L322 Electrical Problem

Good evening all.

My wife's 2006 diesel has developed a couple of problems recently and I'm curious as to whether anyone else has experience anything similar.

The first problem was "suspension fault" on the dash. Suspension operates perfectly fine still.

Second fault which came a fortnight later is the battery light is constantly on.

After this I had a friend of a friend who works in Landrover check it over ov various copuntets and all is as it should be, bar the warning lights. Alternator and battery are charging as they should.

Tonight I noticed that the electrics displayed on the clocks/speedo cluster don't kick in till just after the car is started.

So no glow plug light, nothing. The car is running for a few seconds before the rev counter kicks in etc. the dash lights up like a normal starting procedure but delayed.

Many thanks in advance

Bad connections or alternator. Need to get the faults read and look at live data.

Thanks mate. Car ended up not starting today. AA checked everything common then as a last resort put jump leads on and it fired up. Drove him with no speedo/fuel gauge/revs/heater controls/suspension controls. Range and cruise and indicators worked. Got back, left it running for 5 mins and it cut out and won't start.

Alternator and battery were charging fine, battery was slightly under at 11.5

Nightmare

gavinski said:

Thanks mate. Car ended up not starting today. AA checked everything common then as a last resort put jump leads on and it fired up. Drove him with no speedo/fuel gauge/revs/heater controls/suspension controls. Range and cruise and indicators worked. Got back, left it running for 5 mins and it cut out and won't start.

Alternator and battery were charging fine, battery was slightly under at 11.5

Nightmare

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Battery at 11.5 is a flat battery, almost certainly from your description your alternator is stuffed and or the battery. If it cut out while running, that means no charge to the battery. worth checking the connections i suppose.

Did he check the charge rate actually on the battery posts? Cos modern cars often have a fuse between the alternator and the battery! The alternator may well be charging but the power doesn't get as far as the battery to charge it? Hence it has the light on but looks like its charging! Never looked at one of these but it's not uncommon. Often happens when they are incorrectly jump started etc. just a thought

Diesel Do said:

Did he check the charge rate actually on the battery posts? Cos modern cars often have a fuse between the alternator and the battery! The alternator may well be charging but the power doesn't get as far as the battery to charge it? Hence it has the light on but looks like its charging! Never looked at one of these but it's not uncommon. Often happens when they are incorrectly jump started etc. just a thought

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That's a new one on me Must be a fecking great fuse like the one I have on my Tranny to the Anderson connector for the jump start circuit.

I don't know if they do have one! I'm ex Mercedes some of them do and yes they are about that size and very well hidden, it's a whacking great big fusible link! just a suggestion cos its odd that two people say its charging!?

L322 has a number of fuseable links in the engine bay electrical housing. The battery feeds these before the fuseboxes. Downlaod a copy of RAVE from HERE.

All wiring diagrams are in there.

Just realised yours in an 06. The Rave manual is to 04 only. May help tho.

It was the battery itself he checked.

It's almost like gremlins the car has.

Steering was heavier than normal once he got it started, steering wheel still moved in and out when i took the key out.

After starting the fan speed was working then the whole centre console stopped working apart from the clock.

The sat nav etc has never stopped working.

Cranking speed seems perfect.

I have to hit the lock button twice to get the car to lock, strange.

He said fuel was getting up to the pump fine but as soon as I cranked it, it was stopping.

With the battery light having been on for a good few days you would guess it was all related.

When it died whilst running, I tried jump leads connected to a 530d E60 but no joy.

(apologies for my spelling in the initial post, good old iPhone)

Daft question, but are you sure the battery's ok. They can at times give all sorts of trouble. Sorry but on Mercs again, some models if the battery is weak, or they saved money and put a small one on, they'll crank and start ok but the battery voltage drops so low a lot of the control units don't boot up properly and alsorts of things don't work. I would imagine (guess) that the battery light is computer controlled on one of those? So could be just another ECU not functioning properly? You really need someone that knows them inside out. They're too technical to keep stabbing in the dark.

Does it spin over ok when you jump it?

Had a few simular problems 3 months ago on my 2006 vogue.
turned out to be the ignition key switch was on its way out.
it was getting 14 volts but only passing 9 volts, thus throwing up allsorts of electrical gremlins.

good luck

Thanks mate, turned out today that's exactly what the problem was, faulty ignition switch, had it bridged/bypassed (not sure what Greg done) and it started up perfectly. Hopefully going to be a very cheap repair. New part ordered

Thank f"@&

gavinski said:

Thanks mate, turned out today that's exactly what the problem was, faulty ignition switch, had it bridged/bypassed (not sure what Greg done) and it started up perfectly. Hopefully going to be a very cheap repair. New part ordered

Thank f"@&

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Nice one

Every now and again I get it rite
Lol

Be proud haha.

Thankfully it's cured the battery light and suspension fault lights.

I feel bad for saying I was selling it haha

sorry to resurrect this post but can you tell me how you tested the ignition switch an wat you did to repair it exactly please ?

sestorious said:

sorry to resurrect this post but can you tell me how you tested the ignition switch an wat you did to repair it exactly please ?

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Removed switch from centre console!
Tested live side! 12 to 14 volts
Tested feed side! Only getting 9 volts!
Air suspension ECM does not like 9 volts? It wants 12 volts or it throws wobblers

Bought a new switch!
That fixed it

Cheers mate ! Does renewing your ignition switch mean you need a new key and it programming ?