Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Hi All,

So the year starts after holiday and Grizzly stood at home like previous year for about well almost a month. Battery inside is a Sabat and has the old cell tech. So I decided this year to change the battery as it was causing acid built up and after chatting to Graham. It should rather be one of these maintenance free bat. I purchased vehicle with that Sabat and it was replaced on purchase as old bat had an issue.

Ok now enough background. So previous year after a month standing locked come home and turn key starts first time. Wow. Great. So this year we get back and remember I decided beforehand will change bat anyway. So turnkey. Dead.

No way its gonna start. Totally flat. Well great I was going to change the bat anyway so I pop down to my local tyre garage. They have Duratec batteries which are apparently really good batts. So I get it install it and all is well. Now hear comes a bit more info that pin point where the issue lies.

Previous years Grizzly would drive everyday. Daily drive. Stand maybe 3 - 4 days. Start no problem. This year I changed jobs and use Gau and only drive car every second week as we have turn base between a collegue and I. Well at first all seemed fine. No problems. Then during the heavy cold week this year it stood. Monday morning dead. Like in dead. Charge overnight. Drive the week. Stand 4-5 days. Dead. Charge again. This week it happened to me again. Friday no go. Charged a bit. About 4 hours. Not full and Grizzly starts.

Question is. Did I buy a very bad battery. No duel battery system. It wasnt cold this week.

Bat bought in Jan.

If you believe bad bat what battery brands do yoy guys use and get the most out of?
Or am I driving vehicle to little or is something pulling power.

Happy Patrolling.

Het jy nie dalk n Tracking sesteem in die Patrol wat se batt dood is nie en nou krag van die hoof batt vat nie dan gaan jy ook net n dooi batt sit na n paar dae sa jy nie elke dag net jom ry nie

Ja something is not lekke. Put a amp meter between the negative pole and battery . You will quickly see what current is being pulled ... Made charge battery fully then make a turn at batties for u in centorion . They have proper load testers to see if the battery is cool . PLEASE DONT LOAD TEST IF NOT FULLY CHARGED ....I WILL BEEAK . Also it would be a good idea to get a 4 amp conditioning charger that has the little plug that fits in your grill so you can charge it and keep it happy when not working. ...no problem letting it stand for a 2 week period but not all the time

Dankie vir die "advice"

As far as I know the vehicle doesnt have an tracker unit? Going for a service soon to Graham. Maybe he can check or test what is up?

I had had a issue 2months ago where the battery would also run down over the space of a week or 2. Had the battery checked at 2 different battery shops. Battery OK. Then I took the altenator of and had it checked at a Aoto elec shop. What I noticed though was that I got a lowish voltage reading when the bakkie was idling. It was round about 13V. When I drove a bit the voltage was around 12.4 to 12.6 volt. It almost seemed that there's some kind of dry joint somewhere on the altenator that got worse in heat. The voltage is still high enough to power all of the components with out showing alarms. I installed a new altenator and everything is back to normal. I also use my vehicle mostly on week ends.

Thanks for all the advice. I had Graham look at it. And guess what, he believes it is an old tracker unit which has an battery that has gone and pulling power from main. Max 3 days then Batt is flat.

Having Graham to strip and find will cost me an small fortune. What else could I do to find it? I never had an Tracker unit installed. Its an 2007 model so its rather old too now. They hide them so well.

Phone the tracking companies. Give them your VIN and not registration no. One of them should have a record of it.

They will not tell you where it is but will remove it for you.

I had a similar issue on my Citi Golf... turned out to be a tracking unit too which was never replaced (I get the units replaced every 3 years now regardless of condition. As soon as the batteries go in them, they kill your main battery, I also ask them to show me the old unit they pulled out)

Another issue I had was a bad battery:
Battery light would come on when I started the car, had to rev the engine a bit to get the alternator charging the battery.
First thought was to get the alternator checked, but easiest was battery test first..
I went to a 'reputable' nationwide battery shop. They tested the battery and it was 100% according to them.
So took the alternator in to F&R electricians in Edenvale. He tested the alt and said it was good, but said he will check the battery on his load tester and turned out it was very faulty...

New Royal battery and car is perfect again..

I mention Royal as I have it as my secondary battery on the Patrol too, and very happy with it. Specialized Battery Solutions in Benoni are a good bet..

Ok guys,

Thanks for the info and suggestions. After phoning Netstar, Tracker, Cartrack, Ctrack and Matrix and no has me Grizzly listed? What now?

They will not tell you if you have a unit in or not
Security reasons
But think you have to go do load test on your battery first and if it passses .. then start looking for that tracker unit :