My 2012 LR4 is not starting anymore, help please

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Georgemera1

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2012
Posts
85
Reaction score
15
Today searching here for related threads I found one that says that you need to reset the SM relay when you replace the battery, I didn't think this is accurate because I have replaced the battery myself 4 years ago and when I did it, It worked very well with out reset. But I thought maybe the relay went bad and thinking about it, hired a guy form yourmechanic.com who checked my car today and he didn't find any codes, checked the battery voltage and it was fine since it is new battery. At first he thought is the starter but I told them about my thinking that the SM relay may be bad.
He opened the relay box and switched the SM relay with the engine fan replay then try to start my car on, to our surprise the car started 1, 2, 3 and 4 times the car went on with out issues these 4 times but then trying the 5th time after 15 minutes or so, the car didn't start again. The mechanic believes it is the starter and recommended to replace it. But I'm not sure and I'm going to buy new SM relay at the dealer tomorrow and try it like that, I'm thinking that it is the relay.
 

powershift

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2023
Posts
506
Reaction score
150
Location
Nevada
Today searching here for related threads I found one that says that you need to reset the SM relay when you replace the battery, I didn't think this is accurate because I have replaced the battery myself 4 years ago and when I did it, It worked very well with out reset. But I thought maybe the relay went bad and thinking about it, hired a guy form yourmechanic.com who checked my car today and he didn't find any codes, checked the battery voltage and it was fine since it is new battery. At first he thought is the starter but I told them about my thinking that the SM relay may be bad.
He opened the relay box and switched the SM relay with the engine fan replay then try to start my car on, to our surprise the car started 1, 2, 3 and 4 times the car went on with out issues these 4 times but then trying the 5th time after 15 minutes or so, the car didn't start again. The mechanic believes it is the starter and recommended to replace it. But I'm not sure and I'm going to buy new SM relay at the dealer tomorrow and try it like that, I'm thinking that it is the relay.
What is the behavior when it doesn't start?
 

itsaguything

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2023
Posts
175
Reaction score
66
Location
Manotick, On, Canada
This is well laid out in the workshop manual…. if you don’t reset, it will learn of the new battery characteristics over a short period of time.

But why “guess”…. There should be codes.
 

Georgemera1

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2012
Posts
85
Reaction score
15
Like I said before I hired a mechanic from your mechanic.com as my LR4 is parked on my apartment parking spot and he came to check it, didn’t find any codes and he says it is the Starter, I’m going to have it replaced this weekend.
I will let you know guys what is the outcome.

George,
 

greiswig

Supporting Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2021
Posts
567
Reaction score
222
Location
SW Washington
Cursory read through the thread, but I didn’t see any description of what you mean when you say “won’t start.” Does it crank but not turn over? Does it click but not crank? I’m assuming the latter, given that a “mechanic” is pointing to the starter.

You also don’t mention whether you are using the ECO mode or not. If so, I imagine the starter gets a lot more cycles put on it than it would prefer.

Starters also fall victim to corroded connections, which are pretty easy to fix. If it were me, I’d clean every connection between the battery, grounds, and starter and see if that has an impact. And maybe sub out the relay.
 

Georgemera1

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2012
Posts
85
Reaction score
15
Update:

The mechanic replaced the starter and now it is working very well, tried it many times and it keeps working ok. When the mechanic came before to do the diagnostic he didn’t find any codes and he said it should be the starter, he recommended to use DENSO starter, he said they are very good ones. Brought the DENSO DNS 1364 and funny thing when he took the old one off, the old starter was DENSO, exactly the same starter.
I don’t know why it died, I’m not an expert about this and don’t know anything about it but I’m very happy my LR4 now is working ok.
Thanks very much for all the replies and if something happens again with the car not starting, I will let you know.
 

powershift

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2023
Posts
506
Reaction score
150
Location
Nevada
Update:

The mechanic replaced the starter and now it is working very well, tried it many times and it keeps working ok. When the mechanic came before to do the diagnostic he didn’t find any codes and he said it should be the starter, he recommended to use DENSO starter, he said they are very good ones. Brought the DENSO DNS 1364 and funny thing when he took the old one off, the old starter was DENSO, exactly the same starter.
I don’t know why it died, I’m not an expert about this and don’t know anything about it but I’m very happy my LR4 now is working ok.
Thanks very much for all the replies and if something happens again with the car not starting, I will let you know.

Thanks for the follow-up. How many miles do you have on it?
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
36,289
Posts
218,351
Members
30,504
Latest member
Disco2TrailEdit4
Top