I had to replace my battery in 2009 LR2. Now when I try starting it blows the starter fuse. How would I check for a short?

 

Did you change anything about the wiring to the battery?

 

No that’s what confusing. My son put his battery in started fine then got a new battery hooked it up and now every time I try to start it blows the 40 amp fuse.

 

Is the positive cable on the positive terminal of the battery, and negative to negative?

And was the starter giving you any grief before this? If the starter goes south one of the symptoms is the battery gets drained.

 

It has always been slow starting so we took it to the shop and they said we had a bad battery. If we let the car set a couple days it would go completely dead. This last time it wouldn’t take a charge at all. My son replaced the transfer case and battery was dead so he put in a different battery so we could test and it started fine. He took his battery out and replaced with the proper battery and haven’t been able to start it since.

 

That sounds very much like the starter has failed, not the battery. It is an easy remove & replace. Its the same symptoms I had and replacing the starter took care of everything. Fully charge the battery (disconnect it first) after replacing the starter.

 

It started fine with my sons battery in it?

 

Yes, and then the starter will eat up the battery charge just like before. It's what happened to me too. You can always have a shop test the starter.

 

Just to clarify, I have a 2008 LR2 and the car was slow to turnover and start. Also, the battery was getting discharged for no apparent reason. I thought it was parasite power draw from my GPS so I unplugged it at night, but found the voltage was still going down over time with no explanation. Eventually the engine simply would not turn over and I had to call AAA for a tow. After doing the research, I realized the starter was bad so I ordered a new one for a little over $80 here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-STARTER...72.m2749.l2649

The starter was easy to install, just lift the front, put it on jack stands for safety, remove the bottom plate, undo the electrical connections then remove the bolts and out with the starter. Reverse the steps to install, but make sure the electrical connections are good and tight.

No problems since, except when I forget to unplug the GPS.

 

Yes, the starters on this car tend to fail gradually, over time creating more and more issues that look like battery or maybe alternator problems.

Since the starter has both a hot battery positive lead and a direct ground, once it fails if it shorts internally it can draw current directly from the battery with the car off.