Stock Battery and Cold Weather

[Landmark]

It seems like when the weather gets cold, below freezing, the battery has a hard time staying strong. The vehicle sounds weak when trying to start, not to mention i seem to get all those little electronic gremlins during this time. For instance, 23 this morning, started the car and got a gear box failure. Turned off and restart, gone. But no problems during warm months. Wondering if it's just better to get an aftermarket battery.
Oh yeah, the dealership replaced the battery last year.

 

[overblown]

Ok, there's a little list of things to check with this type problem. I would start with the connections themselves and making sure they are both tight and clean. They should have zero build up on them and shouldn't twist by hand within reason. The next thing is if it's not a sealed battery, there will be two caps on top that can be pried up with a flat screw driver or knife. Pop them off and check the water level in each hole. They should all be near the top, enough to cover the slot in each. Use a flashlight to look. If they are low refill them with distilled water ONLY, using a small funnel.

Then you can have your battery tested at an auto parts store or charge it yourself and see if the problem goes away. This is a start. It's not uncommon to have issues within a year especially in cold weather if these things have not been addressed just fyi. Good luck and let us know what happens.

 

[mrtp4]

I live up in Canada where we have about 4 months solid of below-freezing weather everyday, and now into my second winter with the LR4. I have never experienced any hint of a weak battery, so I suspect this is not a 'cold' problem. As Overblown suggested, you probably have an actual problem somewhere at the battery or in the electrics, which just becomes more obvious when cold.

 

[drivesafe]

Hi Landmark and another cause of a “weak” battery is your driving habits.

How often do your drive and when you do drive, for how long?

If your are not driving that often and/or do short duration drives, your battery is never going to charge properly.

As overblown suggested, try putting a charger on your battery every few weeks and make sure the charger has a “BOOST” or EQUALISATION” mode and use it each time you charge the battery.