solutions sought

[sherrif]

hi all thankyou for all that give their time to inform us learners .,recntly bought at auction a 02 td 6 range rover it starts and drives but the front suspension is dropped also radio wont work checked compressor seems fine no water damage have tried reset procedure i am of the thinking the ecu may have made some kind of shutoff message to the pump but am guessing all else seems fine i am in the cairns area and good help is real hard to find here would appreciate greatly any feedback [positive] that is


THANKS HEAPS

[ariddell]

Are you getting an air suspension inactive fault message on the dash or is it just dropping over time and then pumping itself up when you restart?

[Homestar]

If an airbag starts to leak on these, they will lock out that corner of the vehicle from the compressor so they won't even try to pump up until the repairs have been made and the fault code cleared. This saves the compressor from running too long and burning out, and also allows the rest of the cars airbags to operate to get you home.

Which corners of the car are sagging, and as ariddell asked - so you have a fault message up, etc?

The more info you can provide, the better the diagnosis .

Oh, and congratulations on your purchase - I hope that there aren't any other issues with it.:)

Cheers - Gav

[ariddell]

If an airbag starts to leak on these, they will lock out that corner of the vehicle from the compressor so they won't even try to pump up until the repairs have been made and the fault code cleared.

I don't think that's actually the case, our old L322 popped a front airbag and it didn't throw any code. Would drop on that corner and the compressor would pump up that corner again when you restarted or when level stopped at junctions - replaced the airbag pronto as I didn't want it stressing the compressor running it too much.

[harlie]

Both are right.

Fault will come up if the compressor overheats, or if the system pressure doesn't rise when the compressor is running - this sounds odd but if the split on the roll of the bag opens and allows more air to escape than the pump can supply for a couple millisecs before (the split) gets pinched closed again it will trigger this error (Pressure not increasing while pump operating). Both these will give the Air Sus Inactive message

If the compressor can still comfortably lift and maintain height with the leak, no fault will be recorded.

[ariddell]

Makes sense, with that leak it was a split right on the roll which sealed to some degree when pumped up so it wouldn't have triggered a pressure not increasing fault.

[sherrif]

hi agn .,thankyou for your feedback.,

i do not have any other fault codes on the dash besides the airbag symbol.,the wagon makes no effort to pump up suspension at all and
when started and in drive pump does not operate that is the pump under spare at rear .,noticed after checking all fuses that there is another pump mentioned have not identifie4d this as a possible cause .,have a feeling though that someone may have gone through and played with it prior to me buying and cleared codes .,yet another issue occured yesterday after we finished checking pump and fuses etc treid restarting and key wont turn and gear stick wont move had similar probs with td5 and and put ageing key next to rear window and done a super unlock ., fixed issue will try this .,.,

thanks to all

[sherrif]

another intersting thing is when entering the car there is a funny clicking or knocking sound from under consul area and i have noticed because it sleeps close to my room that this seems to happen periodicly throufgh the night
have got battery up to 12.8 v on charge and it seems to be fine and to answer aridell question bothfront suspension bags are dropped at the same level at bottom i guess .,cheers

[ariddell]

Clicking under the dash will likely be one of the ventilation blend motors, on ours it was one in the drivers footwell in the centre at about ankle height that was doing it.

If both front have dropped then i would suspect a valve block or air line fault rather than the bags themselves.

[harlie]

Sherrif, if you are planning on DIY maintenance you WILL need a diagnostic tool. Land Rover (Like most manufacturers) have only adhered to the OBD2 standard with the engine ECU so cheapo generic scanners can only read/clear engine ECU faults – therefore will be hopeless for this problem.

The question asked at the top didn’t get an answer – Does it rise up when the car is started?

With a good diagnostic tool like Fault Mate or IIDTool you can firstly read any faults stored in the ECU.
You can then instruct the computer to start the compressor; this will confirm whether the compressor functionality works. If not, test for voltage at the compressor (check whether it’s the compressor itself) or its not getting any voltage – then work up the line, relay, signal from the ECU, fuses (yes more than 1), however if the compressor relay / fuse problem exists the ECU usually knows about it and reports a fault.
You can then instruct the ECU to open the inflate valve and direct air to each corner in turn. This will confirm that the values are functioning (or not), there is a Pressure side valve, Exhaust valve and then one valve/corner

You can also see the values returned from each height sensor to confirm that the ECU is receiving data that the front is too low, you can see reservoir air pressure, pump temp ect ect. It should be possible to identify the exact problem without getting your hand dirty.

There are several diagnostic tools on the market, some (US developed) don’t interface with the diesel transmission and some will allow fault reading/clearing but won’t be able to do function testing like I described here. But if you are going to fix things yourself, it will pay for itself very quickly and will be essential.

[sherrif]

thanks Harly .,
the wagon has just arrived and i am only trying to problem solve what i can easily as expirience has told me there are many cost effective solutions easily attainable .,have had previous expirience with our so called specialists up here and rarely do you get a wise workshop tech in our local dealer to work on your car all costing money has it has before .,

[sherrif]

sorry for some reason couldnt post this reploy adjoining the last .,ok so it makes no attempt at raising bags on any of the wheels .,we tested the pump under spare at rear and was fine and recieving power .,have sourced a reputable tech out on his own at the landy centre cairns to come put his diag tool on .,but after testing fuses and air pump went to start and was nt able to turn key to start it.,taken consul out and tried manually no start either think devoloped a key recog problem so changed key battery and tried key recog proceedure holding arrow while pressing unlock five times [after selecting first key position and returning it to lock]
cannot get it to work .,have noticed graphite or carbon material on the plastic separator that covers the ciecuit board is worn so tried proceedure again crossing it externally still no luck.,so looking atm for solution to that before getting techy over as he requires engine start .,

[spudboy]

Have a bit of a read of this thread: http://www.aulro.com/afvb/l322-range-rover/140116-air-susp-inactive-strut-out-airbag-seems-ok-no-air-air-line.html

Airbags looked fine until I took them off, but they had lots of little tiny splits upon closer inspection.

Easy job to replace the front airbags - only a couple of hours.

Get the parts from the UK - they are MUCH cheaper than getting them from LR Aust. I think there are details in that thread of where I got mine from.

HTH
David

[Summiitt]

Could be a drop in voltage, key will not turn if the volts are down and will lock gear selector, this happened to my td6 not long ago..

[Homestar]

As Summiitt said, check the battery volts, then if that is ok - check that you can here the ignition barrel 'click' when the key is inserted? If not, then it is not reading the keys rfid chip. If it does click, then you could have a linkage issue - something may be out of adjustment between the ignition, steering lock and transmission - they are all interlocked with a fairly complex cable setup. There are threads on Full Fat RR on this, and the adjustment procedure.

[sherrif]

hey thanks guys .,love the support .,
Well after reading a flip key thread tried key reprogram holding arrow key and press lock three times but did it closer to rear drivers door .,got the lock click and key is now configured .,but no start still but am getting closer .,my issue may of occured disconnecting battery with key in the ignition or similar picking this up after reading harlies thread on key ecu problems .,

[sherrif]

may have been wrong key seems to configure when process is used but dont get recog click .,have consul out but wiring hooked up .,have key apart and am crossing circuits to get config then try start with no luck something i am missing .,techy cant get here till next week with tool may have to wait till then thanks all