Car battery and electrics

[Feasty]

I've recently bought a car to replace our van that's just too big for me to keep driving around on my own these days.
It's a 2014 Volvo XC60 and comes with more gadgets than I know what to do with.
It's a great car with 1 minor issue for which I've decided to visit the great BCF hive mind for help!

So, it's got a power tailgate which intermittently when you press the fob button or dash button to open, unlocks, raises itself a few cm's and then closes again. Like it's too early in the morning and it just can't be bothered to get up today.
Other times it works fine and opens, and generally it opens better/quicker when the engine is running. When I first got the car it had a battery low message on it so I put it on an overnight trickle charge which got rid of that. It also comes with auto stop/start which works fine since the charge.

I've been to my local trustworthy independent garage and although the tailgate didn't open the first time, each time after that it opened fine and he put it down to me not holding the button on the fob down long enough. He also checked the battery and it was in a good condition.
Over the next few days I've found it is an intermittent problem, sometimes it opens, other times it can't be bothered. I'd say it fails to open every 3rd-4th attempt.

I then found a Volvo specialist not far from me and made a visit, again they checked the battery and found it in 'ok' condition. The tailgate opened each time they tried, and since they couldn't hear or see anything to make them think it was the battery or struts they just said the tailgate is very heavy, it takes a lot of power and to expect it to not open every now and again.

But I'm not happy with this answer...
So luckily I found a cheap set of new struts for sale not far from me and picked them up. But before I fit them I'm wondering if it could still be the battery and my charging it made it give false results, but don't want to buy a new one if I'm wasting my money and it doesn't fix the problem.
Is there a way of checking the voltage on the battery without the engine running, and watching the voltage whilst opening the tailgate to see if it shows signs of being a battery issue? What should I expect - should it maintain around 12v before, during and after opening the tailgate i.e. under load?

And before you ask the obvious question of why I don't just take it back to where I bought it from. The place is 2hrs away on the other side of the country, and you can just see what would happen. They'll check it, battery fine, struts fine, opens ok when they do it (just like the 2 garages I've tried) and give it me back saying there's nothing wrong. I've wasted a day of my life trying to work out getting it there, leaving it with them, getting it back, and the petrol it costs for the journeying.
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Previous: Aprilia Habana Retro 50cc (beauty), Yamaha SR125 (fell apart), Honda XR125 (nippy little commuter), Honda SLR650 (Geewhizz), Yamaha Diversion 900S (Smoooooth) written off courtesy of a stupid escaped horse.
(7 year gap), BMW F650 (Relaxing ride). Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 (Big and bold). Yamaha FZS600 (got me in trouble too quick!).
Current: Yamaha TDM 900 (Comfy, light but big, power when needed).

[Easy-X]

Why not just hook a multimeter up to the battery and eyeball the voltage drop when you press the button on the fob? Let us know what sort of fluctuations you see. A few other things to check...

Do you have two fobs? Do you get the problem with both? Maybe one fob is worn out and the button press is "bouncing" and sending multiple open/close signals. Is there a button on the boot, does it seem more or less reliable than the fobs? Same question if you have a button on the dash.

Do some tests with and without the engine running. Is it only a little better with the engine or actually never fails with the engine running?

Are the struts making a squeaking sound sometimes? Maybe they need a clean.

I'd say either the stuts are reporting to the car there's an obstruction (if they're weak and about to fail) or not getting enough power under certain circumstances.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[A100man]

[stinkwheel]

[Feasty]

[Polarbear]

12.22v on a standing no load 12v battery is not brilliant but should be ok. Anyway, if it was a weak battery then the boot would work every time with the engine running wouldn't it.

Personally I'd be loath to start spending money on as it's intermittent and it if it's livable with. You could end up spending silly money on a problem your never going to be sure you have fixed.

Even if it's bloody annoying which I'm sure it is!
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[Easy-X]

If it's opening a little bit that means it's got past the scenario of a sticky locking mechanism. Not much to lose at this point trying the replacement struts.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Feasty]

Hmmm, thing is, it's never NOT opened whilst the engine is running but also Googling a battery voltage of 12.22v brings up several different websites telling me the battery is at about 50% charge and not at its best, so could be looking at needing a new battery?

Also after buying the struts I've watched a few YouTubes on replacing these, and read the comments. It seems a few people doing this have found the power boot then doesn't work at all and needs to go to a Volvo dealership to get an expensive software reset!
There is something about doing it a certain way that avoids this, but it's making me a bit nervous of replacing struts if I don't have to.

I'm particularly anal when it comes to things not working quite right, which my wife will strongly agree with. So leaving it and making do is really not my thing if I can help it.
Course at work since I'm in IT, I'm quite happy with that approach !
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Previous: Aprilia Habana Retro 50cc (beauty), Yamaha SR125 (fell apart), Honda XR125 (nippy little commuter), Honda SLR650 (Geewhizz), Yamaha Diversion 900S (Smoooooth) written off courtesy of a stupid escaped horse.
(7 year gap), BMW F650 (Relaxing ride). Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 (Big and bold). Yamaha FZS600 (got me in trouble too quick!).
Current: Yamaha TDM 900 (Comfy, light but big, power when needed).

[stinkwheel]

A 12.2v resting voltage on a battery is a bit meh.If that was on my bike, I'd be considering ordering a new one to have on the shelf.

You got an optimate you could stick it on and see if it recovers it a bit?
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Polarbear]

[doggone]

New battery is relatively inexpensive and might be good plan anyway as modern cars do not like even slightly sub-par batteries so you know there should not be unexpected complications next winter like computer says no at inconvenient location.

The one going down a bit will be handy to have around for a few years kept charged for jump lead action etc.

[Robby]

From personal experience, I've found batteries to be a bit shit recently. I've had dead cells in two batteries in the last year, one was 3 years old and the other 5 years old. The 3 year old had spent some time flat, so it can be expected. The 5 year old had never been low before the dead cell. Both were decent brands.

Also modern car charging systems can be a bit shit. Rather than just leaving the alternator to whizz away and always keep the battery happy, some will let it drop further before recharging. Particularly on electric cars - which don't have an alternator - but also on various hybrids and probably stop-start models. I assume there's a tiny bit of energy efficiency to be gained.

12.2v after a charge would point at a dead cell.

[A100man]

[Raffles]

I too have a Volvo XC60 and can confirm that there's not much work that can be done on it that doesn't require an expensive software reset.
I had the low battery warnings etc and spent a lot of time testing and trying to identify the problems. I ended up replacing both batteries (you do realise that it has two batteries, don't you?) and hey presto....
Your boot problem may go away once the batteries are replaced.
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A good loser will always be a loser.

[panrider_uk]

Certainly sounds battery and not fob

My XC40 also has a button on the dash for opening the boot - does your XC60 have one to try?
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Current bikes: Hondas - Forza 750, ST1100 Pan European

[Feasty]

Yes, there's a button on the dash and on the fob. The same intermittent not opening happens when using either of them, and also if you just push the button to open the tailgate which is actually on the tailgate.
And yes I know there's 2 batteries, I'm not so worried about the 2nd stop/start battery as that just powers the internal electrics whilst the engine isn't running and seems to do that just fine.
Thanks for all the replies, taking on your advice I do think the next thing will be to replace the main battery so I'll be doing that soon as I can.


As a side note, have you noticed anything labelled 'smart' generally comes with its own problems and really isn't very smart at all. Motorways, alternators... I suppose phones could be the odd one out but I'm sure they'll be opposing views on that one .
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Previous: Aprilia Habana Retro 50cc (beauty), Yamaha SR125 (fell apart), Honda XR125 (nippy little commuter), Honda SLR650 (Geewhizz), Yamaha Diversion 900S (Smoooooth) written off courtesy of a stupid escaped horse.
(7 year gap), BMW F650 (Relaxing ride). Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 (Big and bold). Yamaha FZS600 (got me in trouble too quick!).
Current: Yamaha TDM 900 (Comfy, light but big, power when needed).

[Polarbear]

I'd replace both batteries. If you don't you'll never be sure you have eliminated all battery problems.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[to v or not to v]

[stinkwheel]

[Raffles]

[doggone]

[Feasty]

[panrider_uk]