Freelander 1 Temp gauge on H and fans running with ignition on. Flat spot when pulling away. ( Solved)

The 2003 TD4 Sport which is still on local trips whilst de-bugging and testing is exhibiting 2 new faults which may be related.

1. With ignition on and not started the temp gauge goes to H and the fans run. When the engine starts all is normal again.
2. Flat spot - almost a loss of throttle response - when pulling away from rest when warm.

PScan shows coolant temperature as O.K - what else would force gauge to hot and put the red light on. The red light comes on as a test when you turn the ignition on but usually goes off quickly. Instead it stays on, the gauge goes to H and the fans run.

Anyone had this?
First thought was temp signal wrong to ECU and fueling messed up.

Is it a manual or automatic?

Automatic. Not exhibited this condition (either of them) before today.

Thanks John.

andyfreelandy said:

Automatic. Not exhibited this condition (either of them) before today.

Thanks John.

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I had an issue on my V6, where the gearbox temperature sensor had a bad connection on the multi-plug. This gave the same symptoms you're having, so it's worth checking that the box temperature sensor is giving a correct temperature output.

Thanks. Didn't know the auto box temp got fed to the gauge. Or is it the DCU getting an error and flagging it crudely?

andyfreelandy said:

Thanks. Didn't know the auto box temp got fed to the gauge. Or is it the DCU getting an error and flagging it crudely?

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The box temperature is fed to the ECM, which if it's too high will command the fans to come on. However if there's a fault; it also seems to show a high temperature warning on the dash, same as the the engine temperature sensor does.

OK. Job for tomorrow ! Many thanks.

Going to be a tricky one to find. No fault on gauge today and no flat spot either.

Might just clean all gearbox pins. Any idea where flat spot is coming from?? Other corrupt gearbox signals maybe.

Wrt the flat spot, now added to title of thread, I read through this



Plugged the EGR vacuum line and hey, no flat spot all day !! Will reinstate and see if it returns but easier to blank than find out what is wrong in the ECU me thinks. Was planning on blanking anyway as nice clean shiny inlet after my servicing.

Looks like the Hot temp at ignition on has also gone. Cleaned gearbox multi plug with temp sensor in the connections. The larger one. Thanks John. Hope it stays away!!

andyfreelandy said:

Looks like the Hot temp at ignition on has also gone. Cleaned gearbox multi plug with temp sensor in the connections. The larger one. Thanks John. Hope it stays away!!

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Hopefully the cleaning and reseating the box plug solves the issue, which it did on my V6.

Anyone know of the EGR software recall mentioned in the above post of 2005 ??

They were all new then !