L405 Tailgate issues - wants to close rather than open

Hi all, hoping for some sage advice
I have just recently joined the ranks of RR owners and have encountered my first hiccup.
I have been getting a low battery warning, which normally goes away after I drive the car for a bit.
Couple of days back, I couldn't open the top tailgate. It unlatches and then latches without lifting.
I can force it up, but it keeps trying to close and won't stay in place - almost like its stuck in 'close mode'
I have driven it for a couple of hours today hoping it might fix the issue; and have tried reset on the tailgate lid - but I get several beeps rather than the single confirmation beep (and there is no power at all to lower tailgate at mo)
Is this a low battery issue? where after sometime it disables stuff?
or something else...there seems to be little info I can find on a tailgate that wants to close only.

Aerosimian said:

Hi all, hoping for some sage advice
I have just recently joined the ranks of RR owners and have encountered my first hiccup.
I have been getting a low battery warning, which normally goes away after I drive the car for a bit.
Couple of days back, I couldn't open the top tailgate. It unlatches and then latches without lifting.
I can force it up, but it keeps trying to close and won't stay in place - almost like its stuck in 'close mode'
I have driven it for a couple of hours today hoping it might fix the issue; and have tried reset on the tailgate lid - but I get several beeps rather than the single confirmation beep (and there is no power at all to lower tailgate at mo)
Is this a low battery issue? where after sometime it disables stuff?
or something else...there seems to be little info I can find on a tailgate that wants to close only.

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Very sensitive on battery voltage, get it checked, also the alternator output, then check for parasitic drain…

Dippypud said:

Very sensitive on battery voltage, get it checked, also the alternator output, then check for parasitic drain…

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As above, low battery voltage equals many problems. Driving the car for a bit will not fully recharge a low battery. Get a smart charger or solar charger and fully charge the battery then I would bet your problems go away.

Datatek said:

As above, low battery voltage equals many problems. Driving the car for a bit will not fully recharge a low battery. Get a smart charger or solar charger and fully charge the battery then I would bet your problems go away.

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Thanks, I have bought one of the CTEK stop/start ones, so will give that a go tomorrow.
Do you know if I can charge the battery via the 'bolts' under the bonnet or does it need to be directly on the battery?
Is it worth disconnecting the battery afterward to see if that resets everything?
Thanks again.

Aerosimian said:

Thanks, I have bought one of the CTEK stop/start ones, so will give that a go tomorrow.
Do you know if I can charge the battery via the 'bolts' under the bonnet or does it need to be directly on the battery?
Is it worth disconnecting the battery afterward to see if that resets everything?
Thanks again.

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You need to look at the owners hand book as there are some restrictions on the latest cars as to where you can connect a charger. Normally a charger is best connected to the battery terminals.
You will probably need to leave the charger on for 24 hours to fully charge the battery but the Ctek should detect fully charged.
Some cars with stop/start have a separate battery for that function, I'm not sure if the Ctek stop/start charger is the best one for the main battery but it will do no harm.

Does yours also have a separate smaller accessories battery hidden on the car? These can cause minor issues as they start to fail.

I believe the 405 has a second battery in the right hand side if the boot about half way up, there was a pic posted a while back.

Mark Piercy said:

Does yours also have a separate smaller accessories battery hidden on the car? These can cause minor issues as they start to fail.

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Yes it does and yes it will, friend of mine that has a 405 and it gave problems when second battery started to fail, change battery and all good after.

Aerosimian said:

Thanks, I have bought one of the CTEK stop/start ones, so will give that a go tomorrow.

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A charger won't fix a faulty battery. If either battery is over 4 years old, they need replacing.

Quick (and a little embarrassing) update. Charged battery and no change; the tester I had (topdon) told me to replace the battery. So I popped to a local garage to arrange that. When we came to change the battery, I was holding the tailgate up until we could prop it up and noticed that one of the struts had popped off. So we took it off and refitted. Voila! It all started working again.
The apparent closing action was because one strut couldn't hold the weight of the tailgate (which is quite considerable because of the glass, motor, etc). The garage tested the battery with their meter and no battery change required (I was happy to replace if required).
No charge from the garage, but I gave the technician a drink for his time and refitting the strut.
Where did diagnosis go wrong?
1. I assumed as failure coincided with low battery warning, that the two were related and went to solution the low battery as cause.
2. I didn't look at the basics - hinges and struts.
It took a different position and two sets of eyes to see the issue, but now I won't forget it

Aerosimian said:

I assumed as failure coincided with low battery warning, that the two were related and went to solution the low battery as cause.

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If you're getting a low battery warning, a battery is well past its best, there are 2 IIRC, regardless of what the garage tester says. The batteries on these vehicles are working really hard, and have a life of about 4 years before they become unreliable.

Well done for sorting the boot issue though.