Electric issues + clueless girl. Help!

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Rachel jane

Rachel jane

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Posts
17
Location
Colwyn bay
My freelander 2 recently cost me £1621 in electrical repairs that don't seem to have worked! Wanted to see if anyone has had a similar issue before I pay for more guess work.

When I put the fob in the ignition, all electrics work fine. Clutch down, start button pressed and nothing. All electrics go off and you can hear the fuse box making a ticking noise.

I was advised it could be my key, so bought a new one. Nothing.

I was then advised that I needed a new ECU. This seems to have solved the problem for all of 3 weeks and now back to square one.

The radio never remembers any stations, could all of this be linked to an earth problem?

Someone please help :(
 
Last edited:
AdamD1 said:
With a bill like that I'd be going back to the garage and making it thier problem!
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Seconded. Paid for on a credit card in whole or part? You can make it the card company problem as well. Any service has to be up to acceptable standard and fixing a car is a service.
 
Paid for in full on debit card. I initially thought the same but at no point was I told it would fix the car. I was told these were good places to start as the problem couldn't be found.

The diagnostic report brought up 2 pages of errors :confused:

I've been told electrical problem are common in the car so just wanted to see if anyone had had anything similar.
 
Rachel jane said:
Paid for in full on debit card. I initially thought the same but at no point was I told it would fix the car. I was told these were good places to start as the problem couldn't be found.

The diagnostic report brought up 2 pages of errors :confused:

I've been told electrical problem are common in the car so just wanted to see if anyone had had anything similar.
Click to expand...

Try getting a code reader, no idea how much for a freelander, but I just bought one for my Ford for £39.95. Then you can read the errors, and clear them yourself, and get any underlying issues fixed.
 
Rachel jane said:
I have the report if that's any use?
Click to expand...

You need to clear the codes with the unit. There may not be any issues, sometimes the errors just build up and confuse the system. There may be one or more issues repeating themselves in the computers.
Wait until one of the freebie boys that are good with this stuff come back, they will tell you about it. But a code reader is a good investment if you have a modern car, they are heavily dependent on electronics to function.
 
I think you may be on to something with the fact that your radio is losing its memory. Do your other Elec faults coincide with your radio faults. Check your earths, or even run new or additional ones. Also make sure your garage are aware of this.
 
Rachel jane said:
£1621 in electrical repair
Click to expand...

:eek::eek::eek: You could have bought a whole FL1 for that!

Rachel jane said:
could all of this be linked to an earth problem?
Click to expand...

Electrics failing on start, clicking fuse box and radio forgetting stations suggest severe battery voltage drop, often due to a short. Has the starter motor and its wiring been checked?

EDIT: And yes, it could be an earth problem. You may want to find a mechanic who's actually good at diagnostics, rather than the "plug in computer and replace any sensor with a code" brigade. An engine computer is a stupid circuit board that can only see voltages, and post pre-set codes if they're off its map. Our FL1 was setting ABS codes on start-up, but it was a poor earth from gearbox to battery -ve that was the problem. A test light found the problem, a wire brush fixed it.

As for the many codes, these might be the various control units panicking under low voltage. Can you post them?
 
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sorry to hear of the problems you've been having

agree in what the other guys have said

did the garage give u any form of warranty as that's a serious amount of money , making matters worse by it still being faulty

as the others have said plse post up the codes , they do indeed build up like a history file, they need clearing then see what codes come back up , will give u a good indication of current faults

code readers range from £30 to £400 , they pay for themselves very quickly, saving u a garage visit that on average will charge u £100 each time

does sound like an earth issue, or could be a bad battery , / alternator but with these landies it's guess work without the codes
 
also just a thought @Rachel jane

do u have any of these faults below , if so, u need an extra earth lead from the battery to gearbox bolt by the starter motor ,

faults ??

Wipers doing single sweep when hitting start button
Engine turning over very very slowly on cold starts ! only just magaes to turn over !
message centre reporting faults on start up
1 engine reduced power
2 HDC disabled
3 ABS fault

Interior fan running speed varying when wipers on and making irritating whine and whistle
Radio changing stations
Autobox sometimes slurring on gearchange, especially 3rd
Autobox sometimes going into lock up at 70 + instead of 60 even on light throttle settings
Windows loosing self park position
air cons fan speed controller continually burning out ! now on my 3rd!
Turbo numerous faults ! but fine since fix
wipers and auto H/lamps law unto themselves !
 
Madmustang said:
WTF! :eek:
http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rig...rvice-from-a-car-repairs-garage-what-can-i-do
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Hmmm. Not sure about that.

If they replaced that ECU (I'm assuming they did, given the catastrophic bill) and it wasn't faulty, can you demand they put the old one back, and refund the cost?

Ideally, you'd take the car to another garage, find a simple fault, then claim the first place overcharged you by farting around with ECUs and presumably many other, expensive, parts.

Not sure. We need a proper legal beagle on this - @NoDosh for example.
 
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I think you need to be a bit careful with code readers. When you have issues such as earth faults etc you will get all sorts of rogue codes. If I have electrical faults I rely on checking the basics and common sense. My multimeter comes out way before my code reader,
Unfortunately a lot of garages use the method of randomly changing expensive parts until the fault goes away.
DO NOT EXCEPT THIS RACHEL AND TRY TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK.
 
Sadly most garages cover themselves by putting forward their opinion of what work/parts is required in the first instance to attempt repair of your car. This isn't a guaranteed fix, it's what they suggest. They then get you to agree to their suggestion on the basis it's an attempted fix. If you agree to allow them to carry out that suggestion then you have done so on that basis.

If the garage have worked on your car and it solved the problem (you drove it away) only for it to return... the first thing you should do is contact them to see if they will take it back to have a look at it for free, or if they're prepared to look at it under any warranty they may have offered on the repair. See what their response is and take it from there.

An alternative is to take it to a main dealer for diagnostic and non intrusive inspection to see what their option is. They will do a fixed cost option of something like £110+vat. You can then walk away (whilst pushing yer hippo) with their opinion. Peeps on ere don't generally like main dealers (I haven't always got along too well with mine after they broke ma hippo) but they do see a lot of LR products with all sorts of faults. On occasion that includes Freelanders.
 
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K14 said:
I think you need to be a bit careful with code readers. When you have issues such as earth faults etc you will get all sorts of rogue codes. If I have electrical faults I rely on checking the basics and common sense. My multimeter comes out way before my code reader,
Unfortunately a lot of garages use the method of randomly changing expensive parts until the fault goes away.
DO NOT EXCEPT THIS RACHEL AND TRY TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK.
Click to expand...

i agree regarding bogus codes if the battery is low, mine won't work if it's below 12 volts and instrument panel will light up like a xmas tree, new battery fitted and virtually every fault disappeared

the U codes can normally just be ignored

due to the complexity of the more modern land rovers i ended up buying a decent one, Gap iid, be it expensive , it paid for itself very quickly , seeing dealers want £120 to just plug it in

don't get me wrong i understand where ur coming from , it it also depends how mechanically the individual are , not knowing how to check voltages , residuals etc and have to rely on a garage

horrified that so much money has been spent out yet the poor op has been left with a vehicle that still shows errors , absolutely disgusting and like all of us , winds me up beyond belief and hope they resolve the issue along with money back

so many garages are just part changers until they get it right , at the expense of the poor owner

could always name and shame them so others know what there like

think a second opinion would be the best thing to do, from land rover themselves with a print out to show the original garage
 
Hippo said:
Sadly most garages cover themselves by putting forward their opinion of what work/parts is required in the first instance to attempt repair of your car. This isn't a guaranteed fix, it's what they suggest. They then get you to agree to their suggestion on the basis it's an attempted fix. If you agree to allow them to carry out that suggestion then you have done so on that basis.

If the garage have worked on your car and it solved the problem (you drove it away) only for it to return... the first thing you should do is contact them to see if they will take it back to have a look at it for free, or if they're prepared to look at it under any warranty they may have offered on the repair. See what their response is and take it from there.

An alternative is to take it to a main dealer for diagnostic and non intrusive inspection to see what their option is. They will do a fixed cost option of something like £110+vat. You can then walk away (whilst pushing yer hippo) with their opinion. Peeps on ere don't generally like main dealers (I haven't always got along too well with mine after they broke ma hippo) but they do see a lot of LR products with all sorts of faults. On occasion that includes Freelander.
Click to expand...

my local dealer charges £120 inc vat for a diagnostic readout these days

there does seem to be some serious lacking of actual expertise these days from some garages , glorified part changers .

totally agree regarding in getting the codes read by a land rover dealer, with the print out that can at least be presented to the original garage , or wait till they inspect it and see if they come up with the same conclusion of the dealer

would have thought after spending out some £1600 quid there's a warranty , any decent garage would at least give a time on there work , otherwise it's the attitude of bodget and scarper

have been reading regarding the earth strap that can sometimes cause issues , where an extra one is installed , but with all due respect ur considerably more knowledgeable when it comes to this model :D
 
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