2012 Radio not storing preset stations or returning to last station listened to

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Longtrail

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In my 2012 LR4 you can press and hold the preset radio buttons to store the station that you're currently listening to and this works fine. As soon as you turn off the car these preset stations return to 88.3. In addition; when you start the car the last station that you were listening to (say 107.1) is always reset to 105.3.
If I use any other input (like the CD player) then the system recalls where it was before turning off the engine. This seems like a battery issue just on the radio portion of the entertainment system... I'm curious if anyone knows if there's a dedicated battery or has other ideas how I might fix this? Thank you.
 

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jlach993

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In my decade long experience with my 2011, I'd get electrical gremlins throughout this entire vehicle with a weak starting battery/alternator. I've noticed that my HD radio cuts out whenever my alternator fails...I have no idea what that correlation would be. The first time I noticed the stations playing without HD my alternator crapped out on me. I bought a used one off of eBay and after a few months the HD radio cut out again and the following week the second alternator failed. The third time with the brand new dense alt, I developed a valve cover leak which leaked oil onto the alternator and prematurely fried that one as well. This time along with the HD radio missing, my clock and date/time would reset each time I used the LR4. Also had issues with the key fob not working and the rear hatch working intermittently due to the power issues. Once it has a fresh battery and working alternator all was well. I'm not saying it's your alternator, but make sure your starting battery has at least 12.3 volts after shutting the vehicle off for a few hours and make sure you have over 13.2 volts when running. I have anywhere between 12.3-11.9 volts after a few hours of sitting (I need a new battery as 11.9 is too low, but everything works for now), and I get 13.2-14.5 when running. The alternator constantly changes its charging profile so it's not a traditional system where you'd say anything under 14 volts is abnormal. anything above 13.2 volts is "charging"
 

Longtrail

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Thank you so much for responding. There is one other interesting tidbit of information which happened... I was trying to pair the garage door and turned the vehicle on but without the engine running (so don't press the brake when starting the car). I noticed after a few minutes that the radio displayed a warning message that the "battery" was low and the radio would shut off in three minutes. I wonder if you're not on to something, perhaps the radio needs a decent voltage to store codes? Otherwise the vehicle in terms of battery does appear to function well.

I'll investigate and report back. I'm new to this vehicle but do note a replacement alternator in it's history! Unfortunately this is one of many issues; I have to start somewhere...

Thank you.
 

Longtrail

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I had the battery checked at AutoZone and that came back as OK. Voltage without the engine running is 12.5V; with the engine running it's 14.2V.

I notice in another thread that there's a discussion about a technical service bulletin which seems to involve moving some wires on the battery; could this somehow be involved and how do I figure out if the work has been done?

Thank you for help :).
 

f1racer328

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My car will do the same with a new battery. The system is pretty conservative and will load shed pretty early on.
 

Longtrail

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My car will do the same with a new battery. The system is pretty conservative and will load shed pretty early on.
I'm not alone :). So you're also losing radio preset stations? Is it just an Land Rover type thing?

By load shed do you mean that the computer will remove load if the battery is draining too fast? Is there anyway to fix the issue?
 

ftillier

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What is the voltage of the battery, say an hour or two after you park the car, or better yet, overnight? Check it before starting the engine. Just wondering if that "good" reading you got with the car off was due to having been recently topped up by the alternator, and that's masking a weak battery.
 

Longtrail

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What is the voltage of the battery, say an hour or two after you park the car, or better yet, overnight? Check it before starting the engine. Just wondering if that "good" reading you got with the car off was due to having been recently topped up by the alternator, and that's masking a weak battery.

Let me take a look in the morning; my voltmeter is not feeling well at the moment so I'll have to borrow one (which is what I did to get the existing voltages).
 

f1racer328

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I'm not alone :). So you're also losing radio preset stations? Is it just an Land Rover type thing?

By load shed do you mean that the computer will remove load if the battery is draining too fast? Is there anyway to fix the issue?
Sorry I should have clarified.

My car hasn’t lost presets, but I don’t use them and haven’t checked in a long time.

My car will shut the radio off if the ignition is on for a few minutes without the engine running. Load shedding is turning off non essential parts of a system (such as the radio) to preserve power for an engine start.
 

Longtrail

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OK, makes sense then, mine also seems to do the same thing in terms of load shedding.

The voltage this morning was 12.6V. I'm wondering if it's not an issue with the radio unit, don't they tend to use some sort of solid state memory for these types of thing, I have to think it would survive a battery removal (if it were working properly)?
 

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