Freelander 1 HDC Failure Light and Auto Box Concerns

Hello All,

My wifes 2002 Td4 Automatic Freelander has got a new fault ready for new year.

Yesterday evening the HDC Amber Failure Light came on and would not go out, unless turning off the engine and then restarting, only for it come back on a short while after.

Today on the way to work she also had this interesting issue with the automatic gearbox. Where it has the red gearbox numbers next to the auto gear lever, the red light would be on parked instead of drive and was driving fine, also on the odometer, it kept flashing F and then to 4 and then it went 0 rather than the usual D.

Again it drove fine, but obviously we are concerned. I will plug it in to the Lynx system tomorrow when we are both home, but just asking if anyone has had similar issues for now.

Thanks and happy new year to all.

Nigel

The box F4 is the ECU registering a fault. Diagnostic is the best way to find that one. HDC could be related to the box F4. If the throttle position sensor is failing. It could potentially generate both faults.

As Nodge says, diagnostics is the way to go.

F4 hasn't been reported for a while, but it is a common thing. I just did a search on it and there's lots of hits mentioning HDC as well. Rave has a list of possible faults given the combination of 3 Amigo fault lights, and I don't think there's that many for just HDC - but again, diagnostics is the way forward.

Many thanks, I will plug it in toy Lynx system tomorrow and report back what comes up. Have to look up what F4 is, not heard that one before.

1997 Discovery said:

Many thanks, I will plug it in toy Lynx system tomorrow and report back what comes up. Have to look up what F4 is, not heard that one before.

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F4 is a MIL warning for the box. Anything that is outside of normal parameters can show F4 on the LCD

Does the Td4 have the barrel connector (like the V6) that causes these sorts of issues or am I mis-remembering?

davidsmith1307 said:

Does the Td4 have the barrel connector (like the V6) that causes these sorts of issues or am I mis-remembering?

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Yes it has the barrel connectors, what a fantastic piece of engineering they are(not).
F4 can cover a host of problems. Some of which are nothing to do with the autobox, but as it's on the same canbus as the autobox it throws the fault.
Possibilities are,
Cable out of alignment for selector.
Abs system has thrown a wobbler and needs the faults clearing.
Bad earth, usually the one on top of the autobox, remove the battery tray to access.
Barrel connectors!! Hanging down in front of the autobox. Disconnect, blast with contact cleaner, reconnect.
Your dash binnacle has a loose connection. There's 2 multiplugs on the back, you have to take the top cover off to access.
Your dash binnacle is foobar'd, mine died on me, that was fun!

But first of all, get the fault codes. It could be something else

Mike

Interesting problem.

When yer move the auto gear lever it moves a cable linked to the bottom of yer auto. This connects to a rod that goes through the auto to the top of it, to the position selector/inhibitor switch. Moving the gear lever moves the selector/inhibitor switch. The position of the switch tells both the auto's computer and the LED's by the gear lever what switch position the gear lever is in.

If yer turn on the electric's only and move the auto gear lever to different positions the LED's by the lever should read correct, regardless of what the auto's computer reads from the same signals. If the LED's are wrong then there's a problem with the switch, the wiring harness carrying these signals or the barrel connector (smaller one) which carries the selector/inhibitor switch circuit.

In the background the auto's computer senses the position of the auto gear lever via sensors by the lever. If they don't match the signal from the selector/inhibitor switch then yer get errors like "…gear implausibility…" which means what it's seeing int possible. Like being told it's in D and R at the same time fer eggsample. This I would eggspect to be the cause of yer F4 flashing.

It's unusual for it to be driving ok with these sorts of issues. The auto's computer must have conditioned the info it's given and made the best of what it has been given by the selector/inhibitor and the sensors around the level. From this it's realised things are sort of ok and is able to manage to drive it as normal.

Update - well Helen drove home last night and again freelander drove fine but this time with no strange happenings. I took the car out this morning and all is find to. Did plug the lynx in and these are the following codes for the automatic gearbox and abs.

The P0705 is your issue - and it's as Hippo described above

Issue is related to the check between the mechanical level position and the indicator on the LED being different

Need to check what the ECU is seeing when - suspect you may need a.new gear position sensor under the shifter but you'll need to do basic checks first to determine what is/isn't working correctly

There's a special LR tool to align the inhibitor switch. It also tells you in the Haynes manual how to make one!
Could be as simple as realignment.
Fingers crossed.
Mike

I have a read in the Haynes manual.

As it's all working now without doing a thing I will leave it for now. Though if it happens again I Hope it's an easy fix and one that is easy to get to

Clear the error codes if yer haven't already and see if it happens again.

Yep. Did that, just wait and see now

Hi there, did you ever fix this fault on the wife's Freelander? I have the same fault!

Never did it again since, though the indicator with the red light next to the gear lever I did change, as the bulb went dead. Also for the past six months been driving the car without a reverse gear, as it just revs like in neutral when it’s selected, the cost of the repairs is more than a 160k mileage freelander is worth I feel