Electrical conundrum

I'm new to Landrover ownership, having previously had a Jeep Cherokee.

I recently had a problem with my wipers, in so much as everytime I switched them on, they blew a fuse on the passenger fuse box. I thought the problem was with the wiper motor. I disconnected the motor and found there was a load of water in the connector which I dried out with a hairdryer and WD4.

Having connected the motor back up, the wipers worked but not on intermittent and now the central locking and electric windows are now not working.

I've checked all of the fuses and wiring and everything seems to be OK, but I still can't get the central locking and windows to work.

Any suggestions as to a solution would be gratefully recieved?

Cheers
Steve

Hello,

Check fuse 8 in the driver side fuse box.. It might be worth checking fuses 33 and 34 (although I bet these are OK).

If all are OK, then try disconnecting the battery for 10 mins or so. It's possible to "confuse" the CCU (central control unit). It can go into "oh! s&it" mode.. A "real" power off resets it properly.

If this does nothing, then could you check that **every** other electrical circuit works.. Yes.. everything.. horn, hazards, rear window... everything.

If anything else has failed, then could you report back here.

I had similar problems when I first got my V6.. Most electrical problems were caused by surface corrosion in the actual wiring connectors. This can be cleared in trivial cases by merely unplugging and replugging a few times.. The same thing with the fuses and relays. Do one at a time so that there is no risk of plugging something in the wrong place.

The other place to look is with the earthing points. Corrosion on the fixing bolts can cause problems.. They might look OK.. but either measure the resistance "through" the relevant earth path or unbolt, clean and refix. I personally smear a little silicon grease on them after refitting.

The worse case scenario is that you've popped the CCU... We're not there yet... other things to check first..

Good luck.

Bodge99

Cheers Bodge 99 for your suggestions,

I'd put it into an auto electrics place and they've checked all the wiring and the fuses and couldn't find anything wrong.

Ironically enough, they had to use a battery starter to get it going again and I managed to get the windows to work on the way home from the garage but then the wife took it out, and now the amber traction control and hill descent control lights have popped up on the dash!

What else can I check??

Cheers again,
Steve

Hello,

Before going any further, unbolt the battery earth connection to the engine (yes, the earth cable that runs directly from the battery). Clean the terminal ring and refit.. I use a little copper grease on the ring on this one before refitting. EDIT: To clarify, I mean the connection on the engine block...
Electrical "noise" from a "higher resistance than it should be" partially corroded connection can cause all sorts of fun in the ECU etc. It's a good idea to eliminate this initially. [How do I know this... ;>) ]. You might also see an improvement with the starter motor.. I know I did!

Intermittant functionality like this **could** be due to one or more scrambled electronic control units.. The first thing to try is the battery disconnect trick. Just switching off still leaves these units powered (it has to, otherwise the security features couldn't work etc.)

This will allow all of the control systems to return to default settings.. Everything that has to recalibrate will do so (e.g. the air idle control valve stepper motor position). You will find that the tailgate glass will open fully. Just ensure that the tailgate is closed and raise the glass with the switch to the top. It will beep at you and relower if you don't take it fully to the top.

Try this, and report back here... I'll dig out the notes that I made when I was messing with mine... It might help.

There will be others on this forum who have greater knowledge about specific problems with freelander electronics.. I'm just coming from a hobbyist electronics background coupled with a "why the **** is this not working now!" experience.

Bodge99.

Thanks Bodge, will give it a go and see how I get on and let you know!

Cheers again
Steve

Just to add, WD40 is not a good contact cleaner, get something like Aeroclean.