Have the Transmission, HDC, Brake Light, Suspension Lowering Problem!

[kameag]

2006 LR3 V6 with 167,000 miles.

Last week driving in heavy rain, I got the dreaded Christmas tree of lights on the dash and the suspension lowered. Still had an hour drive home so I pulled off and had a coffee hoping it would just "go away".

Since then, it seems to start out OK each morning, but after anywhere from 5-20 minutes driving it happens again. I note the passenger side floor was wet.

Here is what I've done to check.
- changed rear brake light one side (it was out)...not with an LR OEM bulb
- tested sunroof drains by pouring water up top and confirmed weater is draining on both sides under vehicle, so no leak there??
- tested battery and tested fine, is about 2 years old
- visual inspection under hood (I have no idea what I'm looking for but saw a mechanic do this once or twice!)
- replaced brake light switch - not with an LR OEM as local dealer did not have available.

I am considering calling it a day on this vehicle but would like the satisfaction of trying to fix it with a couple more small things that should run me less than $100. My local mechanic had a look and said he can't help me out on this one.

- buy and replace brake lights with OEM
- buy and replace brake switch with OEM

Any other ideas? A guy my mechanic knows says it's likley one of the ECU's, but would need to spend some time with it to try and figure out which one. Not sure if I want to pay for hours of time to figure out it's toast anyway.

Do any of the diagnostic tools you can buy tell you exactly which ECU is malfunctioning?

Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[Houm_WA]

It could be a wheel angle sensor, it could be a wheel speed sensor, could be a wiring issue due to your water ingress problem. It could be a lot of things.

Get an IIDTool from GAP Diagnostics. It can help you determine the root cause. The fix is likely not that sinister.

 

[Ken2006]

I have a 2006 LR3 and the water on the passengers floor could be the drains for the HVAC case, I had this problem years ago and had to clean the drain lines to solve the problem. Worse in this case, is the bundle of wires that runs down the frame under the door trim which is probably under water in your Rover right now. You need to pull the door seal gasket and unsnap the plastic trim between the door and seat, stick a wet/dry vac in there and suck all that water out asap! I also left the carpet propped up and the door open for a few days to dry everything completely out. There are 3 or 4 spliced wires in the wire harness that can corrode and cause all kinds of strange electrical issues, hopefully in your case the problem you currently have will clear up once you get the harness dried out. If not, look for the splice joints in the harness and inspect for corrosion. Memory says two of the splices are towards the front by the plastic kick trim under the right side of the glovebox at the front corner of the door jamb. There’s also a zip-tie there which will need to be cut and replaced to get at the splices.

 

[kameag]

Thanks Ken2006 for the suggestions. This thing is getting a little more complicated than I want to delve into myself.

I took off the trim under the door frame and it was filled with water as you mentioned. Checked the sunroof drain and it seems to be working OK. After removing the vent and rubber thing on the side of the fender, I could see the drain ****** and confirmed there is water coming out of it. I guess there still could be a hole somewhere in the ****** inside the vehicle.

I took off the corner of the headliner and it seems all is good up there with the drain tube.

Resorted to a new low for me and put duct tape along the front of the cowl where it meets the windshield for the rainy drive in this morning. I had dried out the area under the door frame completely on the weekend and by the time I made the 15 minutes to work it had quite a bit of water in it.

I think that rules out the cowl leak, so could be either A pillar, HVAC drains, or the sunroof drain ******.

At this point even if I do find and fix the leak there is no guarantee that something isn't fried as I still had the problem this morning. If I had the room, I'd keep the LR# and work on it over time, but thinking it's time to cut my losses and move on. Just need to figure out what to replace it with. Damn.

Near Toronto in Ontario, Canada so if anyone is interested....

 

[steveC101]

Last year I had my LR3 doing the same kind of thing.

I had replaced the compressor earlier in the year, along with a couple of height sensors. In the sensor installation I had used a crimp connector that was too large for the wires causing an intermittent disconnection. Once I fixed that joint everything was fine.

When I first bought the car I had the usual sunroof leak (3 inches of water in the passenger side footwell) but that didn't upset the electronics at all.

 

[kameag]

Thank you Steve. You've convinced me to have a look at the sensors. I will google it but if you have a link with pictures or videos showing the install process, I would like to see if it's a DIY for me.

 

[steveC101]

You're welcome.

I didn't take any photos or video but Atlantic have one for a RR (same procedure). https://www.roverparts.com/resources/videos/ride-height-sensor-replacement/

 

[steveC101]

Btw, if you're going to replace any sensors I recommend buying the harness as well. The attachment clip is pretty delicate, and tricky to unhook without damaging the small clips on the side.

It's not a difficult job but requires a little patience.

 

[kameag]

OK, so after looking at what it takes to replace these sensors...and not knowing which one(s) might be the culprit, I am taking it to a Rover specialist next week. They will do a scan and see if they can find the culprit before I finally need to walk away from this truck.

I did shop around a bit and one place offered me $300 trade allowance!!!! The body and paint are in near perfect condition (absolutely no rust) and the interior is very clean for the mileage so I'm not really going to part with it for 300 bucks. Looked at a few LR3's for sale with half the mileage and they were trashed! I am willing to spend a few car payments to fix this thing if necessary but not much beyond that.

Trying to minimize driving as the suspension is lowered but I do need to get around. I just did a bit more searching on the boards and am going to try and remove fuse 26 under the hood when I am at normal ride height on startup (the suspension only lowers once I start driving). That way I will at least have some suspension for a few days until I can get it to the shop. Wish I had known about that earlier.

 

[steveC101]

Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance. The sensor replacement isn't a big job and the parts are quite cheap but I appreciate you not wanting to throw too much money at it. I take it you don't own a diagnostic tool of any kind. I've found mine (the Hawkeye) to be invaluable to work on this car. They can at least help in narrowing down the potential cause of a problem.

Please keep us updated on the shop results, which may be of help to others going forward. Good luck.