Defender Td5 110: Battery and fuel issues

In late March 2012, last year, I parked my Defender Td5 CSW. Other than starting the engine every couple of weeks and letting it run for five minutes or so, I didn’t use it until mid-November last year. Had I had it insured, I would have driven it further. Then, in mid-November, I drove it about 30 km during the course of one day, returning it to its parking place.

Subsequently, I started it less frequently, once about every three weeks. In mid-January, during a spell of pretty cold weather which had frozen one door lock, I went to start it but there wasn’t enough battery power to properly turn it over. The next time, a couple of weeks later, there was no power. It is still in that state. I haven’t done anything yet because I saw no point in getting things working properly then leaving the vehicle standing again, through more cold weather.

The vehicle has two batteries, both Land Rover originals; the second one runs the fridge etc. and I have a cut-off switch between the two. In May 2011, perhaps 20,000 km ago, both batteries were replaced with new ones. Between that point and March last year, the vehicle was used in a normal sort of way: sometimes every day for two or three weeks; sometimes it stood for three or four days, and stood up to maximum of three weeks at a time (not driven). From the time I fitted new batteries (May 2011) until mid-January this year, the engine started perfectly, first time, every time.

I had thought that during those months (March 2012 til January this year), letting the engine run for a few minutes was a good thing, and was also enough to replace whatever power I was taking out of the battery by starting it. Also, I thought that a 30 km. run would leave the batteries in good shape.

My first question: is it likely that the batteries need replacing or is it likely to be just a matter of getting them fully charged, and then they will be OK? (When I get this sorted out I’m going to insure the vehicle and use it for at least a day or two, every couple of weeks.)

A second question also arises. I have recently been told that if fuel (diesel, in my case) is in the tank for a long time, it deteriorates (can deteriorate?) through oxidation and may become unusable. (Can it also cause damage?????) The fuel that’s in the vehicle system at present has been there since March last year.

Once a battery is profoundly discharged and then sits, especially in the cold weather it is almost certainly had it.

The best thing to do when leaving a vehicle to sit is to remove the battery, store in the garage on a trickle charger on a timer to get a little top up once a week or something.

Often starting it and letting it idle won't actually do anything useful, it depletes the energy within it, and unless the vehicle is left to stand for a decent length of time idling it won't really replace all that was lost.

The diesel will be fine. It does deteriorate but it doesn't really oxidise that's petrol, just top it up with good stuff once it's back on the road, run it low and then brim to get any moisture. I used 20 litres of diesel recently in my 90 that was about 2 years old.

Hi discomania. Thanks for your reply.

It would have been better if, instead of assuming that the way to go was “parking up” and starting the engine every so often, I had sought advice about the best thing to do. But the past is the past and I have my LR, still with two flat batteries and possible/probable oil contamination, internal corrosion, sulphated battery, parked in the street here in Berlin. When my vehicle is running again, later this month, I hope, and has had the necessary service it in any case needs, I shall keep it insured and use it.

When it was in use, prior to March last year, I would frequently park at, and overnight at, fairly “remote” spots: up a mountain track in Turkey, in a forest in Romania, on a field-side somewhere in Bulgaria, etc. etc., in places where, in other words, I needed to know the engine was going to fire next morning, without problem. I expect to be in such situations again, so rather than risk a future non-functioning battery because of damage I might have caused (sulphation, for example), I prefer to replace both batteries.

You've noted that the battery/batteries has/have almost certainly had it.
Can a workshop tell me, definitively, “the condition of these batteries is such-and-such”?

In order to get the vehicle moving and to the LR workshop I know, I have two possibilities. (For logistical reasons, one of these is not to charge the batteries myself/at home.) The first is to get a nearby garage to come and charge them/get the engine going, and then I drive the approximately 15 km to the LR workshop. The second is to go directly to the LR workshop and ask them to sort out the whole problem. (Since they would be coming 15 km to me, this would, presumably, be more expensive.) The question is, perhaps, if the nearby garage gets me going, is this going to be adequate for me to get to the LR workshop.