P38 ECU problems?

Hello All,

Hope someone here might be able to either expel a myth or confirm a problem.

Recently my P38 had a hissy fit and dropped it's back end to the floor and informed me I had an error in my air suspension, i bought the lead and downloaded the software to clear this but as soon as the lead was unplugged the error message came back up. I then bought the manual inflation kit and this works fine although no adjustable ride heights while traveling.

Last week my heater blower decided to take a holiday from working to so I had it taken down to the LR main dealer to diagnose the errors and clean out the computer, they responded by saying the suspension error comes back when they unplug the lead and the heater blower isn't responding.

Prices quoted are:

Air Suspension - they implied that one ECU is not communicating with another ECU so replace both for £2,000 plus though this still wouldn't guarantee the suspension would be fixed.

Heater Blower - Apparently there is a block of three "things" tucked away somewhere behind the dashboard, it is likely one of them or more is not working and needs to be replaced, cost for "things" £300 cost for repair £2,000 as they need to take out the whole dashboard.

They did offer to do me a continuity test on my ECU's to see if a wire is down but then amazingly said this alone could cost a lot as there are 120 plus wires to test, I did ask if that to was £2,000 and received a dirty look.

My question here is has any one else experienced cascading electrical failures of this nature and what is it likely to be, where is the best place to get replacement parts and are there any mobile RR specialists that work in or around east London that would be interested in taking on the job.

I thank you all in advance of any help or advise you can offer.

Iain.

many posts on this type of subject and it can be down to poor connections to the becm(under drivers seat) check all connections including earths and battery connections, check battery health too!

the 3 things are blend motors and can be done without taking out the dash, taking the dash out is the text book method!!

Hi Iain

Air suspension:

2 ECUs for the air suspension is news to me, I can only assume, especially given the price, that LR are suggesting the BECM is faulty. Don't really buy this thought.

Definitely check all the earthing points, RAVE (the workshop manual on CD - people are offering this on this forum FOC I think or Ebay is where I got mine for about £3) lists with pretty little pictures all the earthing points. Dirt and corrosion wreak havoc with the electronics.

Also check the connections to the EAS ECU and BECM, but don't unplug anything unless you have disconnected the battery (make sure you know your radio code). You could unplug and replug each connector in turn.

Finally it may well be worth servicing the valve block although I would do all the electrical checks first. I am assuming it dropped both back springs? If so, this sounds less like an air fault and more like an electrical fault to me.

Blend Motors[
Not done this myself, but lots of people do change these without dash removal, LR will only take the whole dash out though. Instructions for doing the job must be on the internet somewhere.

Best of luck
Andy

This sounds typical of a main dealer who has no techs old enough to remember P38's,so they just quote a "parts shotgun" price that would cover just about anything.The eas ecu does comunicate through the becm,but its very unlikely there is anything wrong with either.
The blend motors as already said come as a set of 3,I only ever replace what is not working and charge accordingly.The dash does not need to come out,left hand side needs the SRS bag out,right needs instrument pack.Both need the Hevac ecu/centre switch panel taking out.
The eas rarely needs more than a couple of hours to diagnose and does not cost 2k to repair - many parts can be rebuilt or s/hand parts used.The blowers not working could be any of several things,the most expensive likelehood being the engine compartment fusebox,which could also be helping some of the other issues too.

Whats your location mate,it helps to put this as there maybe some one near you that can help...

What fault did the EAS show up?

Thanks everyone,

At least it doesn't sound to be some major cascading electrical explosion, like I said if there is any RR mechanics that travel around the east London area I am in Walthamstow E17 so if that is in your catchment and you would like to take on the job to correctly diagnose and repair these faults then please do drop me an email.

The dashboard just showed up as an EAS Fault if thats any extra help and now it shows as Slow 35MHP Max.

Thanks again and I look forward to hearing from someone who can help out.

Iain

IRC1968 said:

Thanks everyone,

At least it doesn't sound to be some major cascading electrical explosion, like I said if there is any RR mechanics that travel around the east London area I am in Walthamstow E17 so if that is in your catchment and you would like to take on the job to correctly diagnose and repair these faults then please do drop me an email.

The dashboard just showed up as an EAS Fault if thats any extra help and now it shows as Slow 35MHP Max.

Thanks again and I look forward to hearing from someone who can help out.

Iain

Click to expand...

I shall be up the smoke on Sat to see Eric Clapton play at the Royal Albert Hall,but I wont be doing any work there !
Bring it down to Bath and I'll sort it for you tho.

might post mine off to bath, will it come back all shiney 8 ina v? and of course working like it should??? lol!!!

Working,yes of course.Shiny, no - dont do car cleaning.

damn mechanics, dont want work these days!!! lol!!!

just got to find a jiffy bag big enough to get the rangey in!!!

You said you downloaded the EAS unlock tool. I thought this was able to read the fault code. Do that again and come back to us with the fault code.

Hi get it into a good specialist

Hi Iain

When you plug your EAS diagnostics in, what fault comes up?

Thanks
Andy

Hi IRC

Have you fixed it?

Andy