A costly mistake, please help!

[waccampbell]

Hi all,

So I didn't think much as I was pouring hot water over the negative battery terminal to remove the corrosion around it. I cleaned it up nice and then went back to work, typing work method statements (kill me).

I come back an hour later to start the car and a couple of fault lights come up and a message on the screen.

HDC FAULT and the low range light is flashing along with the a solid ETC light I believe. After the HDC FAULT message then it said SPECIAL PROGRAMS NOT AVAILABLE.

After first thinking what the ***( have I done, I search the internet and read a couple of forum posts. Mainly about brake switch, brake lights and then something about the transfer case module, which is behind the battery.

We removed the battery and cleaned the plug below it (the one with that grey pull out bit). No joy at all.

So I think to myself, well I have to get it home, does it even drive? I start it up, no problems. Whack her in drive and move forward and then there is another message! SUSPENSION LOWERING along with lots of noise, a solid brake light and a solid suspension light. I keep driving forward and notice that its stuck in LOW RANGE. I look down and Low and High lights near the selector are both flashing.

As soon as I would stop and place in Park, the Electric Park Brake would automatically turn on, when I would turn it off, it would beep at me constantly.

I ended up risking it and driving home, in low range, slowly.

So on top of all that, here lies one of my problems. I'm currently in Karratha. There are no dealerships, no diagnostic machines that I know of in town (most Auto Electricians have something called a G Scan).

I'm pretty sure I've stuff my transfer case module. I'm going to inspect further on the weekend, but if I have. How much am I looking at for a new one and as they have to be programmed after putting in, is this something that they can do with out the car at the dealership and send it up pre-programmed?

If they can't do that, should I be looking at maybe buying a Faultmate MVS-2 and just program it myself (I understand that this is possible?)

So what do you all think? Am I buggered? Will it just have to get whacked on a truck and get taken down to Perth?

Sorry all for the long post, got a little carried away! Thanks for listening.

[101RRS]

I hosed mine behind the battery a while back and got your faults - over the next week faults came and went as the module dried out then all was OK. The low range only fault is a bummer but a couple of restarts cleared it.

Good luck - it might come good by itself.

Garry

[Geedublya]

I would remove the battery and access the transfer case ECU behind it. Check the transfer case ECU connectors for water and corrosion. Soak the connectors (plugs and sockets) with methylated spirits and then carefully blow dry them or leave them sitting for a few hours. The alcohol will absorb any moisture.

You can carefully clean any corroded pins with a cotton bud and some CRC or some other product.

Hopefully with it all dried out the can bus will be able to communicate again.

[Graeme]

You could pull the park brake emergency release cable to stop it engaging then don't use it until all sorted. However because the cable re-connects the next time the switch is used, the misbehaviour may cause the switch to effectively be used thereby reconnecting the cables.

If you can get the suspension up to normal height you could then remove the main suspension system fuse (20A) from the engine bay fuse box. The passenger compartment suspension system fuse (5A) can be moved to stop the incessant suspension warning message.

If you can get the transfer case into high range, you could try removing the transfer case ecu. However the gearbox may then go into limp mode with only have limited gears available.

[Dougal]

Once you've got that sorted, why do you have corrosion on your battery terminals?
This only happens when your battery is leaking acid fumes around the post. I'd replace it as soon as practical.

[waccampbell]

I have disconnected the transfer case wiring and given it a good spray with contact cleaner and then dried with the air compressor gun but to no avail, the old man said give them a little spray with wd/crc afterwards.

There was some signs of corrosion on the pins but not a lot. Over the weekend I'll soak them in meth and give that a go! Might take the case module out as well and open it up to see if there is any damage inside.

The puddle of the corrosion and water is on the ground at work and it looks like it'll eat through the concrete, I wonder if it's still anywhere else in the car, surely it wouldn't be good for it.

If I have stuffed the transfer case module, how much are they to replace? Can they be pre programmed?

[Dougal]

Can you clear the error codes by any means?

[Geedublya]

If you can open up the ECU. Soak it with metho as well and have a good look at it for burnt or corroded components. It may come good after you dry it out.

Check any other connectors nearby to make sure they didn't get wet as well.

I have had wet PCBs come good after the metho and drying treatment and I have had others that continued to give faults. One backplane PCB that only had connectors on it never came good even after I baked it in the oven at a low temp for a while.

[wrinklearthur]

The later high specification Land Rover models are very demanding on their battery, I would adopt a policy of a new battery every twelve months and put the older battery into another car where it would probably go on for years.

Fit a new battery before any other complications show up.
.

[waccampbell]

I will soak the pcb over the weekend, are you talking like drowning it and then hanging it up to dry? or just a spray here and there? I have heaps of meth at work, might have to borrow some.

So when a battery is showing signs of corrosion does this mean there is something wrong with it? I always just thought thats what they do after a while. It was weird because the positive terminal is like brand new but the negative terminal looks pretty bad, well did look bad.

If its doing something like this would it be worth replacing the battery as well?