Whoops!

So after a fun filled weekend at Billing, I thought I'd give something back in the way of entertainment to the many people watching the off-road course at Lakes Corner this afternoon!

Having been through the water section twice on Saturday and once about an hour previously I felt pretty confident about going through it one last time, oh how foolish you can be!

Not sure exactly what happened other than I stopped just short of the slipway to get me out of the deep bit and merrily on me way...I lost count how many times I reversed and tried it again, but I gave up when everything electrical in the car came on at once - Horn, Central Locking, Windscreen wipers, washers, stereo you name it - I've been reliably told by a P38 owner was that the show piece was the Petrol Cap popping open! It even got to the point that I was wandering around with the keys in my pocket and engine happily running. Disconnect the battery and engine dies - reconnect battery engine turns over!

Still good news was - Marshall broke his Defender trying to pull me out (we both got pulled by a Defender 90 at the same time!), oh and the next two LR a 109 and 110 both conked out and had to be towed as well. Made me feel better anyway!

If you were there, I hope you enjoyed it - believe it or not I did aswell at the time.

Now on to the trouble - as you may have guessed the BECM got some what wet and disfunctional. Luckily I managed to strip it out and have it lying in the Sun and gale force winds within half hour or so - everything seems just fine from that point of view. However I do have to other issues: One the EAS (Suprise) and two a Gearbox fault.

1. I've trawled through a number of posts relating to the EAS and the first thing to do is to get it reset. However mine is sitting on maximum height and is rock solid - to the point I thought the bags were sure to burst. Is this common? I get the impression the more common problems are for no air at all?

2. Gearbox - someone mentioned I could well have knackered my Gearbox ECM. Whats your opinions? Is there a way to reset like there is with the EAS? If so how?

Look forward to your comments and no doubt P**s takes

Andy

PS Heres a couple of pics for ya'll Notice the footwell on the first, I should have a video in a few days of the electrical show my car put on for everyone too!

Was it you who had to be also towed out of the mud pit on Saturday afternoon??

I was there on Saturday and Sunday, I debated taking my P38 round the off-road course but since I am going away soon I decided against breaking it

Sounds like Sunday was far more interesting on the off-road bit than Saturday

Anyway, your P38, to be totally honest, I dont think you/we will know anything until you have totally and completely dried out your BeCM and then got it back in the vehicle.

If you have already done that then the EAS will need to have the faults read and reset before any more diagnosis can really be made.

The gearbox fault is generally caused by a dying battery not giving enough volts to the ECU. However, in your case it might be something more. Is shifting affected at all?? Have you checked to see if the gearbox ECU got wet at all?? Have you tried disconnecting and reconnecting the battery again??

Lastly as I come to think of it, as I left Billing when everyone else was you weren't sitting in the camping area by the road out of the main sort of show area were you?? I did notice a blue P38 with the same wheels as shown in your pic jacked up really high, I thought at the time maybe it was a spring conversion, maybe it was you!

Either way, let us know how it goes.

-Wills

Hey Wills,

Well yup twas me also getting towed outta the mud run...that was definately my fault, just went in there with too little power and grounded out on me two diffs - at least thats where all the mud was after!

And yup that woulda been my P38 looking like a monster truck in the campsite! It took me a good 2 or 3 hours to dry out the BeCM, put it back together and back in the car. I was shocked that for the most part, everything worked!

So at present the car is showing the following faults:

Gearbox Failure. All lights on the Autobox were lit on both Low and High sides. I also have a feeling I'm stuck in Low Range.

EAS Fault: This one is a bit all over the place at the moment. It ranges from all 4 height indicators flashing, to all 4 solid. Then it sets to the "Extended" mode where the bags are solid and the vehicle bounces all over! At one point last night it all returned to normal for a while until I stopped and the escapade started again! The more I read into this one I think I have wet or knackered height sensors but as you say Wills we're not going to know til I get it plugged in!

Airbag Fault / SRS Fault and SRS Light on: I think this is because I have not yet plugged in any of the drivers seat connections, obviously we have the side impact bag mounted on the seat.

Couple of other little things like LHF Window not set. I've got some water in the mechanism I think as this window is sticking when being put up. No biggey there!

Well just waiting for the recovery company to drop her off to me now. Apparently they were quite busy taking Land Rovers home from Northants yesterday so I got a Hyundai thing off them to get me home...Rangie should be here in an hour or so, hopefully be a bit wiser later!

Troggy said:

Hey Wills,

Well yup twas me also getting towed outta the mud run...that was definately my fault, just went in there with too little power and grounded out on me two diffs - at least thats where all the mud was after!

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Yea, I thought as you went down and in it looked like you were going a little too slow to make it all the way through - still, was quite entertaining watching the guys trying to walk around in the mud to get to you

Troggy said:

And yup that woulda been my P38 looking like a monster truck in the campsite! It took me a good 2 or 3 hours to dry out the BeCM, put it back together and back in the car. I was shocked that for the most part, everything worked!

So at present the car is showing the following faults:

Gearbox Failure. All lights on the Autobox were lit on both Low and High sides. I also have a feeling I'm stuck in Low Range.

EAS Fault: This one is a bit all over the place at the moment. It ranges from all 4 height indicators flashing, to all 4 solid. Then it sets to the "Extended" mode where the bags are solid and the vehicle bounces all over! At one point last night it all returned to normal for a while until I stopped and the escapade started again! The more I read into this one I think I have wet or knackered height sensors but as you say Wills we're not going to know til I get it plugged in!

Airbag Fault / SRS Fault and SRS Light on: I think this is because I have not yet plugged in any of the drivers seat connections, obviously we have the side impact bag mounted on the seat.

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Ok, well, from reading what you have put, when you get it back, disconnect the battery and then pull the passenger seat and have a good look at the EAS, Gearbox and Transmission ECU's, look closely for any signs of water damage/ingress there. If any try and dry it all out thoroughly.

Going a bit more in depth, I think you will find the gearbox problem is definitely ECU related rather than the mechanical or the XYZ switch for example. If you selected a gear were you able to move at all?? If you are stuck in low range then it is possible to use a battery to manually operate the motor back into the correct position.

As far as the EAS goes, is EAS Fault showing on the message centre?? If any of the height sensors are shagged then this can easily be revealed with a multimeter on the ohms setting and checking you get a smooth resistance from one end to the other if that makes sense

With the SRS, what year is your vehicle, is it not a 97?? The side impact air bags didn't come in until 99.

Troggy said:

Couple of other little things like LHF Window not set. I've got some water in the mechanism I think as this window is sticking when being put up. No biggey there!

Well just waiting for the recovery company to drop her off to me now. Apparently they were quite busy taking Land Rovers home from Northants yesterday so I got a Hyundai thing off them to get me home...Rangie should be here in an hour or so, hopefully be a bit wiser later!

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Look forward to hearing any updates! Where abouts are you then, sounds like you came quite a way - and yes, there were lots and lots of recovery trucks bringing people away from there last night. I popped down there again at around 9:30ish just to be nosey and there were still RAC and AA vans on site and recovery trucks taking away dead LR's!

-Wills

Well the car turned up (on an arctic lorry, also loaded up with a Defender 90 - the guy said his truck was full of Landys this morning!) and I promptly went about stripping out the passenger seat and three ECUs.

EAS ECU wasn't too bad mainly moisture on the connector as this is top mounted. Also took off the Thermostatic switch and EAS relay and gave them a dry out.

Gearbox ECU looks like its been on its way out for some time - theres a hell of a lot of corrosion in there and I think a blown resister by the look of it. I think this is a definate candidate for replacement.

Finally the Transmission ECU is a rivet sealed unit so couldn't physically open it up to check so just went over the connectors and gave it an hour outside to air out a bit.

Heres where I'm at now:

EAS seems to be happy, although operating slower overall. It also seems to be making a job of rebalancing after applying load to the vehicle. But all height selections and inhibitor are working

Gearbox I am now almost certain I'm stuck in Low. She's a bit sluggish to lift off and definately not getting any gear changes whilst sat in Drive on High gears. I have tried leaving it in neutral with Engine running for 5 minutes, changing to Low leaving and changing back to High. Nothing on the display to mention Low or High and no audible alert to say its changing. Also cannont hear anything outside the vehicle while its been selected.

When starting the Engine or switching off I get Gearbox Failure and Transfer Neutral messages appearing. However the gearbox lights do now work correctly as if I am High. Only the light for the selected gear is illuminated however when manually flicking through gears 1 - 3 there is definately no change.

Will - you mentioned about attaching a battery - can you explain in a little more detail pls, and if it is already in High but stuck in gear will I do any further damage?

I think I definately need to source a Gearbox ECU, not sure about the Transfer though - any thoughts about the message? To be honest the transfer looked the best of the three from what I could see, but I won't
pretend to be an electronics whizz!

The airbag failure message and warning light are still showing. You were right about the side bags - teach me to read the 99 version of RAVE CD, just read it this morning and thought that could be the cause! I'm now wandering if one/more of the impact sensors maybe water damaged.

Final one - I plugged the drivers seat controls back in and they had a field day setting up the seat for a lying down dwarf so after much battling I got it back to a decent enough driving position and unplugged it again! Seem to have a problem with the under seat control unit, again no major problem there - something to be added to the list of to do's

Off to look in to ECU prices now....

Troggy said:

Well the car turned up (on an arctic lorry)

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bet tha was cold!

The Mad Hat Man said:

bet tha was cold!

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Yep - best Aircon overhaul I ever saw

Well spotted ya booga!

Troggy said:

Gearbox ECU looks like its been on its way out for some time - theres a hell of a lot of corrosion in there and I think a blown resister by the look of it. I think this is a definate candidate for replacement.

Finally the Transmission ECU is a rivet sealed unit so couldn't physically open it up to check so just went over the connectors and gave it an hour outside to air out a bit.

Heres where I'm at now:

EAS seems to be happy, although operating slower overall. It also seems to be making a job of rebalancing after applying load to the vehicle. But all height selections and inhibitor are working

Gearbox I am now almost certain I'm stuck in Low. She's a bit sluggish to lift off and definately not getting any gear changes whilst sat in Drive on High gears. I have tried leaving it in neutral with Engine running for 5 minutes, changing to Low leaving and changing back to High. Nothing on the display to mention Low or High and no audible alert to say its changing. Also cannont hear anything outside the vehicle while its been selected.

When starting the Engine or switching off I get Gearbox Failure and Transfer Neutral messages appearing. However the gearbox lights do now work correctly as if I am High. Only the light for the selected gear is illuminated however when manually flicking through gears 1 - 3 there is definately no change.

Will - you mentioned about attaching a battery - can you explain in a little more detail pls, and if it is already in High but stuck in gear will I do any further damage?

I think I definately need to source a Gearbox ECU, not sure about the Transfer though - any thoughts about the message? To be honest the transfer looked the best of the three from what I could see, but I won't
pretend to be an electronics whizz!

The airbag failure message and warning light are still showing. You were right about the side bags - teach me to read the 99 version of RAVE CD, just read it this morning and thought that could be the cause! I'm now wandering if one/more of the impact sensors maybe water damaged.

Final one - I plugged the drivers seat controls back in and they had a field day setting up the seat for a lying down dwarf so after much battling I got it back to a decent enough driving position and unplugged it again! Seem to have a problem with the under seat control unit, again no major problem there - something to be added to the list of to do's

Off to look in to ECU prices now....

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ooo, nice to see you have got into the thick of it now you have it back

Gearbox ECU, if its like you say then I would be sourcing a replacement. Quick tip if you are not going to buy new, ring the dealer with the part number on the ECU and see if there was a replacement to that ECU, an upgraded part - if so get the latest and greatest part number and then go out and search for a second hand unit that has the newer part number

The transfer case ECU controls the Hi/Lo motor - I think this is pretty much unscathed as it sits on top of the ECU's and

The EAS levelling - how long were you stuck in the water for?? It could be water has penetrated one or more height sensors. It might be worth pulling them off and measuring their resistance with a multimeter while moving them by hand through their range. You should see a smooth reading on the meter and no notches/jumping. A dodgy height sensor could be the cause of your levelling issues.

The gearbox - you are not stuck in low from the sounds of it - you have a gearbox fault and the ECU is keeping the gearbox in limp home mode - i.e. you are stuck in 3rd gear. If you were stuck in low range, even if it was somehow in limp home mode pulling away would not be that sluggish. As such manually jumping the Hi/Lo motor to get back into high range isn't necessary.

The transfer neutral message could be a few things, I think you may find its a BeCM issue though, I really dont know to be honest. Wait until everything is fully dried out and then give it a whirl and see what works and what doesnt!

Personally, as far as the SRS system goes, I would get the car onto a diagnostic machine to find the fault. Unlike the other systems the SRS system is there for one purpose only, to try and save your life in the event of an impact, as such, I would get it onto the pooter to see what it has to say for itself - silly to mess about with it and then find out it doesnt work when you need it!

Have you had the plastic sill bits up to check for any pools of water in the channels where the cables run??

-Wills

Transfer Neutral message sorted....there was obviously a spare fuse lying around for number 11, I obviously plugged it in when drying out all the other fuses.