Disco 4 (LR4) Battery issue

Hi Folks,
My discovery 4 HSE (2009 non stop/start)has a battery issue I think. I’ve not owned her long and when starting her the first crank always sounds laboured. I’ve charged the battery with my Telwin evo charger and whilst it said the battery was charged, starting still sounded laboured. (Once running she’s a dream)

Today she sounded like she was slowly getting worse when starting, and this eve I went to fetch my daughter from swimming and all I got was ignition lights, no crank or sign of crank at all. I have had no “low battery” warnings on the dash either.

I believe that just because there’s voltage doesn’t rule out the battery still being KO’d.

Advice please ?

Are the batteries (there could be 2) over 4 years old?, if so then they'll be on borrowed time.

Nodge68 said:

Are the batteries (there could be 2) over 4 years old?, if so then they'll be on borrowed time.

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I’ve not removed to be able to tell yet but I’d assume so. I can only find one battery on the NSF side of the engine bay. The OSF part of the bay doesn’t have a stop start battery.

Hi

may i ask what are the battery Vdc readings with the engine off and then running plse

also have u checked the large battery cable earth point on the front drivers side wheel arch as that one goes to the starter and seen where it can fail

plus u can test the earth points by , turning the ignition on, Measure the voltage between the grounding point and the negative battery terminal , plse let us know what the readings are

indeed what @Nodge68 mentions with regards to date as these vehicle req a really good battery as there very power hungry vehicles

if u find it won’t start plse put a multimeter meter onto the battery there and then to see what Vdc is, plus best to pop it down to ur local Halfords centre as they can do a full test on it, then if if fails can get a new battery from them

then when u get home it’s always best to fully charge a new battery overnight

hope that helps

Found a pic of that earth strap that can fail

Also see u have a test function for battery, start-up and alternator if this is the same charger u have

So my Multimeter says the battery has 12.8v but I’ve previously experienced a battery that charges but is still duff and won’t crank a car. Being new to D4’s I’m a bit stumped. The Earth strap on the OS has been replaced and battery terminals look tight.

I’m at a bit of a loss as all day yesterday (short ish journeys) she always sounded sluggish on first crank. Then later in the day after stood for 3 hours there was nothing.

My next plan is to put a jump cable from negative to engine block. This will identify if it’s an Earth issue hopefully?

Any more suggestions?

benh999 said:

So my Multimeter says the battery has 12.8v

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Measure the voltage on the battery while cranking cos that's really relevant, if it drops more than 1.5V you need a new one or there is a problem with the starter

sierrafery said:

Measure the voltage on the battery while cranking cos that's really relevant, if it drops more than 1.5V you need a new one or there is a problem with the starter

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Thank you, Will do, however when I press the start button now she won’t even crank, I assume the poor battery CCA could cause this. Would putting a multi meter on the battery whilst pressing the start button still register a drop in volts I even if it doesnt want to turn over?

benh999 said:

Thank you, Will do, however when I press the start button now she won’t even crank, I assume the poor battery CCA could cause this. Would putting a multi meter on the battery whilst pressing the start button still register a drop in volts I even if it doesnt want to turn over?

Click to expand...

If the battery is the cause of it off course, the voltage will drop hard but this can happen even if the starter is at fault and draws too much... though you should rule out the battery first unless there is no drop while you want to crank it which means that the starter doesnt get power for some reason

benh999 said:

Thank you, Will do, however when I press the start button now she won’t even crank, I assume the poor battery CCA could cause this. Would putting a multi meter on the battery whilst pressing the start button still register a drop in volts I even if it doesnt want to turn over?

Click to expand...

Put a multi-meter on the battery and try to crank it. If the battery is at fault, the voltage will plummet. If its not dropping off lots when pressing the start button, then it's potentially an issue with the starter solenoid contactors, which last about 50k miles.

Nodge68 said:

Put a multi-meter on the battery and try to crank it. If the battery is at fault, the voltage will plummet. If its not dropping off lots when pressing the start button, then it's potentially an issue with the starter solenoid contactors, which last about 50k miles.

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So voltage before was 12.6volts, when we pressed the start button it dropped to just under 12volts with no cranking at all

Ok, so the battery isn't good, as it's dropping by 0.6V before the starter has even started. However it could be the starter is at fault here. Do you here the solenoid click?

benh999 said:

So voltage before was 12.6volts, when we pressed the start button it dropped to just under 12volts with no cranking at all

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Then IMO the problem is with the starter or it's circuit somewhere cos it should crank even with 10V just that the ECU doesnt like low voltage and it might just crank and not start in that case

gstuart said:

Also see u have a test function for battery, start-up and alternator if this is the same charger u have

T-CHARGE 12 EVO | Telwin

Multi-functional electronic battery charger, trickle charger and tester for WET, GEL, AGM, MF, PbCa, EFB, Li 6/12V batteries with LCD screen. Charging and ma...

www.telwin.com

Click to expand...

So I did the test.. not a lot happened and it didn’t say “battery okay” but I did notice this…..

So with the battery test on this is what I spotted.

When trying to start the car the battery dropped to 1/2 bars out of 4 (see pic)

benh999 said:

So with the battery test on this is what I spotted.

When trying to start the car the battery dropped to 1/2 bars out of 4 (see pic)

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The battery isn't any good by the looks of it. It's not an order battery, as LR don't use Napa batteries.

Nodge68 said:

The battery isn't any good by the looks of it. It's not an order battery, as LR don't use Napa batteries.

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Also when I did the crank test on the Telwin (whilst it didn’t crank) the cranking capacity only showed 1 bar out of 3. In videos I’ve seen the cranking capacity bars hit 3 and say “ok”

Nodge68 said:

Ok, so the battery isn't good, as it's dropping by 0.6V before the starter has even started. However it could be the starter is at fault here. Do you here the solenoid click?

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Is the solenoid in the engine bay or inside the car? Just checking where to listen to

benh999 said:

Is the solenoid in the engine bay or inside the car? Just checking where to listen to

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The starter solenoid is on the side of the starter motor itself, so if it's clicking, it'll be coming from the engine bay area.