Suspension Fault, HDC unavailable,Transmission fault, brake switch

I hope no offense was taken on my reply, LOL!
From basic LR's of the 50's era working on them for a family friend you could roll it over into a lake then with a little time and work back up and running again in a couple hours, no biggie.
Even my "old 95 D1 dinosaur" for which it had been called on a LR forum vs the "modern high tech 5.0 LR's" even the 95 D1 already has too much electrical crap added needing attention just keeping it running properly. Besides the 3.9 engine failure not of my doing was the third thing to fail in under 6 months of new ownership after end of a 5 year lease. Second item that failed was the rear windows stuck down in the rain. PC board bad soldering joints quick fix. Third the AC quitting, still in the hunt where the slow leak problem is, great a black LR in the summer. Brake light switch replacements, yes had them, then the 5 speed speedo dynamo unit failure, don't forget roof drains flooding the interior with roof liner sagging in the driver's face while driving. Forget the many many dealership "Co-Pay" fees adding up unless having a big dollar item like the 3.9 replaced with a factory 4.6 short block. Even under extended warranty (7/100K) taking over the PO's warranty the money spent under warranty repairs kept building up.
Best one a 98 D1 towed in to dealership on flatbed, service tech writes up report with "customer thinks there's an oil leak", yeah right new windows in both sides of the block where two rods took a fast exit. Oil pump failure causing a "oil containment problem". That one was mentioned once at a NASCAR event.
These newer LR's have way more electronics plus cup holders increasing the odds of higher electrical not alone mechanical failure problems. Never had a coil spring suspension failure or timing chain problems in the old push rod engines. One must have a machine shop background, engines and mechanical rebuilding knowledge plus an electrical background just to keep a LR on the road running properly. Congrats on your Canadian basketball team winning vs the Warriors as their last home game was under two miles from my location. Next season they move to San Francisco their new stadium......~~=o&o>......

Actually I quite enjoyed your post and no offense taken. Yes, one does have to wonder if there are any 3's on the road in the UK given it rains there more than half the time, and a cold rain at that.

One would think that water leaks would be a concern but maybe all the vehicle design people owned MG's prior and getting wet is considered a norm. While Lucas may be gone, it seems the Prince of Darkness lives on.

Ignoring the wet and corrosion, one really does have to wonder why Land Rovers have problems other vehicles just do not seem to have - ever. I know Ford used our 3's as test mules for their later production. Land Rover is an ideal vehicle for that - world distribution, and the owners regard breakdowns as a norm.

I think the 4.4L AJ6 V8 that I have in my 3 is their one and only successful engine. Most vehicle manufacturers have more than one good engine in their history, but not LR, and then they "improve" it so they have none.

bbyer, not to off topic destroy the original post i'll reply.

Leaking LR's, not a problem just add small rotating disc valves like they added to Jeep floorboards to drain the water after river crossings. Think the Three Stooges drilling extra holes into the boat bottom to let the water out.
With LR and their engines, I give the last production run of the 4.0 and 4.6 much credit with improving them over the 3.9 and 3.5 engine after they received the rights to mass produce a modern to them replacement engine back in the 60's from General Motors. LR at that time had nothing but their slow pre WWII old iron lumps. That half baked GM aluminum 215 cu/in Olds engine GM had too many casting failures with the blocks. Back then all they cast were iron blocks, aluminum a new failed adventure for them. Add the wrong alloy mixtures plus the block decks too thin causing head bolt studs to pull out even before those engines were pumped up in power. That was my era with friends racing the 215 Olds. I remember them as a new small light weight engine with a promising future. We stuffed a freebie 3.5 Rover engine into a 62 P1800 Volvo coupe, lighter than the iron four cylinder. Only required a machined adapter plate to mate the Volvo tranny 4 spd w/OD to the Rover engine, motor mounts, driveshaft shortened and larger radiator. Back to the 4.0 and 4.6 design weaknesses. One major they did not install top hat cylinder liners from day one the death of them, bean counters cutting corners again. Cold dry starts every morning a death to rod bearings. Installing a pre-oils the cure with oil pressure before turning the key. Then their faster production run with not balancing the cranks hence most being shakers, some really bad, I have a slight vibration very minimal as I questioned an independent LR repair mechanic friend who races these engines plus builds Rovers and engines from stock to full race and off road. I was lucky not their normal bad shaker.
He was a factory trained LR mechanic not your average LR mechanic but a true gear head. He has morals in not ripping people off hence becoming an independent repair charging less. Back to LR engines, the third item how sick the port miss matches are between the intake and heads is total rubbish. A made in the bush Chinese engine identically built would have higher quality control details with much better aligned ports period. Third why install a small short ****** engine in a heavy off road vehicle where low rpm torque is your best friend. On a side note max torque from 3.9, 4.0 and 4.6 engines all at 3,100 rpm's which it too high for pulling up a hill in the mud off road or just on the street Drop the rpm's and they all including the 4.6 fall on their face this especially with the 5 speed vs automatics with torque converter stall and slip rpm's which helps. The short lived D2 I recall the one year wonder with the optional 4.6, too bad as it should of been installed from day one in 1994 here in the USA or back in 87 across the pond. Later LR with the twin log intake plenums finally lowered max torque to 2,600 rpm's a big difference vs 3,100. I'm at 2,715 rpm's with a intake spacer I milled out. Another wow improvement. These 4.6 engines will wake up with mild reworking, not talking a stupid radical cam losing low rpm pulling abilities. Port matching another big improvement, cam change (Piper), true roller timing set plus the best improvement a Mark Adams chip to properly feed it. Ported out factory cast iron exhaust manifolds looking stock able to pass the smog visual, high flow cats legal in California as factory cats are again restrictive expensive rubbish. Borla cat back stainless exhaust system with one muffler. Replacing 1980's era single dribble Lucas injectors with 2002 era 4 hole Bosch injectors another big upgrade. LR missed the boat on the D1 introduction now corrected and a fun to drive vehicle that passes smog with ease plus now a very flexible engine rpm wise with an increase in fuel mileage. Being a passenger in a 96 D1 a couple months after purchasing the 95 D1, I did suspension upgrades for how and where I drive it. This driver friend tried to impress me with the handling on a paved twisty road around 45 mph, he rolled 2 3/4 times. His replacement D1 now has the handling improvements like I installed on my D1.....~~=o&o>......

Foxsport7 said:

This vehicle was great for 10 years and now is giving me its first signs of electrical issues that are testing my skills and patience. I have tried a number of usual fixes to no avail. Need guidance on next steps.
Current problems and the suspension issues has gone from intermitent to all the time.
Symptoms

• Roof /Sunroof drain leak putting water onto the driver side floor. Fixed with new tub line and dried floor boards. No more leak, but I cant find any poor connections or shorts via inspection.
• Brake light has been on for months and fault says to check brake pads for wear. Would this trigger Suspension faults? They have 3mm left and I am ordering parts to replace.
• Battery was draining dead if I didn't drive the car for 2 weeks. I have put in 3 batteries this year. So I feel I have had some sort of electrical short or drain. Ruled out battery as it is new.
• Just replaced all brake lights and tail lights to ensure that was not a problem since some were out.
• Brakelight switch - replaced twice and did not fix, so I have ruled out brake light stoplight switch.
• When the car ran fine, it would lower suspension every 48 hours. I sensed I had a leak. When I started truck it would air back up and things were fine. I was not getting any faults at this point.
• The last 2 weeks I get faults. First 10 days were intermittent. It would occur after a long 45 min commute to work. Made me think it was something overheating related. Next day the truck worked fine again. Restarting the car would also clear them and get the suspension back into normal ride height. The last 3 days have become full time faults. The car will not reset and clear and the suspension remains lowered. Narrowed it down to this. The faults and suspension drop occur after I start car and let my foot off the brake peddle. Hold the brake down and suspension airs up fine and compressor turns off when bags are full. I can even drive with foot on brake. Second I let go the faults kick in. I have started car and manually controlled brake light switch with my finger. When I press switch, then the faults all come on.
• Faults are the HDC fault (left and right suspension warning lights), Lowered Suspension, Transmission fault.
• Should be noted that the Transmission Fault (note) has displayed for 7 years. Never seen an issue. I was told this would go away or would disappear after a battery reset. Never saw a transmission problem during this time and this occurred after they replaced bags and compressor at dealer 7 years ago.
• Last week when the intermittent faults were coming up, I got one notification on the dash that said something about suspension lowered until system cooled down. That also tells me something was over heating. Only got that notice once and now what ever it is has completely failed. [Lastly] Check engine light came on with fault codes for EGR Valve. Tried cleaning last night but I think I need to replace and will do so.

So I am wondering what to do next. I have seen posts about testing the TCM and getting Black Box systems from Cyprus to do so. Is there something ABS since the brake light issue is tied to something brake electrical. Could it be the silly brake pad wear sensor? I am not an electrical guy so I will have to learn how to test for drains and ground faults. Something is not right with the battery draining over time. Compressor always shuts off so its not compressor running and draining will ignition is off.
I have all wiring trays open on both sides of the car for pictures and inspection. I could not find any cut wires or grounds not connected properly.

Click to expand...

Try resetting all your fault codes. After water ingress many fault codes come up like HDC Fault, Handbrake warning light, ABS. I’ve found also the horn comes on and stays on until I remove the fuse. Once I’ve dried the car out again and put the fuse back in again the horn will work properly again but most of the fault codes remain on. So I reset the fault codes and the car works perfectly again.

Count your blessing it was a fresh water flooding condition and not salt water, oops game over salt with electronics mix.
I'm surprised the driver's door master locking system hadn't gone wacko causing all kinds of security no start issues.

Years ago I ran across a 94 5 spd D1 offered for $750 "as is not running" that was used as a failed submarine.
Weeks later drying it out come to find out the rubber seal on the wiring harness to the ECU was not properly locked down into position allowing water to flood the ECU unit. ABS computer also failed but then no loss they never worked properly. It also flooded messing up the speedo dyno unit mounted on the 5 spd housing. Spare $50 backup ECU and speedo dyno we finally got that D1 operational again except the security system which became a basic key to lock, unlock then drive system vehicle. Back to basics with less chances for Mr. Lucas failures to strike......~~=o&o>......

My only contribution is... stop buying new batteries, they are usually good if you trickle charge back to life if the thing sits for a long time. Next, install a battery disconnect switch if you don't drive it much, easy to install and saves your battery. Make certain you crimp the connections and the connectors are on wire, do not cut short and get sheathing in the connector and do a shink fit over to seal it up.

Had to reply again not owning (for a reason) any newer than a OB1 LR. The 95 D1's unique body style still holds my attention 19 years and counting not looking like 10 other manufactures all looking the same just change the name badges. Being simple and easy to diagnose electrically plus trouble free coil spring suspension. Suspension mods added for my added cornering ability, fun factor and pleasure.

As mentioned above disconnecting the battery, this is only delaying correcting the problem vs a cure as well having to reprogram everything messed up from the power interruptions. Not alarmed another issue but then a LR isn't a hot item like a Corvette to steal.

Alternator diode one or more possibly failed or leaking (electrically) back draining the battery, get it tested before wildly replacing alternators they ain't cheap. I check first then rebuilt cheap Pick-n-Pull alternators as spares after replacing bearings and brushes as backups. Spare starters by Nippon (best JMO) not Lucas or Bosch crap starters as both have been failures. Cold starts only requiring 1-2 seconds cranking,at most, very easy engine on starters with the added feature easy to bump start should a starter F up. Been there done that with Lucas and Bosch starter failures when used as a soccer mom driven daily 15/7 a around town vehicle for 10 years. Now a me only my fun toy vehicle.

Meter checking after the hood and door switches are blocked in the closed position, no power items and interior lights activated. I'd remove each fuse one at a time placing a digital meter across extended strips of thin brass shim stock inserted in the fuse contacts allowing connecting alligator jumpers to the meter. Meter set on DC amps first readings then switching to the lower 0-300 mA scale once known the current drain not harming the meter. Read each fused circuit to find out which one is draining your battery. I believe the ECU is sleeping (ignition off) but the alarm system is always powered up draining the battery as well the radio holding your programmed stations. Possibly more items or accessories draining the battery on these newer accessory overloaded LR's not offered on the older like the 95 D1 i'm familiar with. Disconnect the positive battery cable, jumper with meter, this should read in mA's the total battery load drain. Disconnecting the alternator's positive output cable then checking the battery and terminal readings again eliminating the alternator as suspect.

With mentioning corrosion issues at your connectors that's a bad sign requiring cleaning the connector terminals then adding (f it were my LR) a very light dab with a tooth pick of Thomas & Betts Kopr-Shield compound. Highly recommended, did it to my D1 back in 2000 with zero connector and lamp base corrosion problems today.
It's a conductive anti-corrosion compound (copper powder in a light grease paste) which must of been created by a ****** off LR owner. Don't get sloppy as it's a conductive compound found at a few "good" electrical supply houses. Every connection, battery terminals and cables including lamp contacts of lead against brass contacts in sockets (dissimilar metal corrosion just add water) cable to engine block or starter will read 0.3 ohm resistance at each cleaned and dry bolted terminal, with Kopr-Shield compound applied resistance usually drops down to to 0.1 ohm at each connection. Dealing with only 12 volts resistance adds up quickly under higher current electrical demands. Just add water for the continuation of the Limey tradition of electrical failures unless some added compound protection has been applied.
Nothing going to save those playing submarine with their LR's. End of novel....~~=o&o>....