2002 Range Rover, battery drain

We got a Range Rover in 2002 when the new model had just come out.

It's the diesel Vogue and after all sorts of teething problems (including a new steering column) it settled down. In the last couple of years, the battery drains constantly. We put a new battery in but it's still happening.

Has anyone else had this problem and if so do you have a cure? The dealership are just giving us excuses to avoid the fact that they cannot seem to deal with the problem.

Many thanks in advance.

i think there a few threads in here with pointers for this, you will just have to use the search.

if i recall its down to something like other wireless devices in your area keeping the becm alive.

On the old shape P38, I would say its the RF Receiver, but if you have a L322 I'm unsure what part they fit on that model or if its completely different. Perhaps its the BECM being woken up by some spurious RF signal?

Find out what part number it is.....I'm curious to find out if it supports the same part.

I don't like to be the bearer of bad news but the 2002-2003 L322's are terrible electric wise and that information comes directly from my friend who is an official LR engineer.

If you see any new shape L322 Ranger Rover for sale, normally they are all 2002-2003 models. What you want is a 2004 model or newer.

Perhaps the alternator isnt working properly? What have you/LR investigated so far eletcrically?

There is a tech bulliten on this, one is a modification to the hevac control panel, there have been problems where the fan inside constantly runs causing the battery to go flat, there is a relay and new wiring that needs to be fitted.

The other is what land rover call "interference from outside sources" basically this means that any remote (other car, garage door etc) that is operated in close proximity to your vehicle will cause the ecu's in the car to "wake up" but will not unlock the car, this puts massive drain on the battery for about 10 mins then shuts down again, untill another remote is operated, if this happens enough times, the battery will drain flat. There is no fix for this!

i thought the unofficial 'fix' was to somehow detach the rf, which meant no more interference from external sources, but also meant that the operating distance of your keyfob was greatly reduced?

if the RF reciever was disconnected then the remotes wont work at all

Hi. I know nothing about the L322 'cept what I've read on this great site but I had the same prob with my P38 and the fix is to disconnect the rf receiver located in the boot behind the right (drivers side) interior cover under the window ariel. It is the little black box. Disconnect the din plug (not the ariel lead) and problem solved. No the remote does not work anymore but you can still central lock using the key. A price worth paying. Landrover sell an upgrade that does not suffer from outside interference but it costs around £150.00.
Search the RR section because this is where I got my info from thanks to the other people posting their threads. Not sure if it will work on yours but worth a try.

are the dealers saying there is a drain ? or are the saying the dont know how to fix it?

if you know any 1 that knows how to use a multi meter, have them do an amp draw test, the vehicle should not be drawing any more than 0.04amps after it has gone to sleep which takes 16 mins,
when u havr determined it drawing more than that you can then start rmoving certain curcuit fuses and redo test hopefully then you will norrow don to what curcuit fault lies on.

also do you have a tracker fitted, early trackers had too much drain on them and caused the fault, disconnect any afatermarket add ons aswell

Hi, I have the same battery drain problem with my P38. I had it checked out and the vault is the alarm recieving spurious signals and waking your alarm system up and it is not going back to sleep, if you know what I mean. Land rover offer a replacement receiver for £150, which narrows the bandwidth signal. The spurious signals can be crated form other remote key fobs, telephone masts, that sort of thing. Have it checked out, its a simple check.
Regards rrcrossaxle.