3 issues with my 03 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 V8

Hi All,

I wonder if anyone can help please? This is my first post on this site so please bare with me.

I have a 03 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 that has a few issues. It has been to a couple of garages now and been on the diagnostic machines but this hasn't seemed to help or whatever has come up hasn't actually been the problem.

I have listed the problems below:

1: I have the air suspension inactive code on my main screen. The air suspension is not working at all and there are no lights on the controls on the main dash board. It is in the garage at the moment however they are not sure how to diagnose the problem to determine is the air suspension compressor pump has packed up or not? When put on the diagnostic machine nothing comes up relating to the air suspension. Any ideas what/how to test the compressor to see if it is faulty or not?

2: When we are driving their seems to be a noise that sounds very much like you are going over the cat eyes on a motorway but obviously we are not.... it sounds like it is coming from underneath the car somewhere..... any thoughts?

3: There is a drain on the battery around 1.5 amp. Do you think this could related to the air suspension problem?

FYI, when the car was diagnosed recently, it flagged that there was an issue with the ABS ECU. So we got the garage to take it out and send it away to be tested and then if faulty repaired. The ABS ECU has now been tested and yep you guessed it nothing is wrong with it!

Any advise/help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Anyone have any ideas? Please help as its killing my head and the garages too ..... cheers

They need to use the correct diagnostic gear for the L322....one that is Land Rover specific...

There has to be a fault code logged for the Air Suspension for it to go into Hard Fault (No lights on the controls).

The ABS system will go in to fault because of the Air Suspension issue as they are linked via the CANbus and both rely on eachother for correct operation.

There will also be a fault stored in the ABS ECU indicating the CANbus is in fault due to the Air Suspension issue.

So it seems like the garages you have used don't have the right diagnostic gear for the Range Rover.

Take it to a decent indiependant, or put your location down as there may be a member on here local to you with the gear to hook it up and see whats wrong.

The rumbling could be three things....

Worn Suspension Bushes (common)
If it is on the bumps due to the EAS fault it could be that
If it is more of a drone (cattle grid type) then it may be your gearbox getting tired....also common (the Torque Converter suffers issues on these thing - more so on the Diesel)

Battery drain on the L322 is either the Final Stage Resistor for the heater system or the headlamp wiper not parking correctly - again both common!

Saint.V8 said:

They need to use the correct diagnostic gear for the L322....one that is Land Rover specific...

There has to be a fault code logged for the Air Suspension for it to go into Hard Fault (No lights on the controls).

The ABS system will go in to fault because of the Air Suspension issue as they are linked via the CANbus and both rely on eachother for correct operation.

There will also be a fault stored in the ABS ECU indicating the CANbus is in fault due to the Air Suspension issue.

So it seems like the garages you have used don't have the right diagnostic gear for the Range Rover.

Take it to a decent indiependant, or put your location down as there may be a member on here local to you with the gear to hook it up and see whats wrong.

The rumbling could be three things....

Worn Suspension Bushes (common)
If it is on the bumps due to the EAS fault it could be that
If it is more of a drone (cattle grid type) then it may be your gearbox getting tired....also common (the Torque Converter suffers issues on these thing - more so on the Diesel)

Battery drain on the L322 is either the Final Stage Resistor for the heater system or the headlamp wiper not parking correctly - again both common!

Click to expand...

Hi Saint,

Many thanks for your reply.

My location is Rochester, Kent. Postcode ME2 3AE

Its funny that you say it could be the bushes as when it had its last MOT few months ago it did come up with an advisory saying front bushes.

I would definitely say the noise is more of as if your going over cats eyes.

Also the internal heater of the car does not work. The lights all come on and the air con works fine however the fan heaters donts get hot. I only bought the car a few months ago. When I took it to the garage about the heater they told me it was unplugged. I wonder if it was unplugged deliberately?

If the heater motor doesnt work 99.8% of the time it is due to the final stage resistor....this will also confirm your battery drain issue!!

Bushes on the L322 will lead to knocking and rumbling similar to cats eyes....

As for the EAS issue, i am sure we have a couple of members down your neck of the woods with the kit to help out.

If the Range Rover is a long term car for you...consider getting your own kit...the All Comms by RSW Solutions is by far the most cost effective....

Saint.V8 said:

If the heater motor doesnt work 99.8% of the time it is due to the final stage resistor....this will also confirm your battery drain issue!!

Bushes on the L322 will lead to knocking and rumbling similar to cats eyes....

As for the EAS issue, i am sure we have a couple of members down your neck of the woods with the kit to help out.

If the Range Rover is a long term car for you...consider getting your own kit...the All Comms by RSW Solutions is by far the most cost effective....

Click to expand...

Hi Saint,

Once again thanks for your reply.

The fan blowers to work and air is blown out just the air never heats up. As I say the air con works fine.

Many thanks

I'm in Dover and have a rsw solutions fault reader if it helps. Final stage resistor is easy to change.

v8hotrodboy said:

I'm in Dover and have a rsw solutions fault reader if it helps. Final stage resistor is easy to change.

Click to expand...

Hi v8hotrodboy,

Many thanks for your reply.

That is great news, thank you very much.

Can I please ask the cost to use your equipment? Additionally, if it transpires to be that or something else do you know someone that could help replace the final stage resistor or whatever the problem/problems are?

Also TBH I am at the stage where it has been to 4 different garages about all the issues and either each tell me something different or have no clue at all. I really just need someone sensible that knows what they are talking about So far I have spent over £600 and no further forward/back to square one.

Many thanks again.

Colin

Ahhh....if the fans work then the FSR is most likely OK, but changing it out would be sensible just to be sure...

The next common cause on the L322 for drained battery is the front headlamp wipers not parking....

Mostly this is solved by taking the wipers off, cycle the motors by washing the windscreen then wait for them to park and then replace the blades in he correct place.

If that fails to solve the issue, time to get a meter out and remove fuses and place the meter across the terminals to find out which circuit the drain is on!

The All Comms is around US$300 so that's just over £220 odd....I have it and it is a great piece of kit...

Surprises me that 4 garages can't help, but you do need Land Rover biased diagnostic gear as generic readers aren't up to the job!

I trust you have tried the steering Lock to lock reset procedure if the battery has gone flat or too low??

The L322 has a steering angle sensor that the ABS system uses to determine steering inputs....when the battery level drops too low or the battery has been disconnected, you need to turn the steering lock hold for a seconds, the to other lock and hold, then back to centre so the Sensor and the ABS unit know the steering limits.

Until this is done you will get ABS/HDC/DSC and EAS faults on the message centre!

Saint.V8 said:

Ahhh....if the fans work then the FSR is most likely OK, but changing it out would be sensible just to be sure...

The next common cause on the L322 for drained battery is the front headlamp wipers not parking....

Mostly this is solved by taking the wipers off, cycle the motors by washing the windscreen then wait for them to park and then replace the blades in he correct place.

If that fails to solve the issue, time to get a meter out and remove fuses and place the meter across the terminals to find out which circuit the drain is on!

The All Comms is around US$300 so that's just over £220 odd....I have it and it is a great piece of kit...

Surprises me that 4 garages can't help, but you do need Land Rover biased diagnostic gear as generic readers aren't up to the job!

I trust you have tried the steering Lock to lock reset procedure if the battery has gone flat or too low??

The L322 has a steering angle sensor that the ABS system uses to determine steering inputs....when the battery level drops too low or the battery has been disconnected, you need to turn the steering lock hold for a seconds, the to other lock and hold, then back to centre so the Sensor and the ABS unit know the steering limits.

Until this is done you will get ABS/HDC/DSC and EAS faults on the message centre!

Click to expand...

Hi Saint

I will try those tips. Thanks.

I did try the steering tip a few weeks ago and that worked well but then the battery died again due to the drain and ever since then the steering tip of yours never worked again. The lights on the main control on the dash are not evening coming on now.

hmmm yes, all lights off does indicate a more serious fault!

the L322 has two failure modes for the EAS...Hard and Soft

Soft faults are when the system can determine height of the vehicle and it will try its best to maintain that height, the Hold light comes on on the selector switch and the system will level itself and try to remain at standard....this is usually caused by a faulty compressor, low air pressure or similar.

Hard faults are when the system cannot setect the current ride height with certainty or the system has a fault that will cause unstable ride control so it lowers the car to its lowest position and freezes the system or it can no longer maintain a set ride height....all lights off on this fault!

Diagnostics is the only way to see what the ECU thinks is the issue, lets hope we can get you hooked up to a correct machine and see what's wrong!

I've sent you a pm.

If you are stuck I'm in postcode ME3 but im away for a bit and only reading this on my phone but I'll have a read through this when I'm back
i also have all comms but if you are keeping the car you should get one