HDC, Transmission and Suspension Failure Indicator

[WazzaACT]

Hi All

A short time after driving through water (even a puddle) I get HDC, suspension and transmission failure indications. If I stop the car and restart the problem goes away for a short period then comes back again. This can go on for 30 to 60 mins before the problem goes away.

Battery is new and the problem really seems to relate to water.

Any ideas please. This has gone on for some time and still no solution. It is ruining any 4WD fun.

[Graeme]

The suspension failure is most likely a result of a fault detected by the ABS ecu because the suspension ecu adopts a safe mode for any ABS reported fault. My guess would be a problem with a wheel speed sensor connection. Diagnostics would point to the cause.
Perhaps try driving only 1 side of the vehicle at a time through a puddle, or even just 1 wheel at a time if you can, to see if the cause can be related to a particular wheel.

[trevorj]

Hiya Wazza: sounds similar to mine over recent month (MY11,D4,3.0): on moderate corrugations I have had complete suspension and all HDC electrics etc shutdown - sits on bump stops and all heights and programs are off (no lights) , all warnings shouting. As with yours, stop car, shut engine off for a while, restart and all returns to OK. But very,very difficult on a long narrow sand track (Cape Peron), with other traffic cruising past with strange gawks....
Dealer diagnosed brake light switch fault (the only fault code that was listed), and has replaced. Beats me, but there is a lot of goss about sensors linked to braking systems via the brake light circuit, and replacements of the LR OEM with Fomoco ones. Is it a real fix? Maybe, dont know exactly what the dealer did, and havent been out again as yet.
Water? possible; I guess. Nothing would surprise me anymore.
Good luck

[bbyer]

Below is a link to a few files related to replacement of the brake light switch. If you have a pre 2008 three, probably replacement of the Land Rover marked switch with the official Land Rover new replacement part that has the FoMoCo logo moulded into the switch body is a good idea. Pretty much for certain, when you pull apart the removed switch, you will see carbon tracks off one set of contacts. The files have the new Land Rover part number as well as the Ford part number for the replacement switch.
DISCO3.CO.UK Photo Gallery - Brake Light Switch Replacement

While in this case, the problem may not be the switch, I agree that running one wheel at a time thru a puddle may be a good start towards finding the problem. As to replacing the brake light switch, if that is not the problem, it is only a matter of time until it is.

[NavyDiver]

2005 D3 SE
Just saw all yours and raise you a few with limited gears, hazard lights coming, central locking going nuts and other bits. restarting sometime gave me no engine ignition the engine did not turn off or the key would not come out

Just did Oonandata track lake Eyre with no issues at all. We were relaxing with or rewarding the better half in the Barosa valley. Several inches of rain overnight and starting the next day saw my errors. - at least the camper trailer stayed dry

Restarting and several hard resets oddly after a hour of mucking about it all or mostly seemed to reslove itself and 800km back to Melbourne with only minor bugs. It is clearly an electrical fault, I have a new battery, new altenator recently (just checked them anyway and they look fine 12.7 with engine off and 14.8 running)

One fault is transmission - high range only- this is sticky. Going in for a 220,000km service Monday. Then a sparky is going over the whole truck- I will let you know the outcome.

[dangermousehouse]

WazzaACT

Sounds similar to what I had.

Fault was brake light switch. 40 bucks and about 10 mins to fit.

Take it to a dealer to read the faults or buy a fault code reader and do it yourself. Money well spent and pays for itself on its first use

I noticed the fault occurred when braking, so pretty conclusive.

[NavyDiver]

WazzaACT

Sounds similar to what I had.

Fault was brake light switch. 40 bucks and about 10 mins to fit.

Take it to a dealer to read the faults or buy a fault code reader and do it yourself. Money well spent and pays for itself on its first use

I noticed the fault occurred when braking, so pretty conclusive.

I will replace the brake controler assuming it hasn't already been. The UK site link was pretty convicing. I have had a few faults looked at but none have shown anything with the dealers computer hook up.

[bbyer]

I regard installing the new brake switch most important, but if for some reason, off spec tail and brake light bulbs are in the circuit, you can continue to have problems.

Off spec bulbs may appear to work OK in that the filaments illuminate as expected, however their resistance can be outside the specs that the on board computer is expecting to see.

Also, when installed, the filaments of the bulbs should all be standing vertical as they are stronger that way and when they burn out, do not tend to fall across the other filament. If a burned out filament falls across a good filament, that tends to be seen as a change of resistance to the computers or just some sort of short circuit.

The Land Rover spec bulbs tend to have better quality control so there is less chance of some of the above. The red of the plastic lenses is clear enough that you can see if the filaments are standing vertically.

[WhiteD3]

Wazza,

Had a similar issue with my 07 V6 SE. Turned out to be a a faulty earth wire in a cable loom in the engine bay (a not common fault known to LR) and a dodgy battery.

[NavyDiver]

Hi All

A short time after driving through water (even a puddle) I get HDC, suspension and transmission failure indications. If I stop the car and restart the problem goes away for a short period then comes back again. This can go on for 30 to 60 mins before the problem goes away.

Battery is new and the problem really seems to relate to water.

Any ideas please. This has gone on for some time and still no solution. It is ruining any 4WD fun.

How about droping a wheel off and hosing the area one wheel at a time?

Once you find which wheel is causing the fault then inspect it for the exposed wire or cracked insulation over the wire. There is only a few eletrical bits going to each wheel so have a good look and you might find it before you get through all four wheel. Tape or silcone anything looking even slightly suspect one bit at a time to see where the short is shouldn't hurt anything anyway. A good jack would beat using the cars one. A high lift if you have lifting points would make this very quick to do.

The D3 is a great 4wd. Mine is part submerine at times with out issues casued by water. If we give them a tought time I guess a wire or two will cuase us a drama sooner or hopefully later

If you get the back wheels off I would consider taking the disk brakes off and remove the cover to get any crud out of the parking brake (Drums on rear only) you need a hex driver to remove the cover. Do not blow it out due to "Asbestos" brakes shoes! Face mask, goves and damp rag might be a idea.