Low battery warning (now not replicating) in Range Rover
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Anonymous
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I have a Range Rover Sport HSE. Yesterday, I drove 15 minutes to the store, it was parked for half an hour while I shopped, and then displayed a low battery message when I started it. I drove 5 minutes to another store, parked for 10 minutes and the message displayed again when restarted. I then drove home. I’ve tried yesterday and today to get the warning message to replicate by starting the car (letting it sit for a couple hours, then overnight, and again hours later today and starting it up) and it hasn’t displayed again. I’m a little nervous to drive it and see if the warning comes up again as I don’t want to get stuck with a dead battery somewhere.
The battery is 4 years old and I’ve driven apx 4,000 miles on it. I just had a tune-up at the dealership two weeks ago and presume testing the battery was something they’d include in the work up ... At any rate, I’m wondering do I A) just get a new battery, B) bring it in to be tested, C) sort out if something else is at play — apparently RRs have an auxiliary battery which I’m certain has not been replaced in the 5 years I’ve had the car. The car has a new alternator placed 5 years ago so I feel confident it’s not that). Clearly I don’t know much about cars so any tips are appreciated. |
Anonymous
| Not a RR, but last year when my Jeep had battery issues, my car mechanic son told me the battery life is dead vet and get a new one. |
Anonymous
| You need a replace your battery. It’s four years old. Take it to the dealership. They will take care of it. |
Anonymous
| With only 4000 miles a year, It sounds like you aren’t driving frequently enough which means the battery doesn’t really have a chance to fully charge. The short trips are draining. One way to keep it charged is to use a trickle charger when it’s sitting at home so that it’s always full when you need it. |
Anonymous
This right here is the right answer. It's true that being four years old, it's getting up there in age but you have to understand that when you drive longer distances, your alternator recharges the battery. If all you make are short trips (literally what you described) then you are depleting your battery with all the starts and the short trips never allow it to recharge. This is actually bad for your exhaust system and to a lesser extent your engine. This is because you never get up to full operating temperature. Hot motor oil never properly lubricates the engine and the cold engine doesn't fully combust the gas which leaves a lot of combusted gas and water in the exhaust system. How you solve all these problems (the battery issue you know about and the other issues you're going to have that you don't know about yet) is to simply drive the car on the Interstate for 30 minutes or so once every month (or biweekly if you prefer). This is literally all you need to do. So while you can get a trickle charger as the other pp mentioned, I would just drive it some place once a month to make sure no other issues arise. Find a shop or restaurant you like half an hour away, drive there and shop or eat then drive back half an hour. Do that once or twice a month. Problem solved. |
Anonymous
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Check for parasitic amp draw. Use a multimeter in line with the battery set to amps. Turn off everything. Shut doors. You should have less than .25 amp draw. Look up on youtube "how to check parasitic amp draw" and follow those directions.
I don't suggest buying a new battery until you determine if the battery is being drained by something that is inadvertently left on or (more likely) something is not grounded properly. |
Anonymous
| Thank you for all of these good tips. I really appreciate it. I am scheduling an appointment with the garage next week to see if it’s a battery issue or a battery drain issue. Thanks again. |
Anonymous
| op, did you fix the issue? What was it? |
Anonymous
| It’s a Range Rover. Be glad it’s just the battery. |
Anonymous
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You don’t drive enough to keep the battery charged, especially if it’s short trip driving.
Buy a battery charger and charge it monthly. Problem solved. |
Anonymous
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1. Check the battery cable connection and make sure they are tight on the battery posts. Wipe off any excess corrosion.
2. Get a battery tender. This is what I use for a car we use rarely: https://www.batterytender.com/ Battery has lasted 10 years so far. |
Anonymous
Yes, but also get a new battery. The old one isn’t up to snuff because it’s old and because it’s been fully discharged. Fully discharging a car battery reduces its capacity. |
Anonymous
| The dealer doesn’t usually test the battery unless you complain about it. It’s probably getting old (4 years is about right for these cars) and won’t hold the charge as well, start thinking about a replacement. Range Rovers also start to throw strange warnings when the battery is low, be happy it was just a low battery warning not a gearbox error or ABS warning. |
Anonymous
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Get a CTEK battery charger. It's what the major car brands use as their OEM. Just connect the battery up when you are parked in your garage or driveway.
https://www.amazon.com/CTEK-40-206-5-0-12-Battery-Charger/dp/B00CD44RQO This is the way. |
Anonymous
Or just buy a regular battery charger for 1/3 the price and use it for 3 hours once a month, instead of keeping it plugged in the whole time. |