Any electrical guru's in the South East fancy helping a fellow owner out?

OK, I have a small list of electrical problems but am, quite frankly, an auto-electrical retard. :doh: So, I was wondering if anyone on here is particularly knowledgeable about such things and would be able and willing to give me a hand sorting them out? I am more than happy to reward your generosity with beer tokens, bacon & egg sandwiches, or car valeting services (i'm pretty good at getting them clean and shiny)!

The list looks as follows:

- Sunroof not working
- Rear windows not working (intermittent but mostly not!)
- N/S front driving/fog light not working (bulb is OK and O/S works fine!)
- SRS airbag light has come on (suspected dodgy rotary coupler?)
- Cruise control not working (could also be the rotary coupler?)
- Driver's side heated seat not working (got power to the switch and seat base, so assuming a duff element?)

Also, I would like to remove the alarm/immobiliser but it is a Cat1 system, so could require a professional for that one.

Anyway, if anyone is willing and able to help one weekend, please let me know!

Anyone, then?

wouldnt touch it with a bargepole

The Mad Hat Man said:

wouldnt touch it with a bargepole

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How come?

Coz its a Rangie - and, from what little I know, it aint simple lectrx - its a whole can of wurmz with ECUs and BCUs and all sort of stuff getting involved. - Yu need a Rangie guru with Testbook or summat similar, not just a Sparx.

mind yu - i just seen "beer tokens, bacon & egg sandwiches"







It might take a couple of weeks on site tho

Classics aren't too full of ECU's and the BeCM isn't a factor....

Unfortunatly, I know the square root of sod all when it comes to sparks too....

The Mad Hat Man said:

Coz its a Rangie - and, from what little I know, it aint simple lectrx - its a whole can of wurmz with ECUs and BCUs and all sort of stuff getting involved. - Yu need a Rangie guru with Testbook or summat similar, not just a Sparx.

Click to expand...

You might be thinking of the electrical nightmare that is the P38! Mine is a Classic, albeit a late model so does have several ECU's, but nowhere near as many as a P38 does!!

The Mad Hat Man said:

mind yu - i just seen "beer tokens, bacon & egg sandwiches"

It might take a couple of weeks on site tho

Click to expand...

We have chickens, so the eggs are nice and fresh! No pig though...

yeah but - int the lites n stuff switched by the ECu(s) not by a switch?

Saint.V8 said:

Classics aren't too full of ECU's and the BeCM isn't a factor....

Unfortunatly, I know the square root of sod all when it comes to sparks too....

Click to expand...

How are you with other issues then?! I made a slightly terrifying list of the outstanding problems I need to sort and whilst I want to do as much as I can myself, I don't have the knowledge/confidence to tackle everything! There's nothing major really, just annoyances:

Electrical:
Sunroof not working (barely ever)
Rear windows not working (very often)
Cruise control not working (rotary coupler?)
Heated seat not working (drivers only)
Airbag light on (rotary coupler?)
N/S driving light broken (bulb works, O/S works, so connection issue somewhere)
Disable/remove alarm/immobiliser (professional job, perhaps?)

Mechanical:
Engine oil covering most of the underside (aka rust protection), although doesn't seem to use any oil so perhaps that has been cured by previous owner...
Swivel joints leaking grease (lots!)
Transfer case/gearbox oil leak (only slightly)
Exhaust manifold/gasket blowing I think
Front ball joint worn (on steering arm or drag link - the front bar, anyway!)
Rear diff slightly worn (might get a pro to sort this)
Buy and fit 2x new front dampers

EAS:
Compressor rebuild (seems to be running quite hot, was missing after a drive in the snow the other day!)
Air line check
Fit plumbed in inflation kit (need to purchase valves and pipework)

I just wanted to get the car tip-top, really. It's going in the bodyshop soon to have some paintwork done, but I am determined to build a very mint, capable Classic for daily and expedition use!

Swivel joints leaking grease (lots!)
Transfer case/gearbox oil leak (only slightly)

Exhaust manifold/gasket blowing I think

Front ball joint worn (on steering arm or drag link - the front bar, anyway!)

Rear diff slightly worn (might get a pro to sort this)
Buy and fit 2x new front dampers



easy jobs to do yoself (maybe with guidance) save yo money on this to pay for the complicated stuff.

all fairly simple stuff get yourself a multimeter!!!
heated seat will be the element can be repaired easily just time consuming to strip the seat usually just a break in the wire plenty of threads around on how to do it did my last p38 and will be after my next shift doing my new p38!
srs check connectors under the seat first
cruise control check all vac pipes under the bonnet first

and get a 12V 5W lightbulb on a couple of lengths of wire. Very easy way of checking circuitry

The Mad Hat Man said:

Swivel joints leaking grease (lots!)
Transfer case/gearbox oil leak (only slightly)
Exhaust manifold/gasket blowing I think
Front ball joint worn (on steering arm or drag link - the front bar, anyway!)
Rear diff slightly worn (might get a pro to sort this)
Buy and fit 2x new front dampers

easy jobs to do yoself (maybe with guidance) save yo money on this to pay for the complicated stuff.

Click to expand...

Yah I'd like to DIY them but I'm not overly experienced and lack a bit of confidence in tackling such things!!

6704nathan said:

all fairly simple stuff get yourself a multimeter!!!
heated seat will be the element can be repaired easily just time consuming to strip the seat usually just a break in the wire plenty of threads around on how to do it did my last p38 and will be after my next shift doing my new p38!
srs check connectors under the seat first
cruise control check all vac pipes under the bonnet first

Click to expand...

Checked under the seat and cannot see any dodgy wires hanging out or anything! Also checked the cruise control vacuum pipes, no problems that I can see, but both the cruise control switch and SRS light would be caused by a faulty rotary coupler, I think?

MikeV8SE said:

The list looks as follows:

- Sunroof not working
- Rear windows not working (intermittent but mostly not!)
- N/S front driving/fog light not working (bulb is OK and O/S works fine!)
- SRS airbag light has come on (suspected dodgy rotary coupler?)
- Cruise control not working (could also be the rotary coupler?)
- Driver's side heated seat not working (got power to the switch and seat base, so assuming a duff element?)

Also, I would like to remove the alarm/immobiliser but it is a Cat1 system, so could require a professional for that one.

Anyway, if anyone is willing and able to help one weekend, please let me know!

Click to expand...

Sun roof - remove front courtesy light, check the mechanism is correctly lined up, there is a small widow on the mechanism, look for the little whit mark and check the motor is properly engaged. This is a bit of a faff but not impossible. If you look in Haynes or Rave it should tell you how to re-set the sunroof. Not guaranteed to work. My sunroof is a bit temperamental at the best of times although thankfully it works when it is hot, doesn't like the cold.

Rear windows - step one, remove door cards and carefully peel off the plastic membrane, remove regulator and motor. Clean and lubricate regulator, check motor actually works. Next check switches - are they getting power? then check wires for continuity. Check grounds, a rusty ground sure makes a mess of your day!

SRS and no cruise. Rotary coupler is a good bet but you don't want to dive in there first. You can hot wire the vac pump to check it is working. Next check bellows for splits, then check all vac lines, make sure they are not split and perished. Then unplug the main cruise control plug from the cruise ECU, you can then test for power, then check for continuity from the switches. If you're getting power and nothing from the switches pop the switches, check them for operation then you're in to rotary coupler.

Remove steering wheel - you may need a puller to get it off the steering shaft. Carefully remove the rotary coupler - put tape on it first to stop it coming apart. Carefully inspect the coupler, you will need to get inside it to look at the connector plugs - the ribbon cable breaks right by the connectors. Search the net, I remember seeing a how to thing about a temporary repair - I did mine and it worked for a while but in the end was easier to get another one. Be aware yours has SRS - Disable the SRS system before you work on anything remotely related to it!!

Heated seat - element like you say.

Removing the alarm - tricky as it will be linked in to the central locking. You'll probably find it has been spliced in to part of the original alarm system. Follow the wires and disconnect, but make sure you don't disable the starter circuit - there is a work around. remove lower dash and locate the starter relay, I believe the alarm removes (or was it applies) ground to the relay to prevent starting.

All in all nothing too bad, a couple of weekends fiddling at most. Workshop manual should cover most of what you need, certainly RAVE, especially ETM should point you in the right direction. Good luck, have fun!

Thanks Kev, that's a fair old list to work through and it's the "check grounds" and "check continuity" I'm not to sure about! I've got a multimeter with a continuity function on it, but not 100% how I should be testing these things...

On the surnoof, what should line up with the white mark?

On the rear windows, its either both work or neither do, so I figured that rules out individual switches and motors - but I could be wrong. If I am right, what common component could cause them to work intermittently? If it is a bad earth, how do I check this?

Cheers for all your help, really appreciate it!

Mike, give me 10 mins or so, I'll have a quick check of the wiring diagram - what year is yours? The later classics have slightly different wiring iirc.

Mike, I'm working from the Range Rover Workshop manual for models 1990 - 1994 but I believe yours is a soft dash so watch out for any minor revisions (discrepancies!!).

Sunroof - check the timing (yes that's right, you have to set timing!) As I said before, drop down front courtesy light this will expose the motor drive and control unit. Before you get in to this, just check to see if the motor is trying to move, try the switch and listen for the motor - if the motor is spining but roof not working all you need to do is manually turn the motor spindle back a quarter turn - you'll feel it engage and hopefully that is that. If not you need to try and look for the little window on the control unit - This is very awkward with the unit in place but it is possible ( I've done it and it's better than removing the whole sunroof drive). You're looking for a small "V" shaped groove which should be visible in the window with the roof closed. Although the manual isn't any help here, if the groove is not visible I have a vague recollection that I disengaged the motor drive manually then moved the mechanism to line it up - I can't say more than that it was a long time ago!

Anyway, on to windows. The circuit diagram is really pretty simple. 6 switches, two relays, an isolator switch, 4 motors and the one touch switch (drivers window). there are 3 fuses. It appears all the ground wires are clinched together so perhaps that elliminates a ground problem. The power feed is slightly different but for teh most part this is unlikely to be the issue but you can check it.

Your problem affects the rear windows only? so there are 4 switches, one relay, one fuse and an isolator switch. Sticky relay looks favourite. Try swapping the front and rear window relays, iirc they are under the cubby box in the centre along with the one touch controller. Next I would check the isolator switch, test for continuity but give the rocker a good wiggle while you test. If it isn't any of that then I suspect you're looking for a broken wire, a corroded connector or the like. Check the relay base, give it a good wiggle and see if you can cause the windows to stop working. That's about as much advice as I can give, perhaps somebody else has had the problem and can give you a heads up.

Kev - thank you so much, that's really helpful! Mine is a 1994 soft dash, but it can't be that different.

Annoyingly the armrest/cubby box removal means removing the whole transmission tunnel, unlike on the earlier ones where the inner of the cubby box unscrews and lifts out - great design 'improvement' LR!!

Little unclear on the sunroof! Basically if I push the switch it makes a noise and moves about 2mm in either direction, and that's it. I've previously tried manually unwinding and then closing the sunroof and that works fine, so it moves freely enough. Where is the control unit located? As you sit in the car facing the windscreen, is it the front right corner of the courtesy light area? Will have a look at the weekend, too dark in the evenings unfortunately!!

Weirdly, as if by magic, the sunroof decided to work today, the first time in about 4 months - and weirdly, at the first sight of sunshine! Love it: