New Holden Commodore & Statesman Battery Drain Issue?

[JoeT]

Holden VE Commodore Battery Drain Issue

Australian Car Advice
31 August 2007
www.caradvice.com.au

We have received several complaints from readers, and one of our motoring writers has encountered this particular issue with two press vehicles, so we would like to get a consensus of the severity of this problem.

From the data we have collected, this issue seems to be affecting all VE Commodore models, ranging from run of the mill Omega, right through to the top of the line HSV Grange.

The problem appears to occur when a vehicle is left for over one day without being driven, started or unlocked. When the vehicle is left in this state, a rogue component in the vehicle drains every last inch of charge from the battery, rendering it useless. The only way to alleviate the issue is to jump-start the car and depending on the model being examined, varied wait times are required to start the vehicle again due to additional components operating.

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Holden VE Commodore Battery Drain Issue Resolution

Australian Car Advice
24 September 2007
www.caradvice.com.au

Following our initial story about an issue many VE Commodore owners have experienced with regards to a lack of battery charge, we received many complaints from owners agreeing that the issue was getting long in the tooth, especially when vehicles would be dry of charge at inconvenient times.

This information was forwarded to Holden Australia with the ambition of resolving the matter and hopefully putting owner’s minds at ease.

Thankfully, Holden issued a response to our article with some information about the issue, along with the steps owners can take to resolve the matter.

We would like to thank all the owners who e-mailed in with their stories, along with Holden for a prompt and detailed response with regards to the problems plaguing some owners.

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2007 HSV Grange

[JoeT]

A mate of mine who works for NRMA Batteries dropped by here only an hour ago after just replacing the battery in a brand-new HSV Grange that was near dead.
He said this problem is something they have been noticing a lot of late with the VE/WM's. Bit of a worry.

[mbukukanyau]

GM cannot Afford not to step up and sort this out. This is bad stuff, they need to get to the bottom of it quick

[RedVee8]

Interesting.
My first -3 morning in the Captiva and the battery wouldn't kick the car over. I had to get the NRMA out and it was so flat they wanted to supply a new battery. I suspected that they had specced a cheapo battery that was not big enough so I got the NRMA dude to look it up in his book. The battery was a 7 "whatevers" and therefore should have been easily big enough. I drive 53kms each way to work and the last trip was the day before and so it should have been charged. I ended up pulling a "Work from Home" day and took it to the dealer.
It ended up costing me $40 for an inspection and charge as they "couldn't" do it under warranty because they found no fault.
Something similar to the VE I think.

[TKR]

There were some changes made to BCM programming in July (I think). THe changes were supposed to resolve the 'flat battery' issues. The vehicle can be programmed via Tech2 and is applicable to all VE / WM from memory. Ask your dealer.

[crYnOid]

Originally Posted by TKR

There were some changes made to BCM programming in July (I think). THe changes were supposed to resolve the 'flat battery' issues. The vehicle can be programmed via Tech2 and is applicable to all VE / WM from memory. Ask your dealer.

Correct, Holden have released a BCM update that fixes the problems that cause the flat battery issue. You can have it applied to your car for free at any Holden dealer if you are having these issues, or the dealer will just update the BCM when you next get the car serviced. I understand all VE/WM models before a certain date are required by Holden to get this update.

The issue happens due to the use of the vehicle and the way the BCM shuts down modules inside the car. My dealer said it is partially because the BCM wasn't aggressive enough in charging the battery so people who did mostly small trips wouldn't get much charge into the battery. While people who did long trips of a few hours (say once a week) got a good charge into the battery and everything was ok.

The other part was that the BCM would leave modules active for up to 45min after the car was locked. This caused excessive drainage on the battery. These modules now only stay active for 10-15min with the update.

Why did this happen? Because Holden's testers drove the car mostly on longer trips. The original BCM config was fine for that. Real world testing showed that it wasn't so Holden released the BCM update.

[doppleganger]

I hope that GM addresses this before ANY G8s hit the street. This is a hit they can't afford to take right now in the realm of building consumer confidence. Good to see that there is a fix. To go one step further, they should maybe refund service charges that someone may have paid to have their car fixed because of this.

[jkennedy293]

I'm glad it has been addressed and that it won't be an issue for the G8. If the G8 gets bad reviews, which I doubt it will, the Zeta program could be in danger here in the U.S.

[mikmak]

That sucks...

[TKR]

Originally Posted by RedVee8

Interesting.
My first -3 morning in the Captiva and the battery wouldn't kick the car over. I had to get the NRMA out and it was so flat they wanted to supply a new battery. I suspected that they had specced a cheapo battery that was not big enough so I got the NRMA dude to look it up in his book. The battery was a 7 "whatevers" and therefore should have been easily big enough. I drive 53kms each way to work and the last trip was the day before and so it should have been charged. I ended up pulling a "Work from Home" day and took it to the dealer.
It ended up costing me $40 for an inspection and charge as they "couldn't" do it under warranty because they found no fault.
Something similar to the VE I think.

Did you use Holden Roadside Assistance? Did the salesperson advise you of this during delivery? It should not have cost you a cent.

[RedVee8]

Originally Posted by TKR

Did you use Holden Roadside Assistance? Did the salesperson advise you of this during delivery? It should not have cost you a cent.

Yes, they send the NRMA who got it started.
I drove it down to the dealer and left it with them for hours as they said they needed to run a whole raft of tests before it would be accepted for a battery replacement. They called me and said it passed all the tests so it's not a warranty job, $40 please. I was a tad pissed, if it had failed again the next day it would have been on. But its been fine since.

[TKR]

Originally Posted by RedVee8

Yes, they send the NRMA who got it started.
I drove it down to the dealer and left it with them for hours as they said they needed to run a whole raft of tests before it would be accepted for a battery replacement. They called me and said it passed all the tests so it's not a warranty job, $40 please. I was a tad pissed, if it had failed again the next day it would have been on. But its been fine since.

Hmmm...tough call by the dealer. Having worked for both Holden and in the dealer network (sales and service) I think Holden's (Aust and NZ) big pitfall is the way their warranty is set up. I would almost lay money that Toyota (and subsequently the dealer) would not have charged for that little issue - after all it was not your fault.
BTW - From memory Captiva and VE share the same BCM with differnt programmng. I just can't remember which level VE it was.

[DemonKnightDK]

Redvee8, sounds to me like they flashed your BCM and charged for it any ways even though it was a recall/warranty issue.... i'd start dealing with a different dealer my self...

[RedVee8]

Originally Posted by DemonKnightDK

Redvee8, sounds to me like they flashed your BCM and charged for it any ways even though it was a recall/warranty issue.... i'd start dealing with a different dealer my self...

yeah, I went to the local guy, thats where I bought it. they are the closest to home & thats where I was at the time.
There is another dealer across the road from where I work so I'll be dropping it in there for planned service jobs.

[chinamonty]

I would be writing to the Managing Director of the dealership and getting him to investigate what happened. If then not happy with the reply send a letter to Holden. Both need to know if things are to improve in their businesses and your pocket!