The drivers side power windows stopped working in my DB9. This is the second time this problem has happened and both times I now realise it has been due to the battery being allowed to run flat. The first time followed a period of 3 weeks where I didn’t drive the Aston and this latest time being when I forgot to disconnect my dashcams.
[Editors Note: I’d like to thank Mike Potts (@aston2209) for contributing his time and knowledge in writing this article – Thanks Mike!]
Both times I had not connected my Aston battery keeper to the mains whilst the Aston was in the garage. What I have also learnt is that whilst previously I believed my battery could support the dashcams for up to 4 days continuous running this is now only about two days. Perhaps my battery condition is gradually falling off. If I am driving the Aston every day then there is no problem and the dashcams can be left on overnight or a couple of days.
When I got into the car and pushed the start button other than some clicking noises nothing happened. I then put the battery on charge and left it for a few hours. On starting the Aston I found that the drivers side window was not operating it would not go up or down and did not move the approx. 5mm when opening and closing the door. I could however operate the passenger window up/down from the driver’s door controls and adjust the mirrors on both sides of the car.
The first time it happened I feared that the window actuator had gone down but thought I would first check the fuse (F83) in the cabin fuse box just in case it had blown. You can learn how to access the cabin fuse box in this article. After I had removed the fuse (F83) and found it to be OK, when I put it back the door mirror motors started moving and when I then tried the window it was now working correctly.
If you have a similar problem to this try removing the fuse and reinserting it and things might go back to normal.
Here is a short video of the procedure that may be more explanatory.
Mike (Aston 2209)
Aston 1936 
You star! Relatively new owner of a relatively old DB9 volante. Battery died recently as I’d not had the trickle charge on (drive being relaid!!). Window stopped working. Saw your vid. Fixed it!
May apply to join Chartered Institute of Engineers now as it felt good!! Thanks.
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Hi,
Got the same issue here, both windows stopped to work after my battery run flat as the car was not touched for 6months. Unplugged the fuse for each door module and it was ok. However I am getting more issue now, such as car shaking at 1500-1800rpm. I will see if it help to disconnect the battery for 30min and then do the usual procedure after a battery change (service bulletin 0148 and 0153) , if not improve will visit local Aston Dealer. The car is turning 10years old so I likely will do a lot of the things you mentioned in your website, thank you very much about all the information you are giving us. I will let you know how it goes.
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Hi Velik,
This is Mike (Aston 2209) glad to hear that the window trick I found worked OK for you.
With regard to your shaking it seems you are at the start of a process of elimination so you are perhaps starting with the right first action as this will reset things. I assume since you notice the shaking at 1500-1800 rpm that you are actually driving not just revving up the engine when stationary.
There can be a number of reasons for this if the car has been stood for 6 months not least of which could be the fuel. It is recommended that petrol is not stored more than 3 months in your car without use and if I was going to store the car for longer, as you have, I would run the fuel down to virtually empty so I could fill up with fresh fuel when putting the car back on the road.
Did you notice any leaks from under the car where it was stood for this period it may be that gearbox, axle, steering fluids have leaked all of which might have an impact dependant on how much has been lost.
If you have an OBDII unit you could connect it to the car and take a few readings including live data to see if you are experiencing any misfires from any of the cylinders.
You should be able to tell if the shaking is engine related or transmission related by running the engine up to the 1500-1800rpm speed when stationary and seeing if there is any appreciable engine vibration/shaking or misfires.
Since you describe it as “shaking” rather than vibration, this engine speed will translate to a specific speed on the road, could it be you have lost a balance weight from one of the wheels, probably front.
Good luck with finding the answer, hopefully you will find something that avoids you have to go to the main dealer. Let us know how it works out we are always interested to know as it might also help someone else.
Mike (Aston2209)
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Thanks Mike2209.
Regarding the “Shaking”, it is happening only while driving with gear engaged and only normal mode, as sport mode or manual will tend to be higher in the rpm. Mostly 6th gear at 90kmph, i thought there were holes in the road every 2m, but it happen also around 60kmph as far we keep low rpm. And in term of power it feels mot smooth at all, like the engine should downshift otherwise you are not going any faster, or just need to kick the accelerator to go over 2000 rpm, then the car start to move smoothy (but doesnt feel right as it is like forcing even if the car stop to shake), and that’s not the behavior expected for such engine. To tell the truth, the first time i took the car after such long pause, i was driving with my son and using either the pad or sport mode, and we haven’t felt any issue, only next day driving in “cruising GT mode” with my wife that i notice this strange behavior. I am going to do all the relearning (border line to break the law in Japan, regarding how low is speed limit), also OBDII unit is on his way. Under the car was completely clean after 6 months.
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Ha Ha !! On your own our with your son it’s sports mode or paddles but when your wife is in the car it’s basic auto !!!!!! …… ermmm, sounds the same the World over !!!!
So in sport or on paddles no problem, but when cruising in “D” at a constant speed you get the shaking. It sounds like a fuel or control module problem to me. When you’re in Sport you will probably be either on or off the gas whereas cruising you’re almost feathering the accelerator so petrol will be flowing at a slower steady rate. You need the OBDII reader you have on order so you can check the fault codes, that should point you in the right direction.
Steve has done a good article on the fault codes on the website see “OBDII P Codes on an Aston Martin DB9”, you’ll find it in the index.
Keep us informed, good luck.
Mike
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Reset of battery done. My car is a Volante 2011 and it is RHD. So battery is on the back of the driver seat, i was looking at the wrong place. No switch in the boot or yellow reset button under the back seat, but instead there is a very useful hole to access the negative connection of the battery, so i just unplug for 30min.
After I plug it back, the windows moved 5cm lower but nothing else special. Windows and seat where fully functional and it didn’t appear i needed any kind of calibration reset, however I did follow the manipulation to reset the windows and seat, but not sure it was effective.Maybe 2011 volante model doesn’t need it?
I did follow the process to turn on the misfire detection, will need to wait OBDII reader (beginning of next week) to confirm.
First i thought the shaking decrease, it was because the actual coasting process doesn’t really touch the range where we can feel the issue.
On the other side the Transmission controller learning process is exactly the range where i can feel the most the shaking. And i had difficulty to follow the process (not only because of speed limit and that i need to achieve a full stop in the middle of crowded Tokyo even at 1am), basically i needed to be gradually aggressive on the accelerator, otherwise I was quickly in 6th gear at 1000 rpm around 50kmph. while it said i needed to go up to 80kmph to reach 5th gear…
Even if issue is still there, good thing over tonight testing and your comment, i am able to describe better. When i keep the accelerator constant in low rpm (1500-1800), i feel i gradually loose power, then i want to push slightly more and then the car trumble, but if i give a better push then car start to move without shaking…
Otherwise no special light showing up. I burn a bit of gaosline (old from January) and will refill with new one shortly… My tank was full as i was expecting to drive the car earlier… and not being stuck 10,000 km away.
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forgot to add. It only happen with gear engaged. If in neutral, i can rev smoothly and while I would expect the engine to behave like that when gear engaged, as it was like that in January. so it really feels the car lost torque or its up shifting too quickly.
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quick update, i found a service bulletin SB-30-0313 that replaces SB0193.
“This Service Bulletin SB-30-0313 has been issued to include changes because of newer vehicles and better AMDS operation. Please discard all copies of SB0193 and do the procedures that follow. ” And what is interested in my case, it say that for DB9 after *12505 (10.5 Model Year onwards) will not lose misfire correction factors if the PCM has lost its “Keep Alive Memory” after a battery replacement or disconnection. So I may have never lost anything… also if i really lost some data, my car was connected to an AMDS less than 9 months ago and i would believe some back up was done.
I should go toward the direction to have clean and new fuel in the system… (Japan is also very humid) not sure how is the best way to do that other than filling the tank when it is almost empty, but want to be sure i don’t keep anything dirty in it.
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Expecting to receive Foxwell OBDII reader next week, in the meantime i plugged my cheap WIFI OBDII dongle, with some free. app. (iOBD2). Surprisingly it is showing lot of information i was not expected, i am able to see the 12 cylinder misfire data, i can see that cylinder 10 is the far “ahead” with around 100 misfire in 1hour while other are more in the 3 to 15 range. However at this level i will not be in hurry for the coil spark plug change but it is definitively in the pipeline. First trying to get a cleaner fuel in the tank to see if any improvement.
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It was serious misfire as car started to shake when gear engaged at stop or low speed. My mechanic changed the coils pack. Thank you for the help and all the information that I could get on the website to keep cost reasonable. I was thinking of after market ignition coil but finally went with the OEM.
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/aston-martin/440368-db9-igintion-coil-after-market-ones.html#post4884804
Car working very smoothly now.
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Hi Velik B.
Good to see you finally got round to changing the coil packs and your Aston is running nicely now. I think it was about a year ago that you first mentioned the problem.
It is a “known” problem with DB9s that the coil packs gradually decay and start to give problems at circa 35,000 miles. The coil packs are buried fairly deep into the engine and have to live with a lot of heat. This over time is bound to have an effect on the coils and they start to breakdown.
The problem is that once one has started to misfire the chances are that others will gradually follow so it is recommended that due to the amount of “crap” you have to dismantle to get at them it’s worthwhile doing them all while you are there. I had one high misfire reading 180-ish with two others in their 50s-60s so it was a no-brainer as they say. I actually changed all the plugs as well making it quite an expensive job but I was doing it myself so no garage bills to pay on top. The ancillary item costs are not insignificant as I also bought new inlet manifold gaskets that come in at £225 from Aston in the UK. It’s tempting to use the old gaskets but then you want to do a good job and not risk air leaks at the manifold so you bite the bullet and throw more money at it !!!
You don’t say if you replaced them all or just the offending coil pack, if you just replaced the one then you will know what the problem is when another starts to misfire, hopefully not for a long time.
Enjoy your Aston
Cheers,
Mike 2209
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Hi Coxybass,
Good to hear it worked for you also. Steve and I post blogs and videos of our own experiences for the benefit of all so good luck with owning you DB9 and keep us posted with your own experiences.
Mike (Aston 2209)
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Thank you! When my 2011 Aston Martin DB9 battery died the windows, side mirror adjustment, and windshield wiper wasn’t working. After few tries after reading your post. It works like a charm. God knows dealer will charge and bogus fixes. Simple, go to fuse box inside of passenger side fuse box and pull all the fuses and put it back in. 30 minute job.
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Hi Chris,
Good to hear pulling the fuses worked for you. I’ve not had the windshield wiper not working when the battery went flat on me, it was just the windows and the door mirrors. Nice to learn that the trick works for the wipers as well, you learn something new everyday as they say!
Not sure that pulling all the fuses is particularly recommended though, I think I would favour just pulling the fuse relating to the offending item.
Thanks for the feed-back we always like to hear of other Aston owners experiences.
Mike (Aston 2209)
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Hello people I have a UK 2015 Volante. For winter storage I followed the advice to fill the tank full with the addition of a fuel stabiliser (good for 2 years) this protects the tank and stops the effects of ethanol on seals etc and water build up. I think Steve did a piece on it.
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