Thread: 2011 D4 Electrical 'Feature'

G'day,

I've been using a 2011 D4 SDV6 HSE for a few months now, as an interim before my 'new' car arrives. I've already run into a few mechanical surprises and minor electrical features that were all easy enough to work out. It does have high K's and is a bit worn out but it has always been serviced at dealerships and "reputable" specialists.

But, a few days ago I discovered a new electrical feature that was rather interesting. It went something like this -

Park in shopping centre carpark, lock with fob button, indicators flash, mirrors fold in, everything normal.
Return 10-15 minutes later and unlock with fob button, indicators flash, mirrors fold out, everything normal.
Place fob in usual spot next to transmission shifter.
Foot on brake, start button in, lights come on, nothing happens.
The following all happens within a few seconds of pressing the start button. Lights on, then lights off, instrument cluster lighting, screen and media centre screen turn off, green low range light comes on in cluster, all signs of ignition seems to disappear aside from the low range light being illuminated, hear a click/pop sound similar to a solenoid, low range light goes out, no response at all from any electrics in the vehicle.
Press unlock button on fob, no response, hold fob against underside of steering column surround, vehicle still unresponsive.
Get out of vehicle, lock with fob, no response.
Unlock with fob, indicators flash, open door, no courtesy lights and no other signs of electrical activity.

So I opened the bonnet, removed the battery/fuse box cover, visual and smell check, nothing obvious, check battery terminals and cables aren't warm or loose, all good. Replace cover, close bonnet, tell it that it is a big pile of ****.

Take a deep breath, try the fob again, it works.
Get in, media centre screen is on, courtesy lights are on, place fob in usual spot next to transmission shifter, foot on brake, start button in, engine starts as it is meant to.
Time and date have reset, media centre settings reset, one touch feature lost on both front windows.

Set time and date, aux feature returns, reset the front window one touch function, drive away like nothing happened. The entire fob and the vehicle battery were replaced around 6 months ago.

I do not have a code reader for it and I don't want to buy one given that I want to minimise my time with a vehicle so modern and packed full of 'features'. I assume that I also should not just shrug this off and refer to it as character, like the Land Rovers that I am used to.

Has anyone encountered something like this before? Any insight greatly appreciated as it does have to get me to work for the time being.

Cheers!

Thanks for all of the replies.

Battery is not old and tests ok, it was also left on slow charge while I was repairing the engine oil cooler leak (what a stupid design that component is). I cleaned and attached the terminals and clamps properly when I reinstalled the battery, battery is holding charge and is charging with engine running. I will check the earth straps though. The vehicle still does not present any error messages aside from occasionally and randomly not being able to extend the air suspension, which is unrelated to the actual issues that I am concerned with. As far as I know the air suspension system is still completely original, including the shock absorbers which is like floating on a big bowl of jelly and that's fine.

Aside from a couple of the 'smart key not found' messages which were all fine after doing the fob under the steering column surround trick... The 'electrical feature' issue didn't re-occur until last night when it refused to start for 10-15 minutes, trying what I had done previously did not make any change but the low range light alone remained flashing in the cluster, no media centre screen but the screen in cluster was working, any attempt to press start button after cycling key fob was met with the same relay or solenoid click and nothing else except for cluster screen restarting with the low range light still flashing.

Due to having an ever growing backlog of older, nicer and much more loved Land Rovers to repair and having to only rely on the D4 to get me to and from work, I'm hoping to get rid of it before next weekend and focus on the vehicles important to me. I do believe that I saw a few more drips of oil under the car yesterday as well, if that ends up being the engine oil cooler seals leaking again (almost $200 of new genuine LR parts), I'm done. I'll find out tomorrow when I stick a vacuum pump tube down into the V of the engine block.

If I find out the cause of the non-start issue, I will endeavour to post it here. My brain tells me it could be as simple as bad terminals on the start button, bad terminals on the brake light switch (the brake controller fitted always illuminates/indicates brake application though) or maybe the starter motor solenoid just needs to be beaten with a piece of wood or have the terminals cleaned but the problem has no consistency....


Cheers.


Edit to add that the time/date/audio/one touch window settings were not lost this time. And I will go outside and start it right now, I'm sure that it will be absolutely fine...


And as predicted, started fine, idled fine, no errors, everything 'normal'.