Possible Headlamp Ballast or ECU fault......

They always happen at the most inopportune time....

Summer and partner still in hospital looking to be discharged today which is grand, but last night on the way home, jumped into the Rangie and started, turned lights on, then all of a sudden the ns headlamp flickered and went out and the dash started flickering and odd warning lamps were flickering....the usual EAS/HDC/ABS/DSC faults bonged up and wouldn't reset on the steering wheel reset...

Hmm, lights off, engine off and restart...no probs...turn headlamps on all hell breaks loose.

Drive home along country roads with just parklights and fog lights on.

Get home, plug in diagnostics but no connection on any system....hmmmmm

Tired so left it till this morning, still no connection on diagnostics, battery level is strong.

Start car and drive to hospital no issues, park up and try the lights.....bells and whistles again....

Will try swapping the ballast/ECU unit from os to ns and see if the non working lamp follows and then investigate issues from there....it is known for the headlamp ECUs to get damp and cause very similar issues.

Just with a 3 day old daughter waiting to go home, a sore girlfriend with limited mobility and for me to man up and be a daddy I could do without having to spend time under the Rangie.....but that is the life of a Range Rover owner....

Check the alternator output Ant, I'll refrain from rude comments about L322's at this critical time.

Datatek said:

Check the alternator output Ant, I'll refrain from rude comments about L322's at this critical time.

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Was thinking of checking that Keith as you know weak outputs can cause havoc on these machines. This morning was a rush and couldn't be arsed with finding my meter, but depending on the discharge time, I'll check later.

I appreciate your restraint, I know how hard it is not to kick the L322 when it is down...

May be a case of the extra load causing the alternator output to fold back, instead of the lights, try turning on the heated front & rear windows and see what happens. I assume the L322 still allows that amount of owner intervention?

Datatek said:

May be a case of the extra load causing the alternator output to fold back, instead of the lights, try turning on the heated front & rear windows and see what happens. I assume the L322 still allows that amount of owner intervention?

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Good call, will try that.....

And, yes, the L322 still has some buttons that the driver can play with

Bet your missus loves this car ! Lol

Now you're a Dad with responsibilities, you really ought to consider getting a sensible reliable car.

Nothing like a RR to add to the stress of bringing the new arrival home safely. Hope all is well

2.0_hippo said:

Bet your missus loves this car ! Lol

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Datatek said:

Now you're a Dad with responsibilities, you really ought to consider getting a sensible reliable car.

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martynv8 said:

Nothing like a RR to add to the stress of bringing the new arrival home safely. Hope all is well

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Since Christmas, she has been driving the Range Rover as a daily driver and I have been using the BMW 735....she loves it and certainly doesn't want anything else.

She understands they are unreliable, but also we have a full RAC Cover, I am handy with a spanner and I have the wealth of knowledge from LZ to help out.

Yes RR's are unreliable and this is RR no.6 for us so we are not new to their 'issues'

Arrived home safe and sound at just before 4pm, sat Summer in her car seat in the middle of the living room and just stared at her for 10 minutes going 'Holy ****, this is real - what the feck are we going to do??' as in hospital you have the midwife team to help out and answer questions.....we're on our own now (bar the community midwife visits and family).....just hope I can step up to the mark!

Gonna let us settle over the next couple of days, then take a look at the Rangie then as we are not planning any night time trips or cold weather....

Must do the Extra Loads check Keith suggests!

Little one's are born to take control, lots of love but be firm with a good regular routine and it will be plain sailing.

I had the exact same thing happen over Xmas. I had the passenger side xenon bulb intermittently going out (followed by 'Check Headlight' warning). Turned lights off and on again and lights would be fine. Took one of our cats to the vets one day, it had been raining hard and there was a lot of standing water on the road. Got into the Rangie, turned on the headlights and all hell let loose, bongs galore, HDS, ABS Air Susp Inactive. Turned lights off, switched engine off, waited a minute then started Rangie. All fine, until I switched lights on again. Same thing happened.
Got the Rangie home (without main lights on), opened up the light unit and found the xenon bulb had exploded inside the lamp unit (bits of glass everywhere inside the light). Replaced the xenon bulbs when I got a new set after a couple of days, all well again.

My suggestions would be to check the xenon bulb (may be faulty) and the ballast unit (could have got wet).

Discotigger said:

I had the exact same thing happen over Xmas. I had the passenger side xenon bulb intermittently going out (followed by 'Check Headlight' warning). Turned lights off and on again and lights would be fine. Took one of our cats to the vets one day, it had been raining hard and there was a lot of standing water on the road. Got into the Rangie, turned on the headlights and all hell let loose, bongs galore, HDS, ABS Air Susp Inactive. Turned lights off, switched engine off, waited a minute then started Rangie. All fine, until I switched lights on again. Same thing happened.
Got the Rangie home (without main lights on), opened up the light unit and found the xenon bulb had exploded inside the lamp unit (bits of glass everywhere inside the light). Replaced the xenon bulbs when I got a new set after a couple of days, all well again.

My suggestions would be to check the xenon bulb (may be faulty) and the ballast unit (could have got wet).

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Great bit of advice there...many thanks DT.

As can be seen, the Xenon Lamp has defiantly had it....



So will replace and fingers crossed it hasn't fried anything on its way out!

PS... dont go and get your pants pulled down in halfords for one of these lamps... they will charge you £60 for one!

you can get a pair on ebay, whatever kelvin for £12 a pair

Yep, same state as my bulb was in, blew the heck out of it when it went.
I would suggest getting a vacuum hose into the lens unit if you can to suck out any glass bits left in the light unit from the blown bulb or the bits could jam the xenon lens shutter.
I managed to free up my jammed lens shutter at first, but ended up stripping down my light unit to give it a good clean out, mind you I did that only because I was also replacing the headlight glass that had got a hole in from a stone.

Discotigger said:

Yep, same state as my bulb was in, blew the heck out of it when it went.
I would suggest getting a vacuum hose into the lens unit if you can to suck out any glass bits left in the light unit from the blown bulb or the bits could jam the xenon lens shutter.
I managed to free up my jammed lens shutter at first, but ended up stripping down my light unit to give it a good clean out, mind you I did that only because I was also replacing the headlight glass that had got a hole in from a stone.

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I better get out there and take the thing out then...how easy is it to remove the headlamp assembly??

It's not too difficult a job, there's a powerfuluk video on youtube shows how to remove the headlight assembly, though they're just doing a halogen headlight the process is the same but a bit more patience is required as the lip on the headlight bottom edge can catch on the bumper. I also had to remove the radiator grille to get the light unit out. Then it's just a case of releasing the clips around the headlight glass lens and removing the lens. Be careful not to damage the rubber seal. The inner cover comes out quite easily and a good shake an blow out with an air gun will clear all the glass bits from the blown bulb.

Replacement is the reverse of taking apart, etc., but it's fiddly getting the headlight unit located back on the mounting lugs on the washer unit bracket.

I'd wait till you've tried the new bulbs in before doing the above, as the glass shards from the blown bulb may have just dropped through to the bottom of the headlight unit, so not desperate to take the whole unit apart. You'll be able to see if the xenon shutter has jammed by trying the lights on low and full beam. If the shutter moves between low and full, then you've got no worries

Fantastic....I'll take a gander at it tomorrow and see whats what...

Many thanks for a great guidance.

Resolution Thread.... http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f10/2002-2005-headlamp-assembly-removal-256747.html

Nice write up!

Has replacing the blown bulb sorted the HDC, EAS Inop, ABS, Bongs, etc.

Discotigger said:

Nice write up!

Has replacing the blown bulb sorted the HDC, EAS Inop, ABS, Bongs, etc.

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yep, just won't talk to diagnostics now....

Not sure if it is the car or the All Comms yet.....