Hi everybody; I have a Freelander 1 Td4 which I love to bits; but which is severely testing my patience and resources. It has a shopping list of problems all fighting for my attention. I can’t afford to fix them all at once, so it’s a case of the ‘squeakiest wheel getting the grease’ at the moment.
One major problem is a reoccurring issue with the Immobiliser Control Unit. Quite frequently, and without any obvious provocation, it will start emitting a loud, continuous, and rapid, ‘clicking’ sound. When this happens, the vehicle will continue to run, but the instruments will ‘freeze’. This state will continue until I stop the vehicle and leave it for a few hours. On re-starting all is usually back to normal; with the exception that I will have lost ‘Trip’ data and an amber engine warning light will be on. This warning light generally persists for the next two or three re-starts and then disappears.
In an attempt to solve this problem I purchased a pre-used Immobiliser Control Unit from eBay (there were loads for sale so it seemed swapping them out must be common practice), and fitted it in place of my ‘faulty’ one (what i’m glossing over here is a description of the hours of heart-breaking, knuckle-skinning labour required to do this; but I will say that it prompted me to re-locate the control unit to a slightly more accessible location). Much to my delight, the remote central locking worked, and when I put the key in the ignition the instruments worked; but when I turned the key I was rewarded with absolutely nothing: no engine turning, no clicking solenoids; nothing.
So, after a friend of mine ‘re-touched’ some of the solders on the back of the pcb of my original ICU I put it back in. For a short while I thought the problem was fixed; but lately i’m back to the annoying rapid-fire clicking from the dashboard and frozen clocks again. It’s like Chinese water torture, and the more I try to ignore it the worse it gets. What niggles me is that these ICUs are still continually for sale on eBay; so I can’t believe that everybody who’s bought one has been as unsuccessful as me, or it would show up in the ‘feedback’.
The bottom line is that I can’t afford to have a Landrover dealer experiment at my expense. I’ve been financially disembowelled by main dealers too often to want to try that again; so I’m desperate to resolve this and the half a dozen others issues myself. If anyone has any advice I am all ears.
One major problem is a reoccurring issue with the Immobiliser Control Unit. Quite frequently, and without any obvious provocation, it will start emitting a loud, continuous, and rapid, ‘clicking’ sound. When this happens, the vehicle will continue to run, but the instruments will ‘freeze’. This state will continue until I stop the vehicle and leave it for a few hours. On re-starting all is usually back to normal; with the exception that I will have lost ‘Trip’ data and an amber engine warning light will be on. This warning light generally persists for the next two or three re-starts and then disappears.
In an attempt to solve this problem I purchased a pre-used Immobiliser Control Unit from eBay (there were loads for sale so it seemed swapping them out must be common practice), and fitted it in place of my ‘faulty’ one (what i’m glossing over here is a description of the hours of heart-breaking, knuckle-skinning labour required to do this; but I will say that it prompted me to re-locate the control unit to a slightly more accessible location). Much to my delight, the remote central locking worked, and when I put the key in the ignition the instruments worked; but when I turned the key I was rewarded with absolutely nothing: no engine turning, no clicking solenoids; nothing.
So, after a friend of mine ‘re-touched’ some of the solders on the back of the pcb of my original ICU I put it back in. For a short while I thought the problem was fixed; but lately i’m back to the annoying rapid-fire clicking from the dashboard and frozen clocks again. It’s like Chinese water torture, and the more I try to ignore it the worse it gets. What niggles me is that these ICUs are still continually for sale on eBay; so I can’t believe that everybody who’s bought one has been as unsuccessful as me, or it would show up in the ‘feedback’.
The bottom line is that I can’t afford to have a Landrover dealer experiment at my expense. I’ve been financially disembowelled by main dealers too often to want to try that again; so I’m desperate to resolve this and the half a dozen others issues myself. If anyone has any advice I am all ears.
