Thread: D4 Push button start issue

There are no pressure sensors in the brake system. Perhaps operating the brake switch a few times helps though.

If there are no pressure sensors then the only benefit would be operating the brake switch to get it to work properly. If that is the case it sounds like a new brake switch is in order, sooner rather than later!

Originally Posted by SBD4

These are the niggles you have to put up with as an early adopter A major annoyance and inconvenience(the car not starting at all) until you know how to over come it. Seems my gremlin has come back - will be asking the dealer to sort it at the next service.

Well, this issue has really done me in over the last six months. It progressively got worse to the point that the it might happen 2 or three times a week and finally to the point where a hard reset would not get it started. It would always start without fail if just left alone for some time.

I persisted with it until each service mainly because I was trying to identify a pattern to the failure - I couldn't find one. So at each service I would do my best to explain any minute detail that might help them diagnose the issue as there were never any faults recorded and they could never get it to fail.

I think it got to a point where the dealer was starting to think I was nuts (They never treated me as such or tried to diminish the issue) until I went to pick the car up after a 4 day stay with them. I toddled out to the forecourt, jumped in, Pushed the button - nothing! Never have I been so happy to have that problem happen right then. Lots of scratching of heads from techs and managers. Back in the loan car for another week.

The final stint was a three week stay with the dealers. It had failed to start again one saturday morning after the sons match. Entire family in the car, ****ed off wife - managed to get it started by re-seating fuses in the engine bay, very lucky break. Monday, phoned the dealer confident I had pinned the issue to the fuse box. No probs bring it in tomorrow. Trouble is the car refused to start that night and left me stranded at Engadine Woollies. No amount of fuse pulling or car resetting was getting it started. Left it there overnight and picked it up next morning - started no problem.

This time it was decided that the dealer would give the car to one of the techs to drive with all the gear required to fix it kept in it. It took two weeks for it to fail and the ecu was deemed the culprit. ECU replaced and car driven and tested for another week by the dealer.

So, I picked it up Friday before last ready for our road trip starting on the Sunday. Family not happy at the prospect of it not starting while in the middle of nowhere. "How am I going to know it's fixed if I don't drive it?" I ask.

We are on our way and wife insists we must stop at Berry for lunch and have a wander around the shops. No probs, parking angel has granted us an instant spot on the highway in front of all the shops. We slap our selves on the back for a job well done and get on with finding a pie. After following SWMBO around the shops for a while we head back to the car, jump back in to continue onto our destination. NO START!

It was a beautiful sunny day in Berry but I am sure BOM would have been furiously writing up a warning for a micro burst that suddenly appeared on their radar because there was one big black cloud over the disco. To top it off I was instantly struck by a major bout of the trots. This was just getting better and better.

I sent the family off to do some more "shopping" while I scrambled to find a dunny that didn't have a queue and the audience to my condition was not so large. The dunny episode gave me the opportunity to get get some clarity on my course of action:

• It's Sunday afternoon 2:00PM
• I must get us to our dinner appt by 6:00PM 1.5 hours away
• I will not call Land Rover assist because that will guarantee we will miss the dinner appt
• I will try and see if there is a car hire company open
• I will call the dealer sales manager to see what they can do
• Might post an SOS on AULRO if all else fails

I got the dealer sales manger on the line who did all he could to help me but being sunday arvo he was unable to get hold of anyone. He was going to line up a tow truck but I wasn't keen. This disco has never been on a flatbed and is never going to be. I told him I would call him back in 5 minutes. I thought I would give the hard reset another go - nothing to lose. So, I grit my teeth to suffer the humiliation of opening the hood on the main street of Berry with bumper to bumper traffic and sidewalks packed full of people knowing every nissota driver would be having a cackle. Had one bloke offer up his help to which thanked him and said it was under control. "So you wouldn't recommend them [LR] to any one?" he asked. "I absolutely would!" I said "Best car I have ever had - love it" I said.

I proceeded to remove the battery cables and short them together. Once re-installed and tightened I noted that the +ve clamp, although tightly done up, was still able to be moved on the terminal. hhhhmmmm, that'll be the problem then, poor connection, not enough current to the starter. I proceeded to shine up the dull battery terminal and try my damnedest to tighten the clamp to better the connection. Still not tight but better. Tried the start and BINGO away she went! My status went from the proverbial zero to hero instantly - it was sunny over the disco again, weather warning cancelled.

Called the dealer back to let them know I was on my way and and made dinner with half an hour to spare. I organised a auto elec to sort the clamp out. Absolutely no issues in the last 11 days and 1500KM.

SO, in short, I believe the problem to be a weak electrical connection between the clamp and the the battery terminal. It looks like over time, the conical mount that the nut tightens down on has worn and the clamp has also spread thus preventing it from clamping tightly on the terminal. The fact that the battery terminal was tarnished did not help things. I think I will have the dealer replace the clamps if it happens again.

Moral of the story is try the simple things first. I think that with these cars we are always focused on the complicated parts when in actual fact it is usually a simple thing that that is causing the issue. The complicated parts of this car have never let me down.

The longer I go with out an issue the more I will know I have fixed the problem.

During the the time the dealer has been trying to fix the problem the following has been replaced:

• Software updates
• Battery - my cost
• Steering column lock - warranty
• Central Junction Box - Warranty
• Key Vehicle Module - Warranty
• Instrument Cluster - Warranty
• Engine Control Unit - Warranty

I have extended warranty and it has well and truly paid for itself in this instance.

I can say that the dealer went out of their way to try and sort this issue which by its intermittent nature was very hard to identify.

Finally, I was very nearly ready to turf the disco as I could not abide my family being stranded another time. I still love it though and now have full confidence in it again knowing that the issue was not more insidious than it apparently was (read wiring issue). Hopefully this is the end if it.

Scary though isn't it. That all that gear was replaced for the simplicity of a battery clamp!!!

Originally Posted by SBD4

Moral of the story is try the simple things first. I think that with these cars we are always focused on the complicated parts when in actual fact it is usually a simple thing that that is causing the issue.

Good advice.

Well done Sean, perseverance eventually pays off (fingers crossed).

Also interesting that you replaced the battery along the long and tortuous journey. Should that not have fixed the issue?
Was there an improvement (reliable starting) after battery replacement and then the problem returned as the new battery's terminal tarnished?
Or perhaps the clamp was just getting progressively worse and the replacement battery made zero difference.

Scott

Originally Posted by Tombie

Scary though isn't it. That all that gear was replaced for the simplicity of a battery clamp!!!

My thoughts exactly, Mike.

All the times I thought it was the hard reset that fixed the problem I now believe it was simply the battery clamp being re-seated that did it.

Not that thrilled that my car was taken apart to that degree for what, at this point, is a simple problem. Nothing ever goes back the same so I hope that in itself does not introduce future problems. Time will tell.

Good thing is I now know the car itself is solid.

Originally Posted by LRD414

Good advice.

Well done Sean, perseverance eventually pays off (fingers crossed).

Also interesting that you replaced the battery along the long and tortuous journey. Should that not have fixed the issue?
Was there an improvement (reliable starting) after battery replacement and then the problem returned as the new battery's terminal tarnished?
Or perhaps the clamp was just getting progressively worse and the replacement battery made zero difference.

Scott

Thanks Scott, here's hoping!

The problem showed itself again within 6 weeks of the battery being changed. I don't think the terminals were cleaned before fitting. I guess it's not really something you think about doing with a new battery and when that nut is tightened hard you think that the clamp is tight but its not. With the cable running the way it does, movement is not that apparent. I think expansion due to heat may have played role in the loosening as well.

Originally Posted by SBD4

Thanks Scott, here's hoping!

The problem showed itself again within 6 weeks of the battery being changed. I don't think the terminals were cleaned before fitting. I guess it's not really something you think about doing with a new battery and when that nut is tightened hard you think that the clamp is tight but its not. With the cable running the way it does, movement is not that apparent. I think expansion due to heat may have played role in the loosening as well.

The other factor could be as simple as the manufacturing tolerances of the new battery terminal diameter...