Freelander 1 Hill descent warning light

Hi all,

Hope someone might be able to help, I've had the amber hill decent light pop on a couple of times recently when out in the freelander. The car has no noticeable problems, drives fine when the light comes on and when I turn the ignition off and on again the warning light goes away.

It was quite a while between it appearing.

A few months ago I replaced the brake switch because it had the original one which had gone faulty. I've checked the wiring under the gear stick gaiter and I've checked the throttle cable if there is play a bit there is.

Anyone got any ideas? I read that maybe it could be the reverse switch? I'm not sure where that is and how to check it.

if you checked the cables of your hand break there is a gravity sensor right there next to the cables check you have not disturbed it.

If you put a code reader on it, it will tell you straight way exactly what the problem is.

The Rave manual will also tell you a list of possible reasons...

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/rave-disk-maintenance-manual.260227/

The gravity sensor is not on earlier cars - presumably it came in with the Tevez Mk20 or Mk25 - so 2000 or 2002.

Thanks for the input! I'll check out the Rave manual. I've not got access to a code reader at the moment but I'll put one on it when I can!

It's a 52 plate 1.8 by the way.

I plugged in my obd2 today, one fault code which doesn't seem relevant?


I think it was an old error because another app said it'd been there for 32k miles.

lewis.landy said:

I plugged in my obd2 today, one fault code which doesn't seem relevant?
View attachment 134055

I think it was an old error because another app said it'd been there for 32k miles.

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HDC faults won't show on a generic OBD2 reader. HDC faults are stored in the ABS ECU, which isn't part of the OBD2 protocol.
You'll need an LR specific reader to read and clear the ABS ECU.

HDC fault on a 1.8 can be the throttle cable too tight at the throttle position sensor. Have you adjusted the tension recently? Even if not it might be worth slackening it a turn or two.
Sound crazy but I caused the fault by tightening my throttle cable and had to slacken it again. The light only came on a few seconds after starting driving.

Hi!

Thanks for the responses, that's a shame my new obd2 thing can't find the error. @Alibro I have had a look at the end of the throttle cable and there is certainly slack there, I'll try adding some more.

The first time this happened was pulling away from traffic lights and the most recent was pulling away from a roundabout but both were mid journey after driving say 5 miles?

Could be first gear or reverse gear switch not working correctly

At @td4van I think I'll try slackening the throttle and if it comes on again I'll replace the throttle position sensor followed by the reverse and 1st switch if it repeats.

My logic to that is the sensors will probably cost me less to replace than paying for diagnostics.

lewis.landy said:

At @td4van I think I'll try slackening the throttle and if it comes on again I'll replace the throttle position sensor followed by the reverse and 1st switch if it repeats.

My logic to that is the sensors will probably cost me less to replace than paying for diagnostics.

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A diagnostic device that reads most modules is about £90. That's not many sensors, if reasonable quality sensors are being bought.

I thought the more professional readers would be a lot more than that! I'm thinking about replacing my parts with second hand scrappy parts, for diagnostics if nothing else.

Long term though a fancy diagnostics bit of kit could be useful! Would you recommend any particular manufacturers @Nodge68?

lewis.landy said:

I thought the more professional readers would be a lot more than that! I'm thinking about replacing my parts with second hand scrappy parts, for diagnostics if nothing else.

Long term though a fancy diagnostics bit of kit could be useful! Would you recommend any particular manufacturers @Nodge68?

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The Hawkeye is about the best hand held, semi-professional diagnostic tool for the earlier LRs with a simple K line communication bus.

You can get a rudimentary reader called the Icarsoft I930 for LRs, including the FL1. While far from perfect, it does what most user's need, for about £90. Strangely it doesn't communicate with the auto's TCM, or the facelift dash. Otherwise it links to, reads and clears all other modules fitted.

lewis.landy said:

Hi!

Thanks for the responses, that's a shame my new obd2 thing can't find the error. @Alibro I have had a look at the end of the throttle cable and there is certainly slack there, I'll try adding some more.

The first time this happened was pulling away from traffic lights and the most recent was pulling away from a roundabout but both were mid journey after driving say 5 miles?

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Make sure there is more slack than you think it needs. There's every chance the problem is something else but adding a bit of slack is your cheapest easiest first step.

Thanks again for the responses @Nodge68 and @Alibro, I slackened off the throttle cable this morning however the warning light pinged on again after say 12 miles, I was driving along straight road on this occasion in 5th and I'm pretty sure there is more than 10mm pedal movement before throttle engagement.

At @Nodge68 funny you mentioned k-line diagnostics, Ive got a obd2 somewhere which was able to read k-line system on my Fiat punto to diagnose an air bag error, I bridged two pins on the connector to do this. Do you think there is any chance this might work with the freelander?

lewis.landy said:

Thanks again for the responses @Nodge68 and @Alibro, I slackened off the throttle cable this morning however the warning light pinged on again after say 12 miles, I was driving along straight road on this occasion in 5th and I'm pretty sure there is more than 10mm pedal movement before throttle engagement.

At @Nodge68 funny you mentioned k-line diagnostics, Ive got a obd2 somewhere which was able to read k-line system on my Fiat punto to diagnose an air bag error, I bridged two pins on the connector to do this. Do you think there is any chance this might work with the freelander?

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Oh well, it was worth a try. I had a car a while ago where the HDC light came on and stayed on all the time. I never got to the bottom of it and as it wasn't causing any other issue I'm afraid I repaired it with magic warning light sticky tape.
It only took a few minutes to get the dash out and was a simple job to blank out the light with black insulating tape.

Could be a faulty ABS sensor or two but as said you need the codes reading.

My attempt at reading it was useless! I might pop scrapyard and see what I can get!

Reverse light switch can be checked easily - see if the lights come on when selecting reverse with ignition on, engine off

td4van said:

Reverse light switch can be checked easily - see if the lights come on when selecting reverse with ignition on, engine off

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Won't be anything wrong with mine then because the lights and wiper comes on each time I pop reverse on. Thanks for the info. Can the 1st and reverse switch be tempermental?

I think before I swap out any sensors I'll first try cleaning inside the throttle body where the valve open and closes.