Freelander 2 (LR2) Adding auto headlights & wipers?

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sergeantsodom

sergeantsodom

New Member
Posts
7
Hi folks,

Is it possible to add auto wipers and lights to a freely 2 that doesnt have then as stock?

I have just bought a 2013 fr2 GS which to my surprise didnt come with auto lights or wipers, after coming from my past 4 vehicles having this, its something I didnt think id miss this much u till you dont have it.

Can you buy the stalk and sensing parts and just add them in, or is it a PITA job or having to source wiring looms and taking the dash apart etc?

I'd imagine If it was an extra back in the day, LR would've made it easier on themselves by just making them plug and play, but the cynical part of me says 'probably not'

Ta

John
 
I wouldn't bother with the auto wipers cos they are rubbish.

What's worse, you don't have an intermittent setting so you are constantly faffing around - double trouble.

Auto lights are good, just leave them on auto and forget about ever having to do anything with the lights. *1 *2

*3


Notes:
*1 : Unless the Mrs uses it and by some miraculous power, the main beam is always switched on when she leaves it.

*2 : Unless you have a bulb out, then its best to turn them off even in dusk.

*3 : I don't know if you can enable them, but if you can configure the wiper system to change from auto to intermittent, I'd love to know how.
 
GrumpyGel said:
I wouldn't bother with the auto wipers cos they are rubbish.

What's worse, you don't have an intermittent setting so you are constantly faffing around - double trouble.

Auto lights are good, just leave them on auto and forget about ever having to do anything with the lights. *1 *2

*3


Notes:
*1 : Unless the Mrs uses it and by some miraculous power, the main beam is always switched on when she leaves it.

*2 : Unless you have a bulb out, then its best to turn them off even in dusk.

*3 : I don't know if you can enable them, but if you can configure the wiper system to change from auto to intermittent, I'd love to know how.
Click to expand...
*1 is magic, and seems to be installed in every F2 😵‍💫

Auto lights are great, but, as every car, they still struggle to sense fog during the day, and so many people forget to override and switch their lights on. (That’s not LR specific of course).

Still don’t think you can retrofit these though.
 
Freddie17 said:
*1 is magic, and seems to be installed in every F2 😵‍💫

Auto lights are great, but, as every car, they still struggle to sense fog during the day, and so many people forget to override and switch their lights on. (That’s not LR specific of course).

Still don’t think you can retrofit these though.
Click to expand...
For the wipers there is no physical bit that is different, the switch has a position between off and on slow and there is a variable lever - so I would imagine there is a config that can set that position to either intermittent or auto. Whether it is changeable once set, you'd hope so.

The lights I imagine are different as presumably on a car without auto, there is no position on the light switch for it - just off, side and dipped/main. It would be brilliant if simply replacing the switch (presume they are the same dimensions etc) would enable auto simply by the can message being sent.

If you were someone clever, like @Alibro , you might be able to sniff the can messages on an auto lights enabled car to see what is sent when auto is selected and then replicate that on a non auto enabled car and see if it works!
 
GrumpyGel said:
For the wipers there is no physical bit that is different, the switch has a position between off and on slow and there is a variable lever - so I would imagine there is a config that can set that position to either intermittent or auto. Whether it is changeable once set, you'd hope so.

The lights I imagine are different as presumably on a car without auto, there is no position on the light switch for it - just off, side and dipped/main. It would be brilliant if simply replacing the switch (presume they are the same dimensions etc) would enable auto simply by the can message being sent.

If you were someone clever, like @Alibro , you might be able to sniff the can messages on an auto lights enabled car to see what is sent when auto is selected and then replicate that on a non auto enabled car and see if it works!
Click to expand...
Fink there is a ‘rain sensor’ in the windscreen…?
 
On the D3 with the GAP tool you can switch off auto lights and auto wipers, both things that annoy me.
So I would assume it is the same with the fl?
 
GrumpyGel said:
I wouldn't bother with the auto wipers cos they are rubbish.

What's worse, you don't have an intermittent setting so you are constantly faffing around - double trouble.

Auto lights are good, just leave them on auto and forget about ever having to do anything with the lights. *1 *2

*3


Notes:
*1 : Unless the Mrs uses it and by some miraculous power, the main beam is always switched on when she leaves it.

*2 : Unless you have a bulb out, then its best to turn them off even in dusk.

*3 : I don't know if you can enable them, but if you can configure the wiper system to change from auto to intermittent, I'd love to know how.
Click to expand...
Thanks as always fella, do we know if the auto lights are literally just a change of stalk and adding the sensor?

I read up somewhere you can add an intermittent function with the wipers, but I just dont know enough about this car yet to know how that would work, I see stalks with 'intermittent' on them but unsure if this actually means intermittent
 
My wife's Ford Kuga has an oddity with the lights. With the car running and the lights on if I push the start/stop button the engine keeps running until I turn off the lights then the engine turns off too. It's been like that since we bought it 4 or 5 years ago.
Caused a great deal of confusion and a phone call to the previous owner when we first got it home.
 
sergeantsodom said:
Thanks as always fella, do we know if the auto lights are literally just a change of stalk and adding the sensor?

I read up somewhere you can add an intermittent function with the wipers, but I just dont know enough about this car yet to know how that would work, I see stalks with 'intermittent' on them but unsure if this actually means intermittent
Click to expand...
In a word, no.
To elaborate. It is technically possible to retrofit the auto wipers and headlights, but it's not easy as the wiring needed isn't fitted if the vehicle didn't leave the production line with the options. I believe only that base models didn't come with these things as standard, so it'll also be missing lots of other bits of kit, which makes things more complicated with coding additional features. Basically the various modules need to fooled into seeing new equipment, but if have the kit isn't installed at the same time, the coding won't work.

No you can't just fit the stalks and light switch, as the lights and wipers are controlled by the BCM, so that needs to be told these things are now fitted, or it's likely the lights and wipers will stop working altogether.

If those features are really needed, then it's much easier and probably cheaper to simply buy a suitably equipped vehicle.
 
Last edited:
lynall said:
On the D3 with the GAP tool you can switch off auto lights and auto wipers, both things that annoy me.
So I would assume it is the same with the fl?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately the GAP tool for the FL2 doesn't have anything like the functionality of the D3 program. Apparently the software between the FL2 and D3 are massively different, so GAP didn't do more than some basic functions on the FL2.
It can disable some fitted features, but can't program features that never existed in the vehicle.
 
Nodge68 said:
In a word, no.
To elaborate. It is technically possible to retrofit the auto wipers and headlights, but it's not easy as the wiring needed isn't fitted if the vehicle didn't leave the production line with the options. I believe only that base models didn't come with these things as standard, so it'll also be missing lots of other bits of kit, which makes things more complicated with coding additional features. Basically the various modules need to fooled into seeing new equipment, but if have the kit isn't installed at the same time, the coding won't work.

No you can't just fit the stalks and light switch, as the lights and wipers are controlled by the BCM, so that needs to be told these things are now fitted, or it's likely the lights and wipers will stop working altogether.

If those features are really needed, then it's much easier and probably cheaper to simply buy a suitably equipped vehicle.
Click to expand...
Star thanks a lot for that, assuming that would involve swapping out the BCM from say a HSE (if its even as simple as that, which i assume not) but then I assume if it cant see all the other features like fog lights etc as mine doesnt have them either, then it would just be constsntly throwing up errors

I think I'll leave it in that case, its not too much effort I just keep forgetting the turn the bloody things on when its dark and im on lit roads 🤣
 
sergeantsodom said:
Star thanks a lot for that, assuming that would involve swapping out the BCM from say a HSE (if its even as simple as that, which i assume not) but then I assume if it cant see all the other features like fog lights etc as mine doesnt have them either, then it would just be constsntly throwing up errors

I think I'll leave it in that case, its not too much effort I just keep forgetting the turn the bloody things on when its dark and im on lit roads 🤣
Click to expand...
You've got it. Front fogs were only fitted to models that also had automatic lights, and headlamp washers too. Auto headlamp switches also controlled the back lights of the Ipack, changing the brightness in relation to how much daylight is in the cabin. Auto lights also need the ambient light sensor fitted to the screen, which won't have the cradle bonded to the glass, as the sensor screen is different.
So adding all that would need extensive wiring and coding of the BCM, and the additional fixtures to make everything fit. The wipers are a similar issue, needing the rain sensor (again no cradle on the glass), as well as the wiring, wiper switch, and steering column module, and the BCM needs to be told auto wipers are fitted, which may or may not code correctly.
Using a BCM from an HSE wouldn't work without the security being configured to the ABS module, Ipack, key transponder, and steering lock. Then the HSE BCM would be looking for loads HSE equipment that yours doesn't have, so you'd be in a world of pain with codes coming up from probably all the 35 odd modules in the vehicle.

Like I said, it would be easier just to get a vehicle that has everything you want.
 
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