Won't Start at times

[mj1672]

my 2006 lr3 will always crank but it won't always start. Auto Zone says the battery is OK when they load tested it. Battery is only 5 months old, but it is aftermarket Auto Zone brand. Could this be a battery or a starter issue? Before I took it to Auto Zone, I suspected the battery because even though i had lights, radio,etc, i decided to try and jump it off. Well, it started right up after 2 cranks. I've taken it to 2 different shops and since there is never a "Check Engine" light, the code scanner doesn't show anything and of course, the truck starts every time. Any help is very appreciated.

P.S.
Battery is a Duralast with equivalent specs as factory battery.

 

[Sonies]

the owners manual says that in cold weather it can take up to 30 seconds of cranking for the engine to start

 

[mj1672]

the owners manual says that in cold weather it can take up to 30 seconds of cranking for the engine to start

I guess anything's possible, except for the fact that this is my 5th winter with the vehicle and the trouble started when it was still warm here in TX.

 

[Sonies]

are you using premium gas?

 

[roverman]

I can't buy that the owners manual says the engine can turn over for 30 seconds before starting. That would **** the starter as well as the battery. I worry when mine (which it has been doing on occasion turns over for 5-7 seconds. Almost seems like a bad valve or something, like the fuel is running back down into the tank.

Are you saying it never starts or it just takes a while to fire? What if you step on the gas a little when it's turning over?

 

[tlt]

How many miles are on it? Does it ever throw a fault? Do you have any accessories installed, such as a Traxide? How long has your battery been installed.

It stands to reason, if you jump it, and it starts, that your battery is gone. This also makes sense if it is more than 2 years old. The LR3/DIII are finicky about their voltage levels and what you describe is unusual, but sounds battery (or cable) related.

I have also read about some who had some problems where the charging wire, starter wire or ground wire has gotten corroded, or shorted due to rubbing. These are all things worth looking at.

 

[mj1672]

replies:

Always used regular gas for 4 yrs up until a week ago. i now have used 2 full tanks of premium gas and used Sea Foam and Lucas fuel cleaner within the last month. thw problem started about 4 months ago. the car would take 3-4 cranks to start. It would b fine for a month and take another 3-4 cranks to start. this pattern got worse...engine started fine for 2 weeks, then hard to start. fine for a week, now daily or even hourly. i dont know, but now i think that the jump starting may have been a coincidence, because i tried jump start once before with no luck. i will try it one more time to test theory again. the lr3 has over 99k miles, no faults on a code scan, and no accessories. 5 month old battery did trigger some battery codes per the land rover tech, but he cleared those out 4 months ago. ironically, this all started 1 month after i bouht the new battery back in Aug 2011.

 

[tlt]

Hmm, strange one. Perhaps the battery shop would be willing to put it through a more thorough test. They do go bad, can you use a multimeter to check the voltage prior to attempting to start it up.

 

[mj1672]

Hmm, strange one. Perhaps the battery shop would be willing to put it through a more thorough test. They do go bad, can you use a multimeter to check the voltage prior to attempting to start it up.

Yes, I have tried that and all appeared fine. If i can recall...sitting idle was about 12.45v, when I started it, volts drops momentarily to around 11v or so, once started it is around 13+ volts. I was wondering, is it possible to spray starter fluid on these LR3's, like we use to do to carburetor cars?

 

[Sonies]

I seem to remember reading that its a bad idea to put any additives in these cars, it has a chance of messing up the mixture ratios