Battery keeps going flat post Towbar fitting

tstarling
tstarling Forum Participant Posts: 2
edited December 2016 in Towcars & Towing #1

hi

I recentley had a tow bar fitted to a Peugeot 3008 1.6 hdi 2015. I paid a professional tow bar company to have it fitted correctly to the car including the electrics to be mapped. This was in July 2016 but ever since then the battery comple dies every 3/4
days of non use of the vehicle.

Here is where the fun starts, I've of course taken the car back to the fitters and they're tested, re-fitted and double checked the towbar electrics and they've confirmed no problems and suggested I take the car to Peugeot. a week later I finally get the
car to robins and day Peugeot and guess what? They say the tow bar hasn't been mapped correctly into the cars computer, happy days so I paid the £60 and thought that would be the end of the problem. 

However after another 3/4 days this week the battery was flat again!! Now I'm in a nice circle of blame between manufacturer telling me it's not there fault and want £100 an hour to find the fault and a tow bar installers telling it's not there fault. 

Does anyone have any advice or ideas of what I can do?

peugeot have tested the battery and alternator and both are fine.

Thanks 

tom 

Comments

  • JohnM20
    JohnM20 Forum Participant Posts: 1,416
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2016 #2

    Tom, although I'm going back some years, I had a Peugeot 406 that had a similar fault to yours that came on unexpectedly. Two or three days non-use and the battery was flat. I eventually tracked the fault down to the radio. I took out the radio fuse and
    the problem went away. I don't know the details but it was a known fault with Peugeot and there was a gismo to go into the electric circuit to prevent it. Is the same thing happening with you? I know it sounds daft but it might just be your problem.

  • Snowy1
    Snowy1 Forum Participant Posts: 263
    edited December 2016 #3

    Without me having to write two pages of A4 to explain my possible reasonings, try removing the boot interior light bulb(s) and see if the fault stops.

  • Snowy1
    Snowy1 Forum Participant Posts: 263
    edited December 2016 #4

    PS, before anyone says, I am well aware that under normal circumstances, should the boot be left open or the boot switch should fail, the boot light(s) would normally time-out via the the towcars ECU.

  • tigerfish
    tigerfish Forum Participant Posts: 1,362
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2016 #5

    Good point Snowy. Certainly when I was getting a constantly flat battery It took quite a while to discover that the boot light wasn't going out when the boot lid was down.

    Mind you that was over 25 years ago and it was a Morris Ital, so its a wonder that anything worked or didn't work anyway!

    But in response to the OP.  If the problem was not there before the tow bar was fitted, and was only evident after it was fitted, then the evidence is pretty strong that there has been a fault introduced by the fitting of the bar.  Go back to the company that fitted it!

    TF

  • Snowy1
    Snowy1 Forum Participant Posts: 263
    edited December 2016 #6

    Have known on two occasions when a none franchise tow module has been fitted, it has currupted the CAN-bus signalling to another circuit. On one of these occasions it affected the boot-light circuit. It was just a thought?

  • mbee1
    mbee1 Forum Participant Posts: 557
    500 Comments
    edited December 2016 #7

    I paid £500+ for a Westalia towbar for my VW Tiguan with dedicated electrics. Five days after having it fitted I had a flat battery. Called VW Assistance as th car was only a few months old and they confirmed something was pulling 8 amps and draining the
    battery. Off it went to the VW dealer and after 3 days they confirmed the towbar had been incorrectly wired. Labour so far £350+

    The well renowned fitting specialist were not happy I couldn't get it to Derby some 30 miles away so I complained to Westfalia who, grudgingly, sent a technician to sort it out. All well and good except for the £350+ to the VW dealer for finding the fault.
    A telephone call saying I wanted it paying and now got it sorted by the well known fitting specialist. 

  • Wildwood
    Wildwood Club Member Posts: 3,581 ✭✭✭✭
    1000 Comments Photogenic
    edited December 2016 #8

    The moral seems to be order the tow bar from the dealer and that way you cannot be pushed between dealers and fitters. You do need to make sure they know you need an ALKO required clearance and the extra electrics though.

  • TonyBurton
    TonyBurton Forum Participant Posts: 269
    edited January 2017 #9

    Hi Tom, Did you manage to get this fixed?

    And Snowy, does the club allow you to arrive on site with a Chinook?I want one too!

  • tstarling
    tstarling Forum Participant Posts: 2
    edited February 2017 #10

    Hi All,

    Thanks for your comments and suggestions.

    Car still isn't fixed the, the manufacturer have advised the tow bar is at fault, as its causing the BSI unit to stay awake when the vehicle is off. Apparently a BSI unit is something that only Peugeot's have.

    To be fair to them they have been helpful and have costed all the current work and labor under warranty. They have also let me use a hire car for 6 weeks.

    I am now waiting for a call back from the manager of the tow bar company as this needs to be sorted through them.

    Thanks

    Tom

  • Woody19
    Woody19 Forum Participant Posts: 43
    edited February 2017 #11

    A quick Google found this page which explains a lot and how to reboot the BSI unit.

     

    Rebooting a Pug BSI unit

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