I had the same issue with my mine. It was a water issue but not the sunroof, in my case it was the cowl warping. Water would run down the windshield and under the seal. It would then find its was to the Transmission computer on the firewall. To confirm I was getting water I pulled the battery cover, and checked the computer connector (which is on top of the unit - nice engineering there) and found corrosion on the pins. I cleaned it up, and unlike many folks who replace the cowl with a new one only to have it warp again - I taped it off and ran a bead of black silicone to bond the seal to the windshield. I can't say how long this will last but, for me, I haven't had an issue since and its been about 6 months.

Full disclosure, I did a lot of underhood investigations trying to track this down and did throw some parts at it, so it may have been a combination of issues. Here are the other things I did:

1. New starter, just to eliminate it.
2. Removed the ground straps from engine to frame and found standing water in the bottom of the insulation boot. This one really bothered me, simply because it could definitely affect the amount of juice to get to the starter. My solution was to leave it, but also insert an additional ground strap to act as a secondary ground. My own interpretation of this crappy ground is that many owners replace the battery unnecessarily because of the weak grounding issue for the motor. The dealers will happily replace it because its a simple thing and it's such a common topic that everyone points to it at the beginning. Do yourself a favor and clean up the chassis grounds.

This is a serious YMMV issue, as you can see from the older posts - water can cause issues on the interior as well and they are just as real. In my case though it was the crappy cowl as the likely culprit.

Good luck.

 

I had the very same problem and it was the starter. After the replacement there were no issues. I also have the '06 LR3

 

This is good info but its missing the one critical step IMO. Just because you have good positive connection from battery to starter, that current has to be able to leave the starter and return to the battery.

The motor is isolated by rubber mounts so there has to be grounding straps to allow that current to return. If you go to the trouble of removing the pass. wheel as noted go ahead and double check those grounding cables from motor to chassis as well - that's where my issue was.

I really believe that the reason new batteries work so often for folks is that they are fresh and able to overcome iffy connections (positive or negative). Eventually, that fresh battery will weaken somewhat over time and you'll be right back to square one. Keep the connections in good condition and I really believe that even marginal batteries will keep these tanks running.

Good info though for sure horvaro.

 

I know this post is few years old but would really appreciate if you could email me the pictures of starter relay cleaning and disassembly.
Thanks,

 

Hello great info! Where is the grounding strap?
Thanks

 

Intermittent starting issue going on for well over a month now. I changed crank shaft sensor, and fuel pump... still not starting what do i do? what did you guys do? Private mechanic and dealer are perplexed. no clicking sound btw, just crank crank crank, no start... then randomly starts fine...

 

From what I have gathered on here it could be your battery and/or alternator or even your brake switch. Those are the easier ones to tackle, imo.

 

HI, my LR3 is doing this exact thing! Could you please email the pics to me! Thank you!
azkrayz8@yahoo.com

 

intermittent starting issue..
new battery
new starter
new egr valve
new fuel pump
new alternator
new crank sensor

cranks and cranks. Sometimes foot on the gas gets it to start... no check engine light... Help!!!

 

Since I fixed it: no issues at all!
My LR3 starts the first time.