Season's Greetings everyone!

Tis the season to be merry and I will be a lot merrier once I figure out what is causing the battery charging issues with my 2006 LR3. It has been such trouble free vehicle up until about October of this year.
Started having a non-start issue and I checked the battery connections and noticed that the Negative cable was loose on battery. Tightened that down but still having same problem of battery not staying charged. I took it to Advance auto to diagnose and they said the battery was no longer charging but that the alternator was working. I bought a new "gel" battery at their recommendation and when I pulled the old battery out, sure enough, it had outlasted its lifespan according to the date sticker on the side. Installed new "gel" battery and thought fixed that! Well, just a few days later, lo and behold, same issue, battery not staying charged. I first looked on this forum to find info about gel batteries and saw that some say stay away. I took the vehicle back to Advance and had them check the charging system again. I watched everything on the little monitor and this time the alternator was not working. So before I ordered a Bosch reman alt I checked the belt tension and it seemed very tight and I did not see other issues. Got the new alt and installed and my son drove for about a week with no issues and just tonight, the battery symbol appeared on the dash cluster and it is only being charging at around 12 volts. Does anyone know why this might happen? Is it common to get a bad alternator? Or is it the gel battery that is the issue? I am thinking I will replace that with standard battery and see what happens.
Any advice anyone has would be much appreciated!
Thank you,
Roger

 

I have an EFB battery in my '06 and an AGM in my '05.

I probably won't go with another AGM after this one finally craps out. The EFB is working pretty well though, but these things are definitely voltage hogs. I've also heard stories about bad alternators; that's one part I'd go OEM on. You might also check the other end of that negative battery cable and make sure that it's securely fastened to ground.

 

Thank you so much for your response, I will definitely check the ground connection of the negative cable. I have not done that yet and should have. And I will explore the options of the 2 battery types you mentioned. Just curious why you would not continue with the AGM battery in the ‘05? I had not heard of these before and upon reading about them they sound really good.
thank you again!
Cheers,
R

 

I just feel like the LR3's charging system doesn't handle the AGM battery very well. As in, it doesn't do an adequate job of keeping it fully charged. Then again, my '05 with the AGM in it is not driven on a regular basis, so take my results with a grain of salt.

 

I have had a Bosch AGM 95 Ah type 019 for 4-5 years and haven’t had any reason to fault it. I do drive at least 50-70 km/daily, though, during my commute.
Before that I had a Fiamm Black Titanium (supposedly reputable Italian brand) non-AGM and it went in less than 2 years from brand new to failure in one cell and 9 volt output. 🙈🤦‍♂️

 

Well I appreciate your advice and experience greatly. So a follow up with my LR’s battery/alt situation. I checked the ground connection on the body of the vehicle, so convenient right by the battery! Certain things about LR’s in general that you just have to love! Anyway, connection super tight, no sign of degradation. So then I tried something a friend recommended; I started it up, and then loosened the negative cable and started to remove. It starts to die, so I quickly put back on and tightened. It kept running and when I looked at dash the battery symbol was gone and voltmeter registered a healthy 14+ volts. Took for a drive and everything seems good now. I am still going to exchange that gel battery though as I just don’t trust it.

 

One trick I learned if you aren't able to really get a good interference fit on that cable terminal is to file it down on either side of where the bolt goes through it. That way the bolt has to travel farther until they are touching and hence crimps onto the battery better. Obviously you can only do that x number of times before having to simply get a new connector but it's worth a shot.

 

It is really bad advice to disconnect a battery on a running vehicle. It it well known you can damage the computers. The battery acts as a capacitor, in a way, to level the voltage. When you disconnect it does cause a voltage spike. If you continue to have issues, check or replace the 400amp main fuse. It is usually in a little slim black box right next to the positive battery terminal. These can develop a hairline crack and cause issues. Or you can have corrosion within that box.

 

Thank you for your reply and comment! I did not know that so I won’t attempt that again! And I will check that fuse if the issue comes up again. So far, battery and new alternator are working fine now. And I checked what type of battery I specifically bought and it appears on the receipt to be an AGM though I thought at the store they said it was a gel battery. I will research today more as I realize they are not one and the same. I should have done more research before I bought but was dealing with a time crunch. Lesson learned-don’t assume the folks in the auto part store know more than what I can find out on my own, or know what my vehicle really needs.

 

"Anyway, connection super tight, no sign of degradation"

when checking for bad connections always loosen the connection and wiggle it a few times before retightening it. There can be corrosion between the surfaces that prevents a good connection. Taking things completely apart for cleaning would be best however this is not always easy. A good wiggle may clean things up enough.