2011, 66k miles, flat battery issues

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Mozambique

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New LR owner. This forum is starting to sound like a Saab owners forum...............
 

bbyer

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If you have someone to rev the engine up a bit, yes, and with a bit of finesse you should be able to do that yourself from the drivers seat via the two button rear hatch release procedure.

Revving up the engine will generally up the system voltage closer to fourteen volts and that sure beats a low twelve and with luck, the hatch releases.
 

bbyer

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Oh interesting discussion re. tailgate actuator. The first time I used it my thought was "that's a part that's destined to fail and cost $$$". Mine intermittently won't open. If I press down ******* the tailgate as I operate the button it seems to free it up and it opens, so maybe an alignment issue...........where to get an actuator (other than main dealer)?
Pretty much all sources alternative to a LR dealer are in US dollars, hence your best bet is probably a local LR dealer. It probably will take them a week to get it from Mississauga or where ever it is that Caterpillar has their LR parts warehouse in Ontario.

My link referenced above pretty much shows how to change out the actuator. It is expensive to pay others to do that so relatively speaking, the actuator cost is minor. Watch you do not cut any of the hidden wires while you are digging for the actuator.
 

PaulLR3

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If you have to press harder and harder then the actuator is probably on the way out. My new one works immediately with a slight push. I should have realized my old one was failing.

Also, If you can still open the tailgate it will make removing that carpeted tailgate panel much easier. My actuator was totally dead with the tailgate closed, so the tech had to crawl in from the back seat, then cut into the carpeted panel to get at it and release the tailgate. I had to get a new carpeted tailgate panel as well.
 

PaulLR3

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New LR owner. This forum is starting to sound like a Saab owners forum...............

I presume that is a good thing as true Saab lovers try to keep their extinct cars running. Same thing happened with all of us that owned the first A6-based allroad. We hated the new A4 based allroad and kept our original allroads running as long as possible.

Same thing will happen here as we try to keep our beloved LR4s running forever and avoid buying a Discovery 5.
 

bbyer

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I presume that is a good thing as true Saab lovers try to keep their extinct cars running. Same thing happened with all of us that owned the first A6-based allroad. We hated the new A4 based allroad and kept our original allroads running as long as possible.

Same thing will happen here as we try to keep our beloved LR4s running forever and avoid buying a Discovery 5.
The good news is my LR3 runs better and is more reliable now than when new, hence keeping a 4 on the road is well worth the effort.

Hope the new Defender surprises us but somehow ....
 

SantaAna7

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Mozambique,

My personal experience, like others, is that the stock battery is trash. My MY13 HSE Lux needed a new battery after a little more than a year and 8k miles. I bought a Duracell AGM from Costco (which is a rebranded Deka) rather than get the warranty replacement and deal with local service dept. I'm at 11k miles 3 years later and happy. I just use a CTek 7002 to keep it maintained but will still probably cycle it out next year.
I'd definitely suggest keeping a battery jumper device handy and checking your battery voltage yourself. There's a chance you could rehab the failing battery with the CTek 7002 but if it's an old unit better off with a fresh battery. A multimeter and YouTube can help check your alternator.
I use a phone charger that has a built in voltage meter just to make sure I don't get nasty surprises. I can see if my battery is charged appropriately and if the alternator is kicking in.
Good luck and don't call my disco a Saab Your killing me bro.
 

catman

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4 years is about max for an LR4 battery. On mine I know the battery is weak when the screen clock format changes itself to military time.

Gotta love it, our 08 RR did the same thing. Also, the memory seats were horrible in that they often lost their settings for no reason, or went to some random new position all by themselves, or the seat simply would not move more than about a quarter inch at a time if done manually with the buttons (it would just stop and take about 80 presses of the button to get it into place). I replaced the battery "preventatively" at 4 years and 10 months and those issues have not occured since...
 

bbyer

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I use the CTEK US3300 to keep my 3's battery charged up. The alternator even when everything is perfect cannot charge the battery to more than 80% State of Charge and over the years, that undercharging takes it toll. I do a charge about twice a year for a week of nights.

For a replacement battery, I install the Interstate MTP-H7 battery which for me lasts at least five years and perhaps more.

The book calls for the larger H8, however the H7 size fits better. I also have the Traxide dual battery kit installed, something that fits better in the 3 than the 4.
 

Travis

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I recently started experiencing the same battery issue on my 2011 LR4 with 86,000 miles. And similar to the original poster who started experiencing the issue right after he did the front brakes, I experienced it after replacing the front wheel bearings (coincidence?). The vehicle now starts hard. It seems like it is a battery issue. The battery seems to drain really quickly. Sometimes it won't start the truck if the truck has been sitting a couple days. I can use a battery jump pack and then it starts up. But the Interstate AGM battery I have is only about 9 months old.

I did replace the alternator about 9 months ago too - I took the alternator to a place that rebuilt the original alternator. When I was trying to figure out this issue, I had the vehicle/battery tested at Batteries Plus and they thought maybe the alternator was putting out too much voltage (about 14.5 volts).

Land Rover dealership said it was probably the battery when I brought the vehicle to them this past Saturday. Then took the vehicle to Interstate Battery where I got the battery from. They said the AGM battery tested good, but that I should put it on a charger and leave it on there for "a few days - to get it good and charged". So I'm in the middle of day 2 on the charger. I'm skeptical about it working well after the "few day charge" idea.

Any ideas to bring this post back to the original poster's question? Could it be the starter? The Land Rover dealership said we should only use genuine Land Rover alternators because of issues with the voltage.
 

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