Odd suspension fault

Hello All,
Sorry in advance for the long post.....

My two terriers decided there must be a rodent under my 2006 L322 TD6 whilst it was in the shed having the rusty wheel arches repaired. Upon putting it all back together had a suspension fault and found all three wires to back off side height sensor chewed up and the rod that connects the sensor to the wish bone snapped. Ordered a second hand sensor to get the rod and soldered up and heat shrinked the wires and all was good for 2 months. Haven't been out in the car for a while so took it for a spin to charge the battery, flashing orange headlight warning was on the dash as happens if the battery is low but went out on the road anyway.

2 miles in I got a suspension fault and a warning not to exceed 25mph, slowly returned home as the car was bouncing like mad at every bump. Got out and the car was on the bump stops all round, turned it off and back on and it stayed low, rotated the control leaver to up and the thing slowly raised up to normal height with a warning on the dash vehicle slowly lifting. Went out for a drive all good over 5 miles, parked up and went for bite to eat and some shopping, came back all looked level so set off home. Realised after about 2 miles car was really high at the back so continued slowly although no warning seen on the dash, looking at 4x4 display rear sensor that got messed up showing the tire much higher towards the top and the dash at he top of the wheel going red intermittently, I parked it up and left it for 24 hours and it stayed jacked up at the back and right at the front. Unlocked and opened the boot, back returned to normal height but on starting the engine it began to rise again. I went to look at the repaired wires and on pulling off the insulating tape snapped one of the wires and the car dropped right down on all four corners. I have repaired the wires again using the plug and wires from earlier purchased sensor but on starting back up after fully charging the battery the back end raises up too high and the tire is showing high on the 4x4 display so my guess is car thinks suspension is lowered so over pumping air to bring back up level but as it isn't detecting a change it is going too high. I put diagnostic on and that sensor has a voltage of less than 0.5 of a volt, the rest are just over 2 volts.

Just wondering if this is symptomatic of a bad sensor, nothing appears to be leaking as it sat jacked up on the back for 24 hours with no movement. Thinking I might swap the sensor but I can't see how it is held in the bracke which looks rather rusty.

Anybody with any advice on sensor removal or the symptoms I have would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Further to the above I had to get car out of shed, backed it out, backend up in the air still. On parking I deflated the suspension and on the 4x4 display all the wheels went up to the top except the rear right which went to the bottom.

Does anyone know if you reverse the yellow brown and yellow gray wires if the sensor will work backwards?

Lezley said:

Further to the above I had to get car out of shed, backed it out, backend up in the air still. On parking I deflated the suspension and on the 4x4 display all the wheels went up to the top except the rear right which went to the bottom.

Does anyone know if you reverse the yellow brown and yellow gray wires if the sensor will work backwards?

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It sounds like when you replaced the sensor arm, you got it on reversed so the sensor is working in the the opposite direction. No you cannot swap the wires. Insulating tape is no good for the joints, you need glue filled heat shrink. If a solder joint came apart, I'm sorry to say your soldering is not much good.

Thanks for the reply Datatek, I haven't had the sensor off just the rod between the wish bone and sensor. The car has been fine since Christmas when I put it back on the road just performed this odd action the other day. The sensor arm points away from the centre of the car towards the wheel which is correct?

Unfortunately the cables snapped with about an inch left exposed so soldering was a real challenge as it was up under the body. I made a much better job of it this time as I used the plug off the replacement sensor I bought which had more wire left on.

Thanks for confirming I can't have reversed the wires, I was about to take it all undone to check.

Have another job on today but will maybe get a look at the arm tomorrow, any reason why the voltage would be low at the sensor that is acting up?

Lezley said:

Thanks for the reply Datatek, I haven't had the sensor off just the rod between the wish bone and sensor. The car has been fine since Christmas when I put it back on the road just performed this odd action the other day. The sensor arm points away from the centre of the car towards the wheel which is correct?

Unfortunately the cables snapped with about an inch left exposed so soldering was a real challenge as it was up under the body. I made a much better job of it this time as I used the plug off the replacement sensor I bought which had more wire left on.

Thanks for confirming I can't have reversed the wires, I was about to take it all undone to check.

Have another job on today but will maybe get a look at the arm tomorrow, any reason why the voltage would be low at the sensor that is acting up?

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Sorry I misunderstood, you could have reversed the wires but I doubt it would have worked at all. Check the colours match.
I have read several times that it's possible to reverse the sensor arm but I have never worked on the L322 suspension so I don't know the details.
If the dog chewed the wires and broke the arm off, it's possible the sensor has been damaged. Don't waste money on a second hand part. If the sensor is changed, it will be necessary to calibrate the suspension.

I only bought second hand sensor to get the rod, I soldered everything back up and taped the broken rod and it worked fine in and out of the shed before I changed the rod so thought the sensor to be ok.

I will check the wiring, my eye sight isn't what it used to be and I find most things are in the fuzzy area between where my glasses work or my eyes work without them.

Lezley said:

I only bought second hand sensor to get the rod, I soldered everything back up and taped the broken rod and it worked fine in and out of the shed before I changed the rod so thought the sensor to be ok.

I will check the wiring, my eye sight isn't what it used to be and I find most things are in the fuzzy area between where my glasses work or my eyes work without them.

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A decent light and a magnifying glass I find helpful these days!
Without the rod in place, there would be no sensor movement, so if the car was at the correct height, the EAS would not know there was a problem. In case the sensor has picked up dirt on the resistance track when your dog attacked it, you could try moving it through it's full range back and forth a few times.

Your suspension pump may well be tired as the message was slow to lift, they lift the back end first and if that does not go as it should it will throw a fault with a good pump it should lift in seconds.
what diag have you got to check the system.

The back goes up quickly but far to high, the display shows it down on the back corner so the car keeps pumping it up to try to compensate. Although now I deflated the suspension the 4x4 display is showing it at full extension hence the thoughts on reversed wires. I have the spare I guess I could check results on the bench.


Does seem to jerk as it comes up like it is rising a bit at a time on each strut. I have a foxwell nt530 scanner with JLR software.

Finally got time to look at this today, tested with a multi meter and the wiring is sound. Plugged in an old on side rear sensor and the car likes it so have to conclude it is a bad sensor. New off side sensor on order so should be sorted shortly

Thanks all for your input