Well the local independent cleared the fault message "air suspension inactive" and everything looked OK.But he had the car for a few days and told me that he noticed the car "dropping" so he took it to the LR dealer who plugged it in and produced a quote for a new L/F strut assembly (cost about 1250 GBP).

I decided to look at importing new parts from the USA so I did not get it replaced yet.

Had the car back for a few days now and the same fault message has returned.The car has stayed at normal road height and the error is still displayed.

Being a new guy to the FFRR and obviously not being familiar with the technical side of the cars,I assume that if the L/H front strut needs replacing because it leaks then the L/H front of the car would be much lower than the rest of the car,but it's not.

Is my assumption correct or could the dealer in fact be right.I don't have a problem with replacing any parts but I do have a problem replacing parts if they are not faulty.

Is there any other way to approach this?

thanks guys.

It would be handy if he told you the exact fauly the computer came up with.

Really though its one of two things, a failing height sensor (the fault code will be very specific) or a leaking air bag. The fault code for the latter will not be so speciffic and should always be verfified using a the tried and tested method of spraying with sopy water to see if it bubbles out anywhere.

Otherwise it's like replacing a tyre because it goes flat, in reality it could be a 50p valve that's failed not a £150 tyre.

The springs are NOT £1250 to replace. The new genuine part is £325 I cant believe they stuck nearly 1K on for fitting! 

Thanks Dan

Took it to the independent this morning and he could'nt reset it and referred me to someone else.

Its been reset now and there were two error codes ;

Code 001 ; K Bus Fault
Code 002; Articulation validity Fault.

Should have made it clear,I live in the Garden Route in South Africa and the quote is from the LR main agent and the labour element is less than 100GBP. On the last service even the brake pads all round cost about 325.00 GBP which also seemed pretty steep.

I think if I can get to the cause of the problem I will either import the genuine parts from the UK or the Arnott air springs from the USA.

If you can shed some light on the codes it would help greatly.

Thanks again.

Articulation Validity Fault points very much to a failed height sensor. Basically height sensor ** is saying 10CM where as the rest are saying 30CM (for example) and the system knows that can't be correct. It assumes a height of 30CM is the correct value and locks itself in standard height. This process is known as a "Plausibility Scenario"

If you chopped a leg a bit lower on a table it would wobble around, the EAS ECU is able to perform complex trigonometry to maintain balance on the system. The systems employed in the P38 and Classic were not able to cope with this and would always go into "hard fault".


Don't 100% take my word for it, but I would say you need to get the height sensors fully checked to make sure they give the correct reading throughout the range. 

Also check the fittings to the sensors are still fitted as they should be and havn't come adrift.

Thanks guys.

Found another independent locally who is a LR specialist.He will look at the car but at least he made some sense when I spoke with him.

Told me he will put it on his LR diagnostic and then start with checking the battery and then the height sensors then have a general check on the other parts not just fit an new L/F strut because the diagnostic tells him to.

Can anyone recommend a place in the UK to buy parts as I think I will have to import.