L322 Odd (intermittent) dash warnings

Morning, good people of LandyZone. My 2002 L322 Rangie 4.4 V8 Vogue has been acting strangely recently, throwing up errors on the dash whenever it feels like it.

I did some extensive Googling, the results of which (from this and other forums) overwhelmingly suggested my battery could be on the way out. So, I did the decent thing, and bought the biggest, meatiest battery the Rangie can take (I've been stung by under-spec batteries on other cars, so went belt and braces).

Fitted the new battery, did the steering "lock to lock fix" to turn the traction control light off, and everything seemed to be good... For about 2 hours.

She's back to her old tricks, displaying "HDC INACTIVE" and "AIR SUSP. INACTIVE" on the dash at random intervals. Sometimes, turning the car off, then on again makes the messages (and associated warning lights) go away. Sometimes restarting the car multiple times has no effect whatsoever.

I always know if the off-then-on trick will work, as the nose of the car will bob up and down (air suspension) and settle, once I've turned the engine off. If I turn the car back on at that point, the warnings will disappear... For a while. If the car doesn't settle on its suspension when I turn the ignition off, then I know the warnings will still be there upon restart. Frustratingly, there seems to be no rhyme nor reason to when this will work, or how often.

Even more strangely, sometimes, the warnings lights and messages go away of their own volition, whilst I am minding my own business, driving along. Other times, they don't.

I've noticed that I can provoke the errors to appear if I hit a speed bump at a decent speed, or if I drive down a rough dirt track, though sometimes the warnings will flash up when I'm driving at 30mph on billiard table-smooth tarmac.

Folks, I am stumped. Any and all advice gratefully received.

That would suggest a bad height sensor or wiring fault to me. (I'm a p38 man so don't know much about the l322 suspension)

Wazzajnr said:

That would suggest a bad height sensor or wiring fault to me. (I'm a p38 man so don't know much about the l322 suspension)

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Thanks for the reply. I get how a bad height sensor would throw up the "AIR SUSP. INACTIVE" message, but what about the "HDC INACTIVE" (Hill Descent Control) message?

I'm also willing to explore the "loose wire" theory (supported by the fact I can get the warnings to come up over rough ground/bumps), but have no idea where to look?

Does anyone know of a common place to start looking for this sort of thing? Otherwise, I'm just stumbling around like a bull in a china shop, wiggling wires as I find them! I can see that doing more harm than good.

Perhaps they are two different issues. Won't be the first time one problem has hidden another. For the air suspension, since you have the correct battery, I would agree on looking at the height sensors. The HDC , sorry, no idea where you would start, apart from a search around the site.
Good luck.

gold rover said:

Perhaps they are two different issues. Won't be the first time one problem has hidden another. For the air suspension, since you have the correct battery, I would agree on looking at the height sensors. The HDC , sorry, no idea where you would start, apart from a search around the site.
Good luck.

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Thanks for this. Height sensors sound like a good start. As the HDC & Air Suspension warnings come on (and go out) at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if they are related (i.e. fix one, and the other goes away).

I'll have a look around the site for posts/threads on height sensors for L322s. In the meantime, if anyone has specific advice on this, I would be very pleased to hear it.

Could be poor output from alternator ,upsetting electrics ,A new battery might cover it for a couple of hours ....

dubbleRR said:

Could be poor output from alternator ,upsetting electrics ,A new battery might cover it for a couple of hours ....

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I did consider this, but absolutely everything else is perfect - engine starts on the first turn (no struggling in any temperature), the lights don't dim when I put the heated seats on (dead giveaway, that one), and - miraculously for an L322, I know - it doesn't mind standing in an airport car park for a few days/weeks.

I think if the alternator was at fault, I'd be seeing more issues. Not least for the fact that I've replaced a perfectly good battery (which has been in situ for 2 years+) with a new one. Everything else in the car is 100% on point. It's literally just the random warnings, which I am starting to think is one (or more) of the height sensors - unless an L322 guru can advise otherwise.

Just to throw a curve ball in. Could there be a fault in your new battery.

OK, 2 things spring to mind.
1. Does hdc not have a link to the suspension? I.e. If the suspension is inactive, maybe hdc is disabled by default?
2. Is the hdc and eas ecu fed from the same fuse?
I would suggest getting some diagnostic on it to see what fault codes are stored. You could be hurling good money after bad otherwise.

Wazzajnr said:

OK, 2 things spring to mind.
1. Does hdc not have a link to the suspension? I.e. If the suspension is inactive, maybe hdc is disabled by default?
2. Is the hdc and eas ecu fed from the same fuse?
I would suggest getting some diagnostic on it to see what fault codes are stored. You could be hurling good money after bad otherwise.

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1) Not sure, but the faults appear at the same time, and disappear at the same time. I strongly suspect that if I fix one fault, the other will go away.
2) Pass. Definitely not a fuse issue, though - the fault is intermittent. Some of the time, the car works perfectly. If it were a fuse issue, it wouldn't work all of the time.

I'm going to get under the car to inspect the height sensor wiring at the weekend (if I get time!) Other forum posts suggest the cables and/or connectors could be at fault, rather than the sensors themselves.

gold rover said:

Just to throw a curve ball in. Could there be a fault in your new battery.

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With apologies for two posts in a row, I'm almost certain it's not a battery issue. The old battery was as perfect as the new one (i.e. neither batteries have a problem). I decided to replace the battery on the basis that I have no idea when the previous item was fitted (had no date codes on, annoyingly), and winter's coming.

On that note, anyone want to buy a perfectly good Land Rover branded battery for a Range Rover?

My thinking with the fuse was that it could be a bad connection in the fusebox. P38's are renowned for it, maybe the l322 is starting to show the same symptoms.

Wazzajnr said:

My thinking with the fuse was that it could be a bad connection in the fusebox. P38's are renowned for it, maybe the l322 is starting to show the same symptoms.

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Ah, good point! I will add fuse box to my list of things to check. Cheers.

When the EAS or the ABS system go into fault, the other system will fault too - as they share common data to control the attitude and stability of the car.

So if the EWAS faults, the HDC/ABS/DSC systems will also go into a fault mode....and vice versa, an ABS problem will cause the EAS to shutdown too.....

I would be looking at the ABS sensor wiring as these have been known to chaff on the inside rim of the wheel, then either when the steering is turned or the car goes over a bump or the suspension rises and falls etc, causes the chaffed wire to make intermittent contact and bring about the system faults.

A quick check on diagnostics might show any logged faults and would be another good place to start.

When I first bought my L322 it kept having odd EAS and ABS/HDC/DSC faults and it turned out to be an ABS sensor wire had been worn through.....

Also, there are known faults with the Steering Angle Sensor, and this too and bring up the exact same fault messages on the dash - but generally if it is that then the lock to lock reset when changing batteries would not have worked!

Saint.V8 said:

When the EAS or the ABS system go into fault, the other system will fault too - as they share common data to control the attitude and stability of the car.

So if the EWAS faults, the HDC/ABS/DSC systems will also go into a fault mode....and vice versa, an ABS problem will cause the EAS to shutdown too.....

I would be looking at the ABS sensor wiring as these have been known to chaff on the inside rim of the wheel, then either when the steering is turned or the car goes over a bump or the suspension rises and falls etc, causes the chaffed wire to make intermittent contact and bring about the system faults.

A quick check on diagnostics might show any logged faults and would be another good place to start.

When I first bought my L322 it kept having odd EAS and ABS/HDC/DSC faults and it turned out to be an ABS sensor wire had been worn through.....

Also, there are known faults with the Steering Angle Sensor, and this too and bring up the exact same fault messages on the dash - but generally if it is that then the lock to lock reset when changing batteries would not have worked!

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Hey, that was a good guess from me then that they're linked!
Good call on abs sensors, didn't think of that one!

Excellent advice and insight, Saint - thank you.

I'll set aside some time this weekend to have a proper look under the car/in the wheelarches for any tell-tale signs of damage.

Quick update:

As with all faults, I like to go for the cheapest/easiest fix first. With that in mind, I toddled off to Halfords, and spent all of £3.99 on an aerosol can of electrical contact cleaner.

Got the car up into off-road suspension mode (for better access under the wheelarches), turned the steering full lock left, and sprayed the front offside height control sensor with the contact cleaner. Did the same for the nearside front sensor. Once the contact cleaner had dried, I repeated the process... You know, for luck.

Turns out I'm a very lucky boy indeed. Took the car for a drive, hit several speed bumps faster than I usually would (which ALWAYS triggers the error). Nothing. Dashboard stayed resolutely unlit. No errors, no messages. Quick check of the air suspension control on the centre console. Also working.

Hit a few more speed bumps, including a particularly evil one that I know would definitely set the dash lights ablaze... Nothing.

Feeling brave, I then took the car to my favourite bit of local unmade road (the sort that would rip the exhaust off a regular car). Despite hitting it harder than I usually would (for testing purposes, obviously), still no errors. Happy doesn't cover it!

TL;DR - Fixed my Range Rover for less than four quid.

Saint.V8 said:

When the EAS or the ABS system go into fault, the other system will fault too - as they share common data to control the attitude and stability of the car.

So if the EWAS faults, the HDC/ABS/DSC systems will also go into a fault mode....and vice versa, an ABS problem will cause the EAS to shutdown too.....

I would be looking at the ABS sensor wiring as these have been known to chaff on the inside rim of the wheel, then either when the steering is turned or the car goes over a bump or the suspension rises and falls etc, causes the chaffed wire to make intermittent contact and bring about the system faults.

A quick check on diagnostics might show any logged faults and would be another good place to start.

When I first bought my L322 it kept having odd EAS and ABS/HDC/DSC faults and it turned out to be an ABS sensor wire had been worn through.....

Also, there are known faults with the Steering Angle Sensor, and this too and bring up the exact same fault messages on the dash - but generally if it is that then the lock to lock reset when changing batteries would not have worked!

Click to expand...

Good shout Saint, fingers crossed.