Disco 2 TD5 air suspension lifted to full height and will not deflate

RIchard Savage · Oct 18, 2017

03 D2 2 TD5
Symptoms:

Parked up then realised that I had to move, drove round the block (5-10 minutes) and re-parked. Walked away and looked back to check that mirrors were folded and saw that back end was fully raised. On inspection, both air bags were fully inflated and drum-tight.
Started engine - no error lights - suspension raise/lower button has no effect - just one or two chimes. No sound of compressor running. Pulled ABS/compressor fuse in case it (the compressor) sprang into life and burst the bag(s).

Have been relayed home (Coniston to Sevenoaks) and my usual spanerer is going to look at it. On the way to the first relay change over the OS bag slightly deflated by the time we reached home. NS bag is still as taught as a drum.

This may or not be a coincidence but the remote fob was a little eratic in operation on the way back: sometimes the locks would not operate and the D2 would not start - all normal lights on the dash just nothing when the key fully turned - at other times it was fine. On one occasion the trip and total distance panel did not display anything at position 2.

I'm back in Ambleside but thoughts that I can transmit to my spanerer would be helpful.

TIA

Richard

neilly · Oct 18, 2017

RIchard Savage said:
D2 would not start - all normal lights on the dash just nothing when the key fully turned

Hi,

A couple of things, may or may not be the case, what was the little red LED light on the dash doing when you tried to start and it would not turn over?

If you can get diagnostics on it , then read what the sensors are showing for the suspension levels.

Other than that it would be checking for water ingress into the IDM / fuse box and BCU to see if it is giving you a funky issue .

Good luck.

Cheers

jamesmartin · Oct 18, 2017

are both sensors secured to the trailing arms , the plastic eye connector has a tendency to break

RIchard Savage · Oct 18, 2017

neilly said:
Hi,

A couple of things, may or may not be the case, what was the little red LED light on the dash doing when you tried to start and it would not turn over?

If you can get diagnostics on it , then read what the sensors are showing for the suspension levels.

Other than that it would be checking for water ingress into the IDM / fuse box and BCU to see if it is giving you a funky issue .

Good luck.

Cheers

Thanks

Indeed Duncan will be reading the sensor messages. He has found only one other mention of this occurence on 'tinterweb which was in Germany and resulted in suspension ECU replacement and he has found a bod in Jersey who repairs them. All this since I rang him on Monday evening and before I took the keys to him on Tuesday morning. I can thoroughly recommend DG Autos in Sevenoaks.

Red alarm light was off when the starting attempts when failed - I think, but this was during the 5 stops for the relay during the evil early hours of Tuesday morning.

No recent water ingress.

Cheers

Richard

RIchard Savage · Oct 18, 2017

jamesmartin said:
are both sensors secured to the trailing arms , the plastic eye connector has a tendency to break

Yep, they are in place and were replaced as a pair as part of the 'go through it and fix everything' when I bought the vehicle three years ago.

neilly · Oct 18, 2017

It may be one of those times when you are dealing with a coincidence. Strange things d o happen.

But the starter motor contacts on the TD5 starters are a known wear point that fail over time, a set of new contacts is about £13 and are easy enough to change.

Cheers

RIchard Savage · Oct 18, 2017

neilly said:
It may be one of those times when you are dealing with a coincidence. Strange things d o happen.

But the starter motor contacts on the TD5 starters are a known wear point that fail over time, a set of new contacts is about £13 and are easy enough to change.

Cheers

Thanks Neilly

Yep LR products are always a joy to own :-(

The intermittant remote operation is a little perplexing tho'.

Three coincidentall faults would be testing my patience to gallon of diesel and a box of matches point

Cheers

Richard

RIchard Savage · Oct 23, 2017

So, my spanerer and his advisor(!) had a thorough fiddle with the D2 last Thursday and conclude that it is either a height position sensor or the air valve body. They have set the height to more-or-less driveable but the height sensors have no effect - which is, apparently, what happens when the height ECU receives duff info. So, we are going to start by replacing the height sensors and my question is:

Which to buy? There seems to be quite a range of prices from ~ £70 each for genuine from Rimmer Bros to ~£32 for a generic pair from ebay via ~£33/42 each for Bearmach from a couple of other eBay sellers.

TIA

Richard

sierrafery · Oct 23, 2017

The best is always genuine LR but if you cant affort those get the Bearmach OE, the cheap ones are unreliable... also it seems that the system needs calibration

RIchard Savage · Oct 23, 2017

sierrafery said:
The best is always genuine LR but if you cant affort those get the Bearmach OE, the cheap ones are unreliable... also it seems that the system needs calibration

Thanks. However, I cannot imagine that there are many makers of these units and would rather not pay a premium for a box bearing a green oval. Surely Bearmach must be re-selling these units rather than making them? How far down the price chain must one go before OEM is replaced by pattern?

In a previous life I owned a series of RRC, two of which required replacement front wiper motors. On the first occasion, Autopost offered me a genuine item for some horrendous price and an OEM item for a sensible price. One came in a plain box and the other in a white plus green oval box. The boxes contained indentical Wipac (or whoever) wiper motors.

What a dilemma!!!

And you are right, it will need recalibrating. He's only roughly set the ride height to make it driveable.

RIchard Savage · Nov 14, 2017

The air suspensin has been fixed.

The plug to the N/S height sensor had leaked and allowed water into the sensor, thus killing it. The compressor had then died trying to interpret the duff information from the height sensor.

Cost: 2 off OEM height sensors (from Rimmer Bros) £100, 1 off compressor from Mansfield 4x4 £340 and £240 in labour for diagnosis, fitting of replacement parts and resetting the ECU. The joys of Discovery ownership. Lots of thanks to DG Autos (Sevenoaks) for sorting it for me. Not sure if they will thank me for sending more Discoveries in their direction but I am one of their, many, happy customers.

neilly · Nov 14, 2017

Good news,

So why will is not start intermittently? or is this still an ongoing concern?

Cheers

RIchard Savage · Nov 14, 2017

neilly said:
Good news,

So why will is not start intermittently? or is this still an ongoing concern?

Cheers

Hi Neilly.

Erm, I'm not sure that I understand your question. Air suspension is now fixed.

Regards

Richard

neilly · Nov 14, 2017

RIchard Savage said:
This may or not be a coincidence but the remote fob was a little eratic in operation on the way back: sometimes the locks would not operate and the D2 would not start - all normal lights on the dash just nothing when the key fully turned - at other times it was fine. On one occasion the trip and total distance panel did not display anything at position 2.

RIchard Savage said:
Hi Neilly.

Erm, I'm not sure that I understand your question. Air suspension is now fixed.

Regards

Richard

Well you wrote this in your OP, so was asking about it?

Cheers

RIchard Savage · Nov 14, 2017

neilly said:
Well you wrote this in your OP, so was asking about it?

Cheers

Gotcha, sorry. Just re-read my original words :-( You have a better memory than me.

It seems that the intermittant starting may be related to my attempt to replace the fob portion (all the buttons had dropped out) of my spare key. I thought that the transmitter bit was just that and nothing more but it seems that there must be a transponder element to it because, having been unable to part the key from the fob, I put the electronics in the new fob and attached it to the key ring I've found that the electronics has to be quite close to the igniton barrel for the engine to start or I have to press the unlock button prior to turning the key. Does that make any sense? And is it a plausible explanation?

Cheers

Richard

neilly · Nov 14, 2017

Yes, it does,

The electric board inside has a yellow "chip" on it, some sold on ebay do not have that fitted. ( they are off rover 75 etc cars) ,

There is a photo of it in the alarm attachment here.

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/handy-buying-alarm-info.311291/

Cheers

RIchard Savage · Nov 14, 2017

neilly said:
Yes, it does,

The electric board inside has a yellow "chip" on it, some sold on ebay do not have that fitted. ( they are off rover 75 etc cars) ,

There is a photo of it in the alarm attachment here.

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/handy-buying-alarm-info.311291/

Cheers

That's very useful to know. In a way I'm glad that I was thinking in the right direction re. transponders. I was going to address any problems once the suspension was resolved. Thank you. Your alarm summary looks useful - sorry this is coming from a phone so I am not able to give it proper attention. Would it explain why my service book shows identical numbers for EAC and radio code? Cheers Richard

neilly · Nov 14, 2017

RIchard Savage said:
Would it explain why my service book shows identical numbers for EAC and radio code? Cheers Richard

No , I suspect that is a mistake, but you can always try it and see.

Cheers

RIchard Savage · Jan 17, 2018

neilly said:
No , I suspect that is a mistake, but you can always try it and see.

Cheers

EAC number obtained from LR @ Crawley. Impromptu class in decoding HEX given to the service manager

Replacement key cut and fob body with PCB transferred to that key and the starting problems have gone away.

Ta Richard

neilly · Jan 17, 2018

RIchard Savage said:
EAC number obtained

EKA.....

Cheers

Disco 2 TD5 air suspension lifted to full height and will not deflate

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