Thread: Design fault or marketing ploy???

Hi Graeme

removing the main suspension ecu fuse from the engine compartment fuse box once its back up to height.

Would you know if removing the fuse also stops the car going limp due to the great disaster of a park brake adjustment so you can actually get somewhere ie. does the lowering trigger the limp mode because other times my car has lowered it has still allowed any speed, as long as you don't mind burning through the plastic inner guards as some of us do not travel anywhere near a trayback recovery truck or a dealer, help is usually days away for me if at all the truck could get there in the remote area.
Glad to see you not defending these software writing,grey matter challenged people as others do.
If more people actually complained about a $80,000 ++ 4X4 not being able to travel reliably anywhere we might of had some action, too many people with green oval sunnies with rose tint (I have a suspicion are from the motherland) who have help a mobile phone call away and don't mind breaking down.
When I break down it's in the 40's C and occasionally nearly 50C, try sleeping when the sun has gone down and its still 42C. Been there.
Its not LandRover its BendOver.

Hi Lobster,

I have done this many times during the testing of my Llams height controller, mostly only by unplugging the loom that has the main power supply that's protected by that fuse. There will be a suspension fault warning if the vehicle was at normal height prior to fuse removal but no constant beeping. Special programs will be off and stability control may also be set off. If the vehicle was at off-road height then the warning message will change to the red 'not more than 50kph' message once over 50kph but still no beep. I haven't tried this for a prolongued period to ascertain if there is an occasional reminder beep. When the fuse is refitted, the 1st ignition cycle will show a suspension fault warning but clears on the next cycle, which I have done straight away. If off-road height was selected prior to fuse removal then the vehicle will self-level to normal height when the fuse is refitted and the height indicator will also show normal height. There's no doubt that a fault will have been recorded, but so what, because if there's a real fault somewhere it will be re-logged soon enough.

I would do this immediately if my vehicle dropped to the bump-stops, once it was back up to my desired height of course. The fuse diagram is under the fuse box cover.

Hi D3viate,
I can't see the connection between the epb and suspension. However I would pull the epb emergency release cable at the 1st sign of trouble with binding of the shoes and not operate the epb switch so as to not re-connect the cables. That might not overcome a binding problem but its the 1st step.

Yes, there are are some with tinted glasses but also some who wont look past the electronics to see the basics.

So does this mean some clever auto electrician or engineer can rig up a switch on the appropriate fuse to allow us to control the lower from inside the cabin?

There's a 5A fuse in the passenger compartment that's used to supply ignition power to the suspension ecu which, when removed, seems to prevent lowering from faults. It would be easier to switch and more appropiate, being only a low current supply. At least 1 owner (in the USA IIRC) has mounted a switch in the blank for the not-fitted passenger air bag switch that's in the passenger end of the dash, visible with the door open. The fuse is not easily acessed and doesn't totally disable the suspension ecu, hence my preference for removing the engine bay fuse. Best to do a test removal prior to installing a switch if considering switching the passenger compartment fuse.

If you're regularly wanting to travel at off-road height at speed then consider fitting one of my Llams height controllers to change to and from off-road height (and others) at any speed, not that it will overcome a fault that causes the suspension to drop to the bump-stops.

Typical example would be the Airbus 300. Supposed to be the safest aircraft in the skies... and its the most deadly 'cos the Pilot never really needs to fly it normally, and all the 'systems' are there to keep software engineers employed and maintenance men running around like demented ants trying to buck-pass a fault(s) from 'mechanical' to 'computer'...

Rover never asked owners if they wanted to limp home with the suspension immobilised at the pre-set or normal height, - or riding home on the bump-stops. I have less than zero sympathy for British Industry now that Land-Rover has been snapped up by TATA.

The only reason Land Rover has survived this long, is besotted buggers like us who admire the long-dead bloke who came up with the original concepts.

As has been pointed out, to the Infallible Designers, limp home mode on the bump-stops is not that unbearable when driving up the ramp onto the flatbed...

James in Perth

As an Engineer friend of mine (and English car tragic...) often says:-

"Range Rover, A wonderful vehicle designed by a Gentleman...- and built by poms!"

To which I'd add... "With cheap materials supplied by incompetant, thieving, arrogant, upper-class managementwho spend more on a long luncheon than said workers get paid in a week.."

Yes, there are are some with tinted glasses but also some who wont look past the electronics to see the basics.

Thanks for the help.
I have a Faultmate to try and get around some of the problems but most of us do not have the confidence to play with the elec-trickery too much, don't want to smoke anything or cause permanent damage in warranty but you have given some clarity to bypassing breakdowns.
Have been following your work on the other site, well done.
We need you working at LandRover, would improve the brands (un)reliability.
Nice to have a software patch to stop the "drop to the stops default" or "go limp" where it is not required.
Would of thought it is much safer for the car to remain at a driveable height.
Thanks again and keep up the tinkering.

Micky, YES, it can be easily done, biggest problem is finding cheap and nasty unreliable switches to mount somewhere inside... - Would'nt want the rest of the electrics to be shown up!!!

Thats all the EAS computer does, AUTOMATICALLY operates valves to raise/lower each air-spring to change overall height and keep the car level.

In a nutshell, it reads the distance each wheel is from the chassis and how fast you're going. At highway speeds it lowers you to help keep you "on" the road, off-road it lifts you up as high as it thinks it needful, to keep the car "off" the road!

If you're lucky, it may even let you decide to go up or down a bit, - if the appropriate switches are working that day...

- When you stop, it sits down so you don't fall too far when you alight.... assuming you're only 5' 4" short.

Naturally, the weakness here is the 4 height sensors, analog pots in my '94 Classic, and Hall-effect units in later cars.... and the connectors and 'over-engineered British Wiring' that let all the Clever Bits talk to each other.

I'm assured it all works an absolute treat....which is why I'm persisting with my new toy.... but if the EAS comp or a sensor is dead, then its 5 Chinese switches for me along with some second-hand relays from a Jap wreck.

A retired James in Perth