Simon737

Just to finish up this thread. Having been backwards and forwards with electrical issues, it turned out that a rodent of some description had taken a liking to the main feed wire to the ignition coils AND the alternator cable, both had been well and truly chewed, droppings were found in there too! All sorted now, new cables and it’s back to running normally again - thankfully I didn’t have to shell out for a new battery, as it wouldn’t have solved any problems!

Simon737ng

Spoke too soon. Car threw up ‘Stop’ battery light again and spluttered to a stop, couldn’t start it again either (which in the past I’ve been able to do). Car is back with MB, apparently showing a fault with the alternator. They’ve understood though that I’ve driven it 500+ miles since the wires have been replaced without a hiccup at all and it’s a noted problem with this car. They’ve cleaned up the earthing cable and updated the front fans as apparently that is the fix MB have recommended. Told them to road test over a few days. The reliability with this car has been horrendous!

streborx

Thankfully the insulation was tofu based rather than petroleum based, so no rodents were toxically injured from the feasting.

MBNRG

One cannot make an honest claim regarding vehicle reliability when such a wild card as a Rodent was involved, with untold damage to who knows how many other connectors/wires.

That said, hopefully your shop can check each connector and wiring with a fine tooth comb.
In addition, these Lithium batteries seem to do much better with a weekly trickle charge via OEM provided charger, even if driven routinely.

Best of luck, hope you get it sorted.

Higgs Boson

I have 6 of these and have used them for 4 or so years on various cars with various battery types, Li, AGM, Lead, etc.

Not one dead battery or issue.


you can also get a 5