When I first got the 2006 I had a few starting issues. New battery and cleaning gorunds/etc. took care of things. Great! Now today, an odd one. Went to start it and only heard the starter solenoid click. But it refused to crank. No dim lights, radio, etc. Tried many, many times. The weird thing is the battery read 12.4v - on board diagnostics read 11.5 (it seems to always read low). So I tossed the charger on it for a few minutes while I started some small projects. It read a 65% charge of the battery. Although this particular charger is digital and pretty poor. And its been ran over. So I am not sure if its at all accurate. At 69% it fired up like nothing at all was wrong.

So I am thinking there is a low-voltage cut-off OR I need a new starter. Or if there is a low-volt cut-off, new alternator. Maybe both! The day prior I had driven several hours with a few engine shutdowns in-between and no issues. No deep water crossings, etc. The final drive home was about 2 hours then parked for the night. So this has me concerned, especially if the charger was really just showing 65%. I do not have a second battery installed, but I will be doing that during the next few weeks (Trixide kit).

 

I'm working through low voltage issue now too. Things to check:

• It's simple, but double-check those battery terminals. You shouldn't be able to move them left or right while on the battery. I use a mallet + socket to seat my terminals after removal.
• The voltage regulator is on the alternator, check that harness. Mine broke on removal so be careful with the clip. The plastic harness must get pretty hot. Ebay had a new harness.
• With multimeter or voltmeter, check the positive battery cables for drops. Between battery terminals should be ~12.6 for a charged battery. Use this value as a baseline, then check
  • Negative battery terminal to positive lead on the alternator
  • Negative battery terminal to positive lead on starter... i had to pull the wheel well arch to reach the starter lead and I don't think there's any other way to access it.
  • Any differences >.2 volts from the 12.6 baseline indicate a bad cable.
• A similar test for grounds
  • Positive battery terminal to the body of the alt
  • Positive battery terminal to the body of the starter
  • Again differences from 12.6 indicate a bad ground. The primary ground/earth cable is in the wheel well opposite the driver (right side on my LHD III). There is an 18", 2 awg cable which travels between engine, frame, chassis/body. The middle connection (frame) was poorly insulated on my 2006. I had to cut off the heat shrink to see this, so if you cut it have some marine grade heat shrink (with glue) large enough to replace if you check this.

 

Seems kels83 covered most of the items to check.

Not directly related to the starter, but it may help in the long run. I have avoided many electrical gremlins by adding an AUX battery setup. If there was only one modification that could be made the car, it would be to install an aux battery that keeps the main battery in a higher state of charge, thus reducing many of these electrical problems.
It won't fix a bad starter, and it is not a cheap fix, but it goes a LONG WAY in reducing voltage problems these things seem to develop over time.

Jeff

 

Well guys, I did conclude its probably the starter. Oddly I had this issue when I first bought the truck. I bought a new battery just to find that the ground was not secured well to the battery (thanks dealer!). But I put in the new battery anyway. If I recall, I still has a couple start issues but then nothing for almost a year. Until now. But I think water crossings are to indirectly blame. The starter is sealed but oddly has two breather tubes installed. So water can likely enter the starter. Other Rovers, like the Sport, have a breather tube system for the starter. So a month ago, my Denso starter arrived along with 8mm tubing. I will be making my own breather system much like I did for my trans/diffs. With that said, I will take apart the starter and reseal it with Reinzosil sealant to make it 100% certain water can not get in. This should help extend its life as I will be doing numerous water crossings. I may even get a tiny air-pump to get low pressure air into the starter, something I would activate when I water cross to ensure it stays dry internally.

As for an aux battery, also all the bits have been arriving over the past couple weeks as I design a setup. I almost went Traxide but decided I likes the Blue Seas option better. Same price, handles a bigger load (500amp continuous) and is about the same price. Its also a water sealed unit whereas Traxide makes no mention. Along with all this will be an upgrade to 1/0 wiring for the starter, alternator, grounds, etc. And lastly the alternator will be upgraded to a high-output unit.

So I have a lot to do which will remedy this issue and prevent some future issues.

 

I'm still sorting voltage problems out. Lots of good info here:
https://www.disco3.co.uk/gallery/displayimage.php?album=3801&pos=1
And also in the RAVE section for the "generator".

Long story short, voltage isnt set by the regulator. It's controlled by an algorithm in the engine control module (ECM behind the battery) with input from the automatic temperature control module (ATCM, which is the air/heat controls in the center console). These units set voltage up or down depending on temperature and rpm so the alt isn't over worked. If either is bad or running bad code...

My alt had nearly identical voltage as everywhere else and no drain when I measured between it and the battery. But sadly still low voltage. Also, the voltage is a perfect 14.4 for a few seconds after starting before it drops low. So my charging system is capable. Now I suspect the ECM and picked up a used one on eBay for about $80. I'll replace it and report back

 

 

Oh I hope not! My GAP iid tool identifies it as the engine control module and lists two updates available. But my module will not take either update so I figured mine went bad. I guess I'll be finding out one way or another.

In your experience are there any other options if it is the ptcm? Since parts and tools take a while to deliver, I try to start on plans D, E, and F ahead of time.

 

I once replaced, at the tune of $1400, a PCM, it turned out to be a bad negative ground cable at the battery. I would try changing that first

 

Generally a bad PCM will mean an inoperable vehicle.

 

^Have you ran into one before? I've never heard of one going bad.

All the faults codes related to non comms with PCM. Of all the crazy codes I was getting after repeatedly clearing them. they all led to PCM.

I imagine that there could be an intermittent problem with the PCM that would not result in a non op vehicle. Kind of like the same way the TCCM will act up. Just my theory though, as I have not run into a bad PCM yet.