'03MY L322 Petrol 114k5 miles

Saint.V8 said:

It is the vehicle as made by Land Rover...not the individual vehicle from what I know....
It is how the L322 Range Rover as a vehicle is registered with the DVLA regardless of additional modifications added post manufacture....the L322 emissions as logged when the design of the vehicle was tested that is logged and this is what the DVLA/TfL etc base their emission information on.....and from the factory the L322 won't meet the new restrictions - it could run on angel dust or virgins tears - it matters not - it is what the vehicle emissions were when the vehicle was tested during design and development.

Click to expand...

I'm not too sure about this as I've had a letter back from DVLA giving me specific instructions on how to change fuel category and then claim the "alternative fuel" taxation rate -- I've done a quick hint file (.doc) about this but can't attach it here. It's not intuitive -- it entails reading many obscure pages on their web site -- of course that's not by design

RichardSEL said:

I'm not too sure about this as I've had a letter back from DVLA giving me specific instructions on how to change fuel category and then claim the "alternative fuel" taxation rate -- I've done a quick hint file (.doc) about this but can't attach it here. It's not intuititive -- it entails reading many obscure pages on their web site -- of course that's not by design

Click to expand...

That changes the vehicle excise duty rate, not wether it is or isnt ulez compliant.

My L322 is registered as bi-fuel and yet will still be subject to the daily charges.

Still no reply from TfL -- mind you, on (yet another) obscure TfL help page they do say that any application has to include proof of the car's emissions meeting uLez requirments. The simplest way IMO is to have DVLA re-categorise the car as an "alternative fuel" (category TC59) with the proofs I've suggested in my Quick Hint. Then
TfL could work from DVLA's published category and excise rate for that VRM.

I'm not suggesting for one moment that TfL staff are under any instruction to try and enforce uLez unreasonably.
Erm, what's gonna happen to this year's London to Brighton Rally -- or any vintage / classic rallys that pass thru uLez? Nothing from JEC that I've read on this of late...

Still don't know what units are used for emissions in the LPG Conversion Certificate (issued under the LPGA Approved Installer Scheme)

Still no reply... I did try 'phoning and spoke with a real human who gave the impression that I was being impudent for even asking for information about uLez exemptions for LPG-fitted vehicles...

RichardSEL said:

I delivered into workshop on evening of 14th <snip>

Click to expand...

Bought meself a Volvo P40 at auction -- goes like stink quite surprised as it doesn't look that sort of car...

RichardSEL said:

BBA Reman in Rochester (just down the A2 from me) advertise either a replacement re-built steering column or re-building your own. I emailed them on 19th, no answer as yet
http://www.bba-reman.com/gb/content.aspx?content=range_rover_column_failing
http://www.bba-reman.com/gb/catalogue/detailedproduct.aspx?detailedproduct=916
Best I can do for now

Click to expand...

Collected from BBA Reman a week ago last Friday and delivered back to workshop. Workshop re-fitted last Monday week, called to say my car's ready. Then added in email "you'll have to remove a fuse to get it started". They've since confirmed its fuse 18 they're on about. Methinks they're following this thread...
£1,200-odd bill inc. VAT attached. I complain that that's not a repair, how can they expect anyone to accept that?
Usual bla-bla -- BBA Reman agree to have a look but "no guarantees" they can fix. Workshop refuse to warranty their work, just any parts used bought from them.
Planning on seeing them this afternoon for a "quiet chat" .

<snip>

RichardSEL said:

Loony Labour Greater London "Authority" tell me that as from 31st March I will be "banned" from the London congestion charge zone 24/7. Unless I pay £12.50 per visit that is. Even though I'm LPG and my emissions are certified down to 8.1 for CO2 and hydrocarbons 107

Apart from that, everything's fine

Click to expand...

That should've read 18th April

...that Heroin's a bit more-ish

RichardSEL said:

That should've read 18th April

Click to expand...

No it should'nt. That should've read 8th April

Meanwhile, back at the funny farm...

The Steering Column Lock repaired by BBA Reman was collected by me (met the technician who did the work, nice people BTW) and re-installed into the car by the workshop. I didn't hang about -- used to hate it when I had someone hanging over my shoulder when I was doing servicing "back in the day".

Got a 'phone call a few days later to tell me that my car's ready and on payment of a £1,200-odd bill could be collected. Went to collect and an email arrived telling me that Fuse 18 had to be removed for the starting to occur. I protested saying that wasn't a complete repair -- workshop protests that they only had the job of getting the car started

After many more emails in the same vein eventually got an independent assessor to attend on Friday who reported that the car wasn't now starting at all, just the three clicks from the dash -- irrespective of whether fuse 18 was removed or not. Irrespective of whether the plug pins 1-7 were shorted. In other words back to original fault.

Spoke with BBA Reman who'd also spoken with the assessor. They said that they'd have a look but there was no guarantee they could fix the fault and that they didn't have the facility to remove the steering column lock to examine if their repair was still effective. We are where we are...

Is there any re-programing needed after all this that could now either be missing or some EPROM somewhere that could've lost its settings? Or them become corrupted? The workshop only has Autologic so I'm assuming something more sophisticated is needed to upload defaut data. Or re-load a preloaded set of instructions that are hard coded into PROM?

More thoughts and wibbles much appreciated.

... <sigh> Ahhh! Thank you nurse

I’d go back to the beginning of this thread and start again , it sounds like you are now having the solenoid problem, I must admit I haven’t reread the thread but I don’t recall the fuse 18 trick was working before was it ?

No, the Fuse 18 trick wasn't working before. And the whole assembly's not working now according to the assessor who attended the workshop -- it's just back to three clicks again. I didn't get from him (and he doesn't say in his report)
that the ignition key moves past 10º either i.e. into the sprung-loaded engine start position.
I've asked the workshop to remove the steering column lock assy and send it back to BBA Reman to check that their work is still good. But the workshop's refused to do anymore work, removed the new XYZ Switch (that they claim was new OEM and charged me that price for) and put back my old one. As such, their bill is now reduced from over £1,200 to £315. I have another shop down in Surrey who will take in (Jag & Land have a three month waiting list) so
figure I should just give up on the original workshop -- cut and run

The mechanics there though did say that's the car's been attended to before in the area of the steering column lock.
The actual physical locking mechanism that the steering lock solenoid operates has been previously removed and is not there now. I'm wondering (just wondering coz I've not seen up there) whether the solenoid armature is now coming out from it's coil further than what was designed due to there being no physical locking mechanism to push (or pull) And then remaining stuck?

Back in the day I've seen this happen on otherwise perfectly good Ledex motors where the latch has become worn or slightly bent out of true

Just had this from the workshop following being told by JLR that there's no stock of new steering column units:
"I have confirmed with Land Rover again just now that they do indeed have stock at factory the retail price of this part is £4,098.89 plus VAT."

Seems JLR has joined the rip-off merchants' circle too? No wonder people are flocking to far east manufacturers such as Song Yang...

RichardSEL said:

Just had this from the workshop following being told by JLR that there's no stock of new steering column units:
"I have confirmed with Land Rover again just now that they do indeed have stock at factory the retail price of this part is £4,098.89 plus VAT."

Seems JLR has joined the rip-off merchants' circle too? No wonder people are flocking to far east manufacturers such as Song Yang...

Click to expand...

What do you mean JLR have joined the rip-off merchants circle, they founded it.

RichardSEL said:

No, the Fuse 18 trick wasn't working before. And the whole assembly's not working now according to the assessor who attended the workshop -- it's just back to three clicks again. I didn't get from him (and he doesn't say in his report)
that the ignition key moves past 10º either i.e. into the sprung-loaded engine start position.
I've asked the workshop to remove the steering column lock assy and send it back to BBA Reman to check that their work is still good. But the workshop's refused to do anymore work, removed the new XYZ Switch (that they claim was new OEM and charged me that price for) and put back my old one. As such, their bill is now reduced from over £1,200 to £315. I have another shop down in Surrey who will take in (Jag & Land have a three month waiting list) so
figure I should just give up on the original workshop -- cut and run

The mechanics there though did say that's the car's been attended to before in the area of the steering column lock.
The actual physical locking mechanism that the steering lock solenoid operates has been previously removed and is not there now. I'm wondering (just wondering coz I've not seen up there) whether the solenoid armature is now coming out from it's coil further than what was designed due to there being no physical locking mechanism to push (or pull) And then remaining stuck?

Back in the day I've seen this happen on otherwise perfectly good Ledex motors where the latch has become worn or slightly bent out of true

Click to expand...

When you say 3 clicks, that is coming from the steering lock as it tries to disengage.
it sounds to me like the solenoid itself is at fault, a couple of pages back i posted a potential fix but i have also read that the magnet in the solenoid break apart which there is another solution on the net regarding replacing the magnet.
i would be taking it apart as shown in the earlier post and checking the solenoid operation

Yes, it's already been taken out and sent over to BBA Reman in Rochester. They re-built it, I've been told that the steering lock magnets were "done" and I collected it from their Rochester plant and took it back to workshop.

Workshop re-fitted it finding that it did work (car started) but only after "remove Fuse 18" trick was done. They tried to palm me off as that being their repair (including change of XYZ Switch) and rush me for £1,200-odd. I got an assessor down (having suggested that they install a normally closed pressel switch with inline 10A fuse to the spades of Fuse 18 which workshop refused to do).

When the assessor arrived the car refused to start either with or without the "remove Fuse 18" trick. It was back to the three clicks from the dash somewheres. I don't know whether the key turns beyond 10º (vertical) or not. Coz I've been concentrating on getting another workshop (this one refuses to do anymore work on the car but has reduced their bill to £315 inc with my old XYZ Switch re-installed coz that didn't make a ha-peth of difference to the fault)

This time the workshop's mechanics did tell the assessor that the steering lock mechanal steering latch had previously been removed and not replaced -- whether that means the solenoid's armature is not pushing (or pulling) against anything I don't know coz I've not looked up there (and would find it nowadays difficult to contort to see up there anyway)

I expect the car to be going down to Surrey on Tuesday and I don't want to tread on the ex-Landy mechanic's toes down there by telling him what I suspect -- except the gory history that's logged in this thread.

What does Fuse 18 actually supply? Is it the IGN key barrel pin solenoid? If so then I could suggest the pin's removal...

This is from Rave which might help you understand what is going on, or should be if you haven't seen this already
i should really go back to the beginning and have a read..

That's very helpful. I did have a look in Rave quickly but then heard that it was starting. And the rest is as original fault again. I've got another shop that's got experience as Jag & Land (my next nearest BTW) couldn't take in for some weeks. It's going down on Tuesday so I'm hopeful ... I will be also asking them to remove the pin on the IGN switch. But don't want to tread on their diagnostic toes especially since I'd had no starting issues for the three visits to the previous owner I made before purchase. And the six days (say a dozen start ups) after I got it back home...

i have heard of some removing the ignition switch pin and i think the steering lock plunger as well, but the immobilizer still needs an ok from the steering lock ecu or you will be in a different world of pain although very similar as in the thing will still not start.

The 2 1/2 tonnes of metal and animal carcass that you own is probably being prevented from moving by 1 mg of copper, but which one ..

The insurance on these is quite low because the feckers are hard enough to start even with the key at times.
Keep the faith brother

holidaychicken said:

i have heard of some removing the ignition switch pin and i think the steering lock plunger as well, but the immobilizer still needs an ok from the steering lock ecu or you will be in a different world of pain although very similar as in the thing will still not start.

The 2 1/2 tonnes of metal and animal carcass that you own is probably being prevented from moving by 1 mg of copper, but which one ..

The insurance on these is quite low because the feckers are hard enough to start even with the key at times.
Keep the faith brother

Click to expand...

Not read all the thread but has the key fob battery been changed at any stage here? If the transponder fell out would that stop it?

Thanks for coming back. Yes, both fobs' batteries were changed. The workshop found one key would retrain, while the other would not. But strangely I found both would manually perform unlock. At the workshop when initially starting after re-install of the repaired Steering Column Lock mechanism which worked but only for a few times, one key would start while the other wouldn't.

It would be worth checking that all the fuses are getting the full 12 volts at the correct time . It’s simple to follow the sequence above in the attachment I posted as if the ignition switch or a permanent feed to the Steering column or EWS immobiliser ECU is intermittent you will get the same issues.
What, if any, fault codes are you getting from the EWS immobiliser or other module now?

RichardSEL said:

Yes, am concerned about that especially since all this locked in Park / no key movement beyond position 1 business started soon after I had the battery changed for new. The Dynes recovery bloke did try a few things to make sure the connections had been put back correctly. But there are flying leads coming out from the battery terminal connectors.
One of which is flopping about inside its +ve. All others appear tight. Who knows what jury rigged wiring's been added during this L322's lifetime?

Click to expand...

What are the flying leads you refer to, there should only be a thin wire going to your yellow battery disconnect unit.
I have re read your thread and I don’t think your issue is steering column.
The fuse 18 trick also allows one turn of the key if your transponder in your fob is not paired, not sure exactly the sequence but the fuse 18 trick could also make you think it’s a steering column fault when it isn’t.
If you have other wires coming off your battery you could have a hidden kill switch or something is shorting out.
If the immobiliser module is not getting all the correct full voltages at the right time you will be getting strange results
Considering this thread started as an EAS problem and went south after a battery change I think you may be barking up several wrong trees, although to be fair there is a pack of us barking with you and also BBA and various vehicle technicians
You need to go back to basics and check fault codes and wiring.
Where is the car now ?