Thread: Error Codes TD5 Auto

Ongoing TPS fault....The auto electrician reports continuity ok between Accelerator [TPS] and ECU and Injectors and ECU. I supplied a 2nd hand TPS which made no difference and they found nothing else despite the large amount of info I supplied.[/B][/SIZE]Without approval the auto elec forced open the ECU as he wouldn't accept the fault being elsewhere. He didn't find it filled with oil of course and there was only the faintest hint along the lower seam, barely recognisable as oil.

The D2 has been with him for 4 weeks [and a $1000!]and I was getting alarmed as his only solution was that a new ECU was required. I bit the bullet and ordered a new one ex UK, reluctantly, [with my daughter's sponsorship] as there seemed no alternative. It should arrive within the next week but I need some advice on the changeover.

I have spoken to Land Rover Townsville and scoured the web and the process seems straightforward providing the Diagnostic Tool is the correct one. On questioning the auto elec as to his competency in downloading the Injector Data and Security Stuff from the old ECU he was vague and 'it depends on such and such etc.' He has a 'Snap On' brand. I can not find anyone else locally who could do this. Townsville Land Rover will send someone the 260 k round trip at $1000+ and won't guarantee that their tool will work?! Of course if I transport it to them they will do the job.

My question to the forum members is does anyone know that the Snap On tool would do this task and would it be possible that the data could be lost in the transfer? Do I have other options?

If the changeover works successfully I naturally hope that this Throttle issue is resolved but I can't get past the point where I wriggled the wiring, and achieved alterations with the fault lights, away from the ECU area. At best I will presumably lose the 3 Amigos + 2 and probably not get future faults and worst case I still have the nil accelerator fault?

It has been a battle.........The new ECU arrived but I had doubts that the auto elec could transfer the required data with his diagnostic tool. Lots of phone calls and emails resulted in lots of differing advice. The electrician was able to collect the injector data but had no clue about the security synchronising that I had read was necessary.

In the end I stuck the vehicle on the back of a truck and went to Tony Ireland Land Rover in Townsville and had them change the ECU over so that I didn't have to worry about any errors....hoping that it could be done economically. Three hours later it was done and hasn't missed a beat in the week since.

That cost was $300 for the truck and an amazing $264 from T. Ireland L/R for the changeover. The cost for the auto elec not fixing it was $1600!

What convinced me eventually that the ECU was at fault was the advice to the electrician [from a specialist Land Rover mechanic in Brisbane] to hit the existing ECU with a stick 4 or 5 times and then it should work! With disbelief and cynicism I watched the demo.....and it worked. They were able to test drive it [I refused to go] and no issues with fault lights or lack of accelerator. It didn't last as when they got back and switched off and on again the fault re appeared. Previously the Townsville Land Rover technicians had said that they were unaware of any Discovery ever having ECU problems!

So....no faulty wiring or plug connections [that was perceived to be purely co-incidental] and no fault with the Throttle Potentiometer [accelerator unit].

Yes...with the benefit of everyone's hindsight Land Rover would have been best from the start but I did believe and hope that it was just a faulty connection or wire. Once in the clutches of the auto electrician, and with no clear guide to the fault, I was stuck. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger...or so they say!

When I asked on friday for the final account the elec initially wouldn't verbalise it, preferring to thrust the bill at me. Once he was forced to say the actual amount [$1600] I asked for an immediate review of the hours, knowing that he ignored my instructions to not concentrate on what he read online about 'oil in the ECU'. Most of the labour hours were chasing that...and yet they opened the ECU with no evidence of oil.

Anyway...he ripped the invoice into scraps, threw it at me and demanded I leave and never come back. He seemed to forget that I already had the car!

Knowing that I legally couldn't avoid paying the account I went back yesterday [monday] got the bill and left a payment plan showing fortnightly payments over the next 3 months. I don't understand his logic of not wanting to concede perhaps $300 of his bill then in a hissy fit accept losing the whole $1600. Anger is a terrible thing! ..... but what a business man!

Thanks again for all contributions in this saga. I hope that I don't have to seek help again...but it is a Discovery.