I'm new to the Aston Martin family, but not new to powertrains and electronics, having spent 27 years at Chrysler in Powertrain Systems. Wanted a "toy". And always had a fascination with AM. Probably from watching too many Bond movies as a kid. Bought a 2010 V8 Vantage Roadster (convertible) in August. 19K miles. Very clean car. Started it's life at the Troy Michigan Jag-AM-Lambo dealer. From there went to Toronto for a short stay. Dealer then bought it and took it home to Huntsville AL. I found it on line and had it shipped back to where it started it's life in metro Detroit.

Wish to share my recent experiences with the car. Hope it helps others with similar issues.

The car is a weekend driver. Nice weather and a taste for ice cream will get it out of the garage with the top down for a spirited drive in search of the perfect ice cream stand. Occasional drives to the office during the week are possible too as coworkers enjoy me taking them out to lunch in it. But the point is, it's limited use. Not a daily.

I have had two episodes of questionable battery voltage. Once car would randomly recognize the key FOB and turn the "white start light" red and allow a crank. Second time was worse. Started car. Drove approximately 3 miles from home. As I was about to show a 5 liter mustang ragtop what a British 4.7 would do, the car mysteriously "shut off". Simply quit running during a hard acceleration in second gear. Like someone reached over and removed the FOB from the dash...... Coasted to a stop, thank God the steering column did not lock. and proceeded to try to restart the car with the key FOB still firmly inserted in the ignition switch slot. No red light when pressing the FOB to restart. No crank, no dashboard gauges. only stereo, door locks, and trunk lock worked. Message center on dash cluster indicated FOB not recognized. And of course, now the steering column locked and electric parking brakes bound the rear tires. This beast wasn't going to move. Tried disconnecting the battery on the side of the road. No joy. tried removing and reinserting both FOBs that I had with me. No joy. Ended up calling a wrecker for a hook and a $100 ride home. Make sure the wrecker driver knows how to tug and load your Aston. Make sure the tow eyelet is securely fastened into the front bracket. Do not pull the car from any other area! As for the wheels that refused to roll due to the applied park brakes..... Spraying WD-40 on the ramp and tires allows them to slide as if they are on ice. minimal stress on the gearbox when loading the car. Dragged car home. Backed wrecker right up to garage door and slid car off ramp. Used roller jack to lift up under center of rear end (being careful where you place jack so damage does not occur), and pulled car off ramp into garage with rear wheels off ground balancing car on jack. Place battery on charger over night with negative battery cable removed to drain and hopefully reset car's controllers. Next day car started like it was ready for a hot lap at Nuremberg. Except now the convertible top will not go up completely. Hard clamshell opens, and fabric top begins to unfold, then stops. message center indicates roof malfunction.

I'm going to do the following:
- buy a battery tender for the car to keep on it when the car is not drive.
- have battery tested at local auto parts store, and likely buy a new one as I am not sure of the age or condition.
- did I mention I will buy a battery tender?
- disconnect convertible roof module (CRM) and leave disconnected overnight with hopes it clears and battery backed codes causing inoperative roof. If that doesn't work, I'm afraid a trip to the Troy Michigan AM dealer might be in order with a check in the amount of "holy **** these AM modules are expensive"!

Key takeaway from this long winded entry: KEEP YOUR ASTON MARTIN BATTERY ON A BATTERY TENDER WHEN THE CAR IS STORED. MAKE SURE YOUR CONNECTIONS ARE TIGHT AND CORROSION FREE. TEST YOUR BATTERY ON A BENCH AT PARTS STORE. MAKE SURE ALTERNATOR WORKS PROPERLY CHARGING THE BATTERY WHEN DRIVING. Guess that was a long winded takeaway to follow up the long winded entry. But I think its worth it as a dead battery can leave you stranded, and potentially cause damage to expensive controllers on the car. Guess AM didn't consider having low voltage protection on their controllers to do logical shut downs prior to dropping out due to low voltage...... Maybe the new Superleggera........??

 

a depleted battery unable to hold a charge cannot supply a computer with the proper voltage to run well enough to monitor a battery. IOW, all bets are off with a bad battery.

 

Your car doesn't have an electronic park brake, SS cars default to 1st or reverse when shut down.

Any new to me vehicle gets a fresh oil, fluids and filter change. And battery replacement if age/condition is in question. May want to check the date codes on your tires.

Welcome aboard mate.
-James

 

Yep, Get a tender (and use it) for sure. When you take the battery out to get it tested.....get a new one if the one you have is 2 years old or older. Like good tires it's cheap insurance. The shut off while driving home is an open question? Hope some here can give some guidance.

 

Take the opportunity to upgrade to Lithium battery, and save yourself 40 lbs in the process!

 

went to go for a spin in my 07 vantage last night, "dead as a door nail" no previous issues.. pulled battery out reading 5 volts
put new battery in this morning fired right up back in business had 6yrs plus out of old one so can't complain

 

I’ve also learned early into my ownership experience that these cars should live on a tender if not daily driven. Oh, and by the way there’s an excellent video that was posted not too long ago on YouTube on how to change the battery in a roadster if/when needed.

 

i bought a new battery when i bought my 2007 4.3l v8 vantage two years ago and havei kept it in a private garage since then. it's driven 40-50 miles every week or two. i showed the owner of the garage how to disconnect the battery (he was paranoid about having cars in his garage with dead batteries and would not tolerate chargers and electrical cords in his garage) using the button in the trunk's fuse panel and have had no battery/low-voltage problems since. information about the disconnect is in the manual. i assume he is using it every time i bring the car back as they always drive the car into the garage. it will automatically, according to the manual, reconnect the next time the key in inserted into the ignition and turned on. completely transparent.

 

Aston Martin V8 Vantage does have a low power mode which shuts off things like the infotainment systems, a msg would also be displayed in dash...

You first started with an issue in the ECU(Emotion Control Unit..aka key docking station) about the light color(I'm assuming the radio and things works but no start), your second occurrence the vehicle shut off without any warning like misfiring, flicking lights in dash or modules powering off. The engine control module will not shut off unless in an accident OR the ECU(docking station) reports the key has been removed. I suspect you have a ECU(Emotion Control Unit..aka docking station) on it's way out, it's not uncommon to fail and play out those symptoms, it's also not cheap which is how it affects your Emotion .

If this part is at fault, the dealer would need to replace the part and re-program your keys to the engine module.

 

if you could find it and post the link, I’d really appreciate it. I found a few but always for the coupe.

 

Here’s the link to the roadster battery change:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yEfPjpJhGMo

 

Thanks!