Auxiliary Battery

My auxiliary battery is dead on my 2015 LR4. The eco start/off light is ON. I don't mind not having the eco start/stop function. I never use it. What else does this battery do? Do i need to replace it? Can the LR4 do without it?

It will run fine without it. Its sole function is powering the monitoring aids (that is ensuring the vehicle is capable of restarting and that includes the main battery is sufficiently charged)
And we are at odds…. I like stop-start. Mother Nature needs all the help she can get. (Its not about saving fuel for me. Its about minimizing the hydrocarbons spewing into the air unnecessarily.)
And, when stop-start stops working, that’s an early warning that something is amiss with the systems of the vehicle.

itsaguything said:

It will run fine without it. Its sole function is powering the monitoring aids (that is ensuring the vehicle is capable of restarting and that includes the main battery is sufficiently charged)
And we are at odds…. I like stop-start. Mother Nature needs all the help she can get. (Its not about saving fuel for me. Its about minimizing the hydrocarbons spewing into the air unnecessarily.)
And, when stop-start stops working, that’s an early warning that something is amiss with the systems of the vehicle.

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I understand the intent of helping Mother Nature but this feature eats rod bearings for breakfast on any car, especially when the oil is cold.

I have seen many posts on the functions of the ECO Battery - but at least from my experience it seems to have no additional function other than the Start/Stop.

Everything will function just fine with a dead ECO battery.
I presume that everything will also be fine if you remove the battery - but I cannot say that from personal experience.

As with any battery - I would recommend removing it once it's dead - you don't want it to leak.
(And yes, even these "sealed" batteries can leak.)

In my case the idiot light during the day is fine - but at night it's too bright and I need it to be off.
So I replaced the ECO battery even though I turn the ECO function off - every time - as part of my things to do until the idle comes down routine.

it's about a 10 minute project to replace the battery.
Battery costs are dealerships are nuts!
Order one from the UK, pay the crazy shipping costs - any you will still be several hundred dollars less expensive that sourcing the battery in the US.

I have had great service from Groves Batteries Ltd, Cheltenham, and others have also had great service from various UK vendors.
It's an Exide EK151.
If your ECO battery blanket has been removed at an earlier time, this would be a good time to reinstall it - I found a really nice option on Amazon.


NOW...

There was a post here a while ago that claimed that the ECO functions can be turned off !!
I have not followed up on that yet, so I cannot say from personal experience.
Apparently on the IID tool the ECO setting is in the section that addresses the cruise control settings (if I recall properly) ...
Can anyone confirm??

I don't think the GAP tool can do that, sorry. I will say however, that once my aux battery died and the dash light came on, I replaced it with a new one and did NOT reset / recalibrate the battery monitoring system (BMS) module that's built into the LR4 whenever you replace an old/discharged battery with a new one. Since then, Stop/Start is disabled but the light does not show up in the dash. Fingers crossed it'll stay that way!

I always buy them from here:

Jimmy Brooks said:

I understand the intent of helping Mother Nature but this feature eats rod bearings for breakfast on any car, especially when the oil is cold.

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Not entirely accurate. Of course those that entertain elongated oil change schedules will blame anything but… the elongated schedule or the fact they are not using the specified oil.

We all have such different experiences with what in theory should be the same vehicle.

That's why I always say "in my experience", and they are all unique individual vehicles - each and every one assembled with whatever was laying about on the shop floor that particular day !

callin said:

I always buy them from here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1528724138...23WH+2r9zazybj9dY4ftS08X7w==|tkp:BFBMhOPW8Zpl

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+1 for this

itsaguything said:

Not entirely accurate. Of course those that entertain elongated oil change schedules will blame anything but… the elongated schedule or the fact they are not using the specified oil.

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Here's your passage with corrected spelling, grammar, and punctuation while keeping it as original as possible:

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It's 100% accurate. Rod bearings in any engine experience the most wear when the vehicle is started up. The oil pumps in engines made today and in the past are predominantly mechanical, which means that when the engine is shut off, no oil is being pumped between the bearings and the crank. This means the thin layer of oil between the bearings and the crank disappears, causing a bit of metal-on-metal contact. This usually isn't an issue for cars without this system because you're only turning your engine off and on so much. However, with this system, that number increases exponentially. Instead of starting and shutting off your engine once for a trip, you're doing it 5–15 times if you're city driving. This will lead to excessive wear, and there's no question about it. Sure, infrequent oil changes are terrible for bearings, but even if you change your oil every 5,000 miles, this system will still cause excessive rod bearing wear compared to keeping this feature off. Will it be enough to cause catastrophic damage? Maybe not in most cases, but nonetheless, saving a couple of bucks on gas could cost you a whole lot more down the road.

I'm not criticizing you—even I use the system in other cars when I'm stopped for excessive periods of time or in a drive-thru line. (I have a 2010, so I don't have this feature.) But I am trying to be informative because there is no doubt that enabling this system will cause more wear.