P38 EAS suspension problems

Hi Everyone
Still need your help please !
Just received the "new" switch. Before I put it on I checked what the old switch was showing - Just the top 2 lights. Changed to the "new" switch. This time only the bottom light showing. Started up. No difference. Swapped back to the original switch. Top 2 lights before starting but changed to middle 2 lights when engine started. Tried various other things by changing the switches but I was always getting different combinations of lights - sometimes all lights and sometimes no lights even.
Assuming that the new switch is ok (sold as "working") this just seems to be the same problem as before and nothing has changed.
The car appears to be sitting at wading height (wheel arch approx 120mm above the top of the wheel). It has not lost height since last started - approx 2 days. The compressor is buzzing away even with the car sitting apparently at its highest. It will lower on the switch and pump back up again.
Any ideas where I go from here please ? Is it likely that there is still some electrical/wiring fault ? Should I substitute the ecu or would any of my obvious faults not come from this source ?
Valve block ? or does its failure to sink overnight exclude this ? When the engine is running and suspension at its "wading" (?) height I can hear the various relays/valves clicking away.
Many thanks for any suggestions as I am getting depressed particularly with all the floods around us and no way of using the fantastic abilities of the Range Rover !!!

When you switch on ignition you should get all four lights. When you start up the system does a self check then you should either get a solid light indicating the height the car is at OR one solid light indicating the height at, and one flashing light indicating the height going to. When the change is complete the flashing light will go solid and the other will go out. If you are getting different combinations with the two switches that may indicate that one or both are duff. Can't remember if you have diag but if you have, fit new switch and run diag. You must get four solid lights when you switch on ignition.

Hi
Thanks very much Wammers.
I am getting different lights with the 2 switches but not consistently different to indicate one of them is faulty. I just get different combinations whenever I start up, switch off and then start up again. The only consistent thing is that whatever lights come on (with either switch) when I switch on the ignition (2, 3, 4 or none) that situation stays the same on start up and running for a few minutes. On occasions I have had the correct 4 lights on ( with the high level light on as well) when I switch on but I have never had the correct flashing light indicating the height going to.
I do have diagnostics and I will run this again just in case it indicates anything with the new switch.
I have tried wiggling every relevant multiplug, earth etc while car is running but this achieves nothing - although all 4 indicators started flashing at one point (alarm or hazard ?). Maybe this just confirms that there is some sort of electrical fault going on ?
Thanks again.

Hi
Done the diagnostic. The only thing revealed in the large square box was "vehicle has moved" - I had taken the car out for test since the last diag and I understand that this message means nothing. Under the box "F9" was the number 128 (no details) which I have seen on a previous occasion.
Switched off and disconnected diag. Switched on again. all 4 lights came on plus the small light at the top of the raise/lower switch. Started it up. After a couple of seconds the little light on the raise lower switch went out and the vehicle went down a bit and seemed to adjust its height. However the 4 lights all stay solid and did not change after a couple of minutes running. Doors all closed during this operation.
Where do I go now ???
Thanks again for your time and trouble.

confusedp38 said:

Hi
Done the diagnostic. The only thing revealed in the large square box was "vehicle has moved" - I had taken the car out for test since the last diag and I understand that this message means nothing. Under the box "F9" was the number 128 (no details) which I have seen on a previous occasion.
Switched off and disconnected diag. Switched on again. all 4 lights came on plus the small light at the top of the raise/lower switch. Started it up. After a couple of seconds the little light on the raise lower switch went out and the vehicle went down a bit and seemed to adjust its height. However the 4 lights all stay solid and did not change after a couple of minutes running. Doors all closed during this operation.
Where do I go now ???
Thanks again for your time and trouble.

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I still think there is a connection/earth problem somewhere. All 4 lights on indicates a soft fault, do you have the up arrow on the dash display?
Using the EAS software go to the tab that lets you look at actual height sensor readings and see if they all look sensible. Change the height and look again, look for an odd reading.

confusedp38 said:

Hi
Done the diagnostic. The only thing revealed in the large square box was "vehicle has moved" - I had taken the car out for test since the last diag and I understand that this message means nothing. Under the box "F9" was the number 128 (no details) which I have seen on a previous occasion.
Switched off and disconnected diag. Switched on again. all 4 lights came on plus the small light at the top of the raise/lower switch. Started it up. After a couple of seconds the little light on the raise lower switch went out and the vehicle went down a bit and seemed to adjust its height. However the 4 lights all stay solid and did not change after a couple of minutes running. Doors all closed during this operation.
Where do I go now ???
Thanks again for your time and trouble.

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But raise lower switch i take it you mean inhibit switch to right of selector switch. That is normal but shortly after that goes out the four lamps on the selector switch should act as stated previously. Time to look at ECU i think.

Hi
Thanks very much once again Datatek and Wammers.
1. Yes I do have the up arrow on the dash. This now goes out when the inhibit switch (sorry) to right of selector switch goes out. However the 4 lights stay all lit up as I mentioned above
2. Thanks for the suggestion to check the height sensor readings and I will look at that tomorrow.
3. I have pulled the ECU out again and looked very carefully at the plug and contacts. All looks very good. No water or oil. I do not know of anyone to be able to check this. The only person I contacted (who had repaired a Vauxhall ECU for my son) said that "they were unable to do anything with that unit". Is there any alternative to getting another (working) ECU from somewhere and substituting it ?
Many thanks to both of you again.

confusedp38 said:

Hi
Thanks very much once again Datatek and Wammers.
1. Yes I do have the up arrow on the dash. This now goes out when the inhibit switch (sorry) to right of selector switch goes out. However the 4 lights stay all lit up as I mentioned above
2. Thanks for the suggestion to check the height sensor readings and I will look at that tomorrow.
3. I have pulled the ECU out again and looked very carefully at the plug and contacts. All looks very good. No water or oil. I do not know of anyone to be able to check this. The only person I contacted (who had repaired a Vauxhall ECU for my son) said that "they were unable to do anything with that unit". Is there any alternative to getting another (working) ECU from somewhere and substituting it ?
Many thanks to both of you again.

Click to expand...

EAS ECU's come up on Ebay, usually not expensive as they rarely fail so ther is not much demand.

Hi again
Had to use the vehicle this morning for short journey (8 Miles there and back). Switched on and off a couple of times as well when stationary. Had all different lights on - 2 at the top, 2 at the bottom and even 3 as well - all solid lights nothing flashing.
Back in garage I did Datatek suggested diag. Before doing so I checked for faults - nothing listed (except "vehicle moved") but "128" under F9 again. Checked levels (engine off but ign on). All levels the same - 255. Car seemed to be at wading height ? (120mm between wheel arch and top of wheel).
Switched on. Car would go up and down on switch. Did a number of different up/down checks. All numbers were quite close to each other. The ranges were 111-105, 108-104, 133-124, 73-64, 102-98, 127-117. It is possible (I now realise) that with some of these I may not have waited quite long enough for stabilisation before checking when I had differences between front and back).
Back left seemed always to have been a bit higher than the rest but not by much.
While doing the diag I consistently had 4 solid lights and also the car/arrow thing on the dash (and "35 mph max").
Where do I go from here ?
If it is still an electrical problem I don't really know where else to look.
Otherwise ECU ??
Many thanks again for all suggestions.

confusedp38 said:

Hi again
Had to use the vehicle this morning for short journey (8 Miles there and back). Switched on and off a couple of times as well when stationary. Had all different lights on - 2 at the top, 2 at the bottom and even 3 as well - all solid lights nothing flashing.
Back in garage I did Datatek suggested diag. Before doing so I checked for faults - nothing listed (except "vehicle moved") but "128" under F9 again. Checked levels (engine off but ign on). All levels the same - 255. Car seemed to be at wading height ? (120mm between wheel arch and top of wheel).
Switched on. Car would go up and down on switch. Did a number of different up/down checks. All numbers were quite close to each other. The ranges were 111-105, 108-104, 133-124, 73-64, 102-98, 127-117. It is possible (I now realise) that with some of these I may not have waited quite long enough for stabilisation before checking when I had differences between front and back).
Back left seemed always to have been a bit higher than the rest but not by much.
While doing the diag I consistently had 4 solid lights and also the car/arrow thing on the dash (and "35 mph max").
Where do I go from here ?
If it is still an electrical problem I don't really know where else to look.
Otherwise ECU ??
Many thanks again for all suggestions.

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255 is the maximum bit count which would indicate that at the moment of reading there was no connection to the height sensors. You will never see all four readings the same when it's working.
4 solid lights and the 35 mph message is normal in diagnostic mode.
I'm sure it's electrical, but testing with a known good ECU would at least eliminate that from the equation.
I take it you are sure you have good battery voltage?

Hi
Thanks Datatek for that.
Checked battery voltage. 12.47V before switch on. 11.22V after switch on. Engine not yet started. 1 volt drop about right I think ? Start up engine - voltage now 13.75V. Engine starts easily even when cold so I don't think it is that ?
Will recheck connections etc and I think buy substitute ECU - at least it will look nice on the shelf (probably).
Any other ideas gratefully received

I wouldn't expect battery voltage to drop that low other than when cranking.

Hi
Have bought another EAS ECU and will probably have this Friday/Saturday.
Is this a simple case of changing it over or is it necessary to do something so that the system "recognises" the new ECU ?? I understand that there can be some problems with substituting ECUs on BMWs but perhaps that relates to more modern vehicles and to ensure that main dealers are able to get their percentage when something goes wrong - or am I just being cynical ?
Thanks again.

confusedp38 said:

Hi
Thanks Datatek for that.
Checked battery voltage. 12.47V before switch on. 11.22V after switch on. Engine not yet started. 1 volt drop about right I think ? Start up engine - voltage now 13.75V. Engine starts easily even when cold so I don't think it is that ?
Will recheck connections etc and I think buy substitute ECU - at least it will look nice on the shelf (probably).
Any other ideas gratefully received

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Battery voltage way too low as is the alternator output. The alternator should give you 14.2 volts at 2K rpm, at turn on, I would expect battery voltage to stay above 12.3 volts minimum if the battery is good.

Hi
Checked again. Battery voltage at 2000 revs is 13.8V. 13.7V at tickover.
In case I did not make it clear in my post above the voltage of 12.4 is at the battery which drops to 11.2 when the ignition is switched on - but engine not yet started.
Surely this is normal ?
When engine is started the voltage at battery increases by over 2 volts proving the alternator is OK ?
The engine turns over very freely on start up - despite having all the fans and other things happening at the same time. Battery is not new but about 4 years old.

confusedp38 said:

Hi
Checked again. Battery voltage at 2000 revs is 13.8V. 13.7V at tickover.
In case I did not make it clear in my post above the voltage of 12.4 is at the battery which drops to 11.2 when the ignition is switched on - but engine not yet started.
Surely this is normal ?
When engine is started the voltage at battery increases by over 2 volts proving the alternator is OK ?
The engine turns over very freely on start up - despite having all the fans and other things happening at the same time. Battery is not new but about 4 years old.

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I say again, the alternator voltage should be 14.2 volts at 2k rpm if it's ever going to adequately charge the battery.
With ignition on, the battery voltage should stay well above 12 volts, mine is near 12.4 even when the glowplugs are on. If it drops to 11 volts just with the ignition on, it will be nearer 9 volts when you are cranking.
Your battery is nearly 80% discharged or has lost it's capacity, this will be due to your alternator not giving a high enough voltage to fully charge the battery.
P38 ECU's need good voltage or they simply do not function correctly.

Thanks Datatek. I will investigate further (particularly the voltage) and let you know.
Thanks again for all your time and trouble and help.

Hi
Now I have a very odd situation. Everything works !!
I decided to start it up again yesterday to check battery voltage again. Switched ignition on. All 4 solid lights with light on top of inhibitor switch plus car/arrow light on dash. Started up and after 1 second or so all lights went out except the one correct level light. Rather surprised, I started it up again 2 more times - leaving a decent interval - with the same normal behaviour.
Left it overnight (didn't charge battery). Exactly the same normal behaviour this morning on starting up.
I had the replacement "new" height level switch connected so eventually decided to put the original switch back on as at least this might tell me if the original switch was fact in faulty.
No difference ! ie everything is now behaving normally with the original parts back on.
It is nice to have it working again but unfortunately I have not learned anything - ie what was the problem.
Between the last time I had the original fault and the car behaving normally : -
1. I did all the height checks with the diag connected (as posted yesterday).
2. I checked the battery voltage twice.

I did not fiddle with any wires (except plug the diag cable in the socket) or do anything else.
I do not really believe that it has spontaneously cured itself and feel that I still have some problem somewhere which I suspect is a wiring/electrical fault (due to your kind advice). Any ideas anyone please ??
The only other possible factor is that before all these problems occurred (about 3 weeks ago) we did have one or two drops of rainwater through the lightswitch above driver/passenger heads. The car is always parked outside but it has never leaked in this area before (sunroof I think ?). It had been parked with nose up in pouring rain whereas normally it is parked nose down or on the level. Nevertheless when I started to investigate our EAS problem there was no sign of any current water in the passenger left footwell area - except of course for the damp/ corrosion (dry) in one of the white multiplugs which I corrected a few days ago (Last Monday I think).
Very many thanks again as before.

Hi
EAS still operating ok but I am still concerned to try and find out what the problem was (apart from the compressor). The vehicle normally lives outside. In the terrible weather conditions we have been having. When the problem occurred I put it in the garage and it had been there for about 10 days (in the dry !) before it " spontaneously" cured itself. I think that the simple answer may be that whatever had got very wet eventually dried out. I know that the 2 white multiplugs by the passenger's left foot is a known problem area. Can anyone let me know please what are the other known problem areas for damp or wet either inside or outside the car ? I understand that the height sensors can be affected by water ingress. Is it the plug or just the sensors or both ? Presumably this would be shown up on diagnostic ? Are there any other known problem areas please ?
Many thanks for help to date particularly Wammers and Datatek.

confusedp38 said:

Hi
EAS still operating ok but I am still concerned to try and find out what the problem was (apart from the compressor). The vehicle normally lives outside. In the terrible weather conditions we have been having. When the problem occurred I put it in the garage and it had been there for about 10 days (in the dry !) before it " spontaneously" cured itself. I think that the simple answer may be that whatever had got very wet eventually dried out. I know that the 2 white multiplugs by the passenger's left foot is a known problem area. Can anyone let me know please what are the other known problem areas for damp or wet either inside or outside the car ? I understand that the height sensors can be affected by water ingress. Is it the plug or just the sensors or both ? Presumably this would be shown up on diagnostic ? Are there any other known problem areas please ?
Many thanks for help to date particularly Wammers and Datatek.

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Apart from anything else, the alternator out put is still too low as is the battery voltage with the ignition on. It may just be that being warmer in the garage was enough to help a poor battery to hold it's charge.