HDC Fault, Transmission Fault, Special Programs Not Available - My Exprience

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metalslug

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All,

Reading about the different HDC faults people have gotten including myself and the different suggestions other members have provided as a resolution and some cases still unresolved. I wanted to open my own thread with the latest update I had with my problem.

My HDC faults started appearing in the summer of this year. It started with all the warning lights coming up on my dash with a bunch of HDC faults messages on screen of things being disabled once the car was started up. It matter whether cold mornings or hot days it would happen intermittently. The simple fix my fiancé and I did was to turn off the car and turn it back on and the lights and message not come back on. This was also intermittent so sometimes we had to do multiple times before all the lights message not come back on.

Before taking it to my local independent LandRover/Jaguar shop that has done all my repairs and maintenances. I decided to search the forums.

Reading the posts other members regarding this problem, the most common issue looked to be low battery voltage triggering these faults.

So I thought to myself, well I've owned the car now for a little over 4years now and never checked the battery life so it might also be the problem I'm having with these faults.

**Battery Replaced** New Interstate battery from Firestone which cost about $280 installed. Old battery needed replacing so good move on my part.

All faults cleared for about a month so no error lights on my dash or faults messages on my screen.

So faults messages came back on and again we did the simple fix of turn off the car and turning it back on and crossed our fingers that they would clear and stay off.

It finally got worse last month on my Birthday of all days :mad:. Went to a birthday dinner with fiancé and parked in a structure that had a very low roof and didn't want to risk hitting, plus I have the roof crossbars on.

After dinner and back in the car, we started up the car all the lights come back on, one primarily HDC transmission fault. After this we couldn't get the car to rise back and get the lights to come off. Ended up driving the car on lowered suspension.

**Next Morning** Decided to finally take it in to my independent LandRover/Jaguar shop. They found a good amount of faults that were stored hooking it up to large Ipad looking diagnostic touch pad.

They reset all the faults and updated the software according to them. One fault he mentioned again was the HDC transmission fault and said that my rear lock differential was malfunctioning and may need to replaced. The car was back to normal height and we could drive it.

**Two Weeks later** The car lowered on its own while my fiancé was getting Starbuck through the drive-thru on her way to work. All the warnings came on again. She drove it like that to work and parked it. I took some time off of work to take it back to the shop.

They cleared all the faults again but the only faults remaining now where the rear differential ones. The mechanic said it's the differential malfunctioning that is telling the car to lowered itself and throwing all the warning lights.

Rear differential needs to be replaced and estimated cost is $1k and my extended warranty expired late last year :frown: :mad:

My fiancé and I were considering to cut our loses and trade-in the car since we only owe 4k on it and is a 2005 LR3 SE7 with only 70k miles.

We were considering a used Audi Q5. But we didn't want to get into another 50-60months of car payments since we are looking to buy a house once the LR3 is paid off this coming year. Plus she loves the LR3 since she met me a year after I bought it.

**Today** It lowered on its own again with all the warning lights coming on. My fiancé parked the car at work and when she got off of work turned the car on and all the lights were off and the car raised on its own again.

**Decision**
We are going to get it repair and keep our LR. Going to take it into the shop early next week. I will keep everyone posted.
 

PaulLR3

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I have to agree with your decision to repair the LR3 rather than buy a Q5. Last year I was going to replace my 2004 Audi allroad with a Q5. (Put $3K of various repairs into the allroad in 2012) But the Q5 is just too small. Not enough rear leg room for our kids or space in the way-back for our dog. The 2.0T Q5 feels underpowered and the 3.0T & TDI are nearly $50K with options.

So, I ended-up taking over my wife's LR3 and bought her a new LR4. I am very happy driving the LR3...lots of space, plenty of power, doesn't sag when loaded, and I'm not afraid to park where it could get damaged, like the streets of NYC when there on business.
 

stmcknig

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I'd go invest $20 in a new brake light switch at that mileage and fit it yourself. It's a ten minute job. Sounds odd but the brake switch does feed stuff to a number of the ECU systems and if the contacts are breaking down, then garbage in, garbage out in computing terms.
 

Houm_WA

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A new rear diff should be way more than $1000. If it's a locker, the part itself is $1900...last I checked.

BTW, I had the same issues with my '05 back in 2006.
 

metalslug

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I have to agree with your decision to repair the LR3 rather than buy a Q5. Last year I was going to replace my 2004 Audi allroad with a Q5. (Put $3K of various repairs into the allroad in 2012) But the Q5 is just too small. Not enough rear leg room for our kids or space in the way-back for our dog. The 2.0T Q5 feels underpowered and the 3.0T & TDI are nearly $50K with options.

So, I ended-up taking over my wife's LR3 and bought her a new LR4. I am very happy driving the LR3...lots of space, plenty of power, doesn't sag when loaded, and I'm not afraid to park where it could get damaged, like the streets of NYC when there on business.

Thanks Paul, the LR3 is driven by my fiancé now and she loves it for all the same reasons you mentioned. We consolidated her old car and my old car and got a VW R32 but traded the R for an Audi B7 S4 Avant so it's right up the Allroad's alley. It's my dream car :cool:.
 

metalslug

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A new rear diff should be way more than $1000. If it's a locker, the part itself is $1900...last I checked.

BTW, I had the same issues with my '05 back in 2006.

I appricate the suggestion but i'm done with guessing games :dontknow:
 

metalslug

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A new rear diff should be way more than $1000. If it's a locker, the part itself is $1900...last I checked.

BTW, I had the same issues with my '05 back in 2006.

Hmmm... that's how much the shop quoted me but I will double check and update all.
 

Trynian

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I appricate the suggestion but i'm done with guessing games :dontknow:

I hear what you are saying but to be honest it is a good idea that stmcknig suggested. The shops are only guessing as well and there have been cases where the faults recorded suggested replacing something like the tranny only to have the same fault return after it was replaced to find out the brake switch was bad.

It is only a $20 part and on a 05 it probably needs replacing anyway.
 

PaulLR3

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YES! - Replace the brake switch first. These fail on all the allroads as well and cause all sorts of *** codes to appear. Everything from ECU failure codes, torque converter and transmission failure codes. For $20 it may save you thousands.

And congrats on finding a B7 S4 avant. That is a very special car that will hold its value forever, just like the allroads have. Now that avants are nearly extinct, especially MT avants, they are really in demand.
 

metalslug

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I have considered everyone's suggestion and brought the brake light switch this morning for $23 total with shipping. I will provide an update once the new part is installed. I'll be crossing my fingers. Thanks everyone!!
 

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