It's not really a famous L322 - but you might have seen my videos recently on YouTube. (https://youtu.be/iJP5RwEriyc)

If you have, you'll know that I've been having a few suspension related issues with her. Namely;

* The ride quality is nowhere near as good as it should be (particularly over small imperfections - over large undulations it seems 'OK') - it crashes over potholes and generally feels very unsettled unless you're on a perfectly smooth road.
* Secondly - the ride height seems to slowly go out of calibration over a period of a few days/weeks. Despite me recalibrating it multiple times, the front end seems to gradually raise, giving the car a 'leaned back' stance.

I'm getting to the point where I've tried pretty much everything I can think of to sort said issues, so I am hoping the collective brain of the FFRR can point me in the right direction. I need to give you all the back story so you can fully understand where I'm at now. Here goes;

The car is 2011 '61' plate 4.4 TDV8 Vogue with 191,000 miles on her, and was purchased in December of last year as the 'cheapest 4.4 TDV8 in the UK' from "Cars With No Reserve Reading" on eBay - as a bit of a running project. Before purchasing, I took the opportunity to test drive the car, whereupon it drove pretty nicely. I say "pretty nicely", because there was a slight knock from a front suspension component over potholes. Apart from that though, it drove and rode what I thought was exceptionally well for a car with its mileage. In fact, I was quite surprised by it - and on that basis I agreed to buy it. I discovered after buying it that it had *two* fully stamped service books, all from the same LR dealer in Sussex. Win!

Part of the agreement I had with the dealer was for him to MOT the car before I collected it. They did so, whereupon it failed the MOT on the following counts;

Repair immediately (major defects):
Offside Front Suspension arm pin or bush excessively worn rear arm (5.3.4 (a) (i))
Offside Rear Brake pipe excessively corroded (1.1.11 (c))
Nearside Rear Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (5.3.2 (b))
Repair as soon as possible (minor defects):
Nearside Front Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.2 (a) (i))
Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):
Rear Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge both (5.2.3 (e))
Offside Rear Shock absorbers light misting of oil or has limited damping effect (5.3.2 (b))

Has it ever had front struts/shocks?

At 190k, if they are the originals, they will be well worn out...

My suggestions:
1. Ensure that the rear height sensor arms are in the same relative position in case one has been refitted flipped after a shock change.
2. Find a slightly rough section of road to calibrate the CVDs - it's of no use doing it on a smooth surface. The couple of times that I've done it I've been driving at a constant 80 kph with a passenger pressing the start-calibration button on the phone.
3. As both rear shocks have required replacing, the fronts are likely to also be in need of replacing. If the fronts leak the oil will be out of sight inside the air-spring.
I'll be fitting front Bilsteins to mine tomorrow after having replaced the rears with Bilsteins a year ago, as the ride at the front has become harsh from lack of damping and the shocks have been recalibrated twice already.

There is no need to recalibrate height sensors after the vehicle has been lifted off its wheels.

Mikey wrote:

Has it ever had front struts/shocks?

At 190k, if they are the originals, they will be well worn out...

GraemeS wrote:

My suggestions:
1. Ensure that the rear height sensor arms are in the same relative position in case one has been refitted flipped after a shock change.
2. Find a slightly rough section of road to calibrate the CVDs - it's of no use doing it on a smooth surface. The couple of times that I've done it I've been driving at a constant 80 kph with a passenger pressing the start-calibration button on the phone.
3. As both rear shocks have required replacing, the fronts are likely to also be in need of replacing. If the fronts leak the oil will be out of sight inside the air-spring.
I'll be fitting front Bilsteins to mine tomorrow after having replaced the rears with Bilsteins a year ago, as the ride at the front has become harsh from lack of damping and the shocks have been recalibrated twice already.

There is no need to recalibrate height sensors after the vehicle has been lifted off its wheels.

I also have this. Except it usually happens 5-15 minutes into a journey, sometime straight away, which makes me think it’s something electrical

Edit:

Quote:

Used a current clamp to measure the current applied to the rear VDS solenoids whilst driving. This revealed that the solenoids were getting the correct ~1.5A current during normal driving. This is also confirmed when viewing live data of the current demand in SDD and IID.

The calibration process allows the ecu to determine how much to open the valves (varies the pwm duty cycle) on rough surfaces in order to provide a smooth ride, as detected by the 3 accelerometers mounted on the body. If the calibration surface is too smooth then the valves won't be opened enough on rougher surfaces and if too rough then the valves will be open too much on lesser surfaces resulting in inadequate damping. I tried several different surfaces and travel speeds on my initial calibration, finally settling on a stretch of road with minor surface irregularities at 80 kph then used the same stretch of road when recalibrating the next time. Mine's rear shocks were worst due to towing a van with a heavy ball weight but the fronts are now at the point where they're not doing a proper job.

Hi Sam,
I think your issue may lie with the suspension loosing its cal’ . You have established the VDS is functional by disconnecting a damper which effectively makes it inoperative.

Regarding the suspension cal’ just thinking out loud, have you a wiring issue to the rear height sensors or a height sensor issue. Maybe check resistance & for short to power/ ground of the sensor wiring back to the module, it maybe that it’s not enough not set a DTC but enough to alter the level of the vehicle. If a resistance check proves ok you may still have a problem with the wiring as a multimeter does not “load” the wire. If possible run a 21w bulb through each wire, if you can isolate through the plugs, and note any significant voltage drop.
It appears from your excellent rendition of events that this issue has established itself after disturbance with other related repairs or may be purely coincidental.

Great videos BTW, look forward to the root cause of this as I’m sure many others will as well
QT

The height sensor signals are extremely unlikely to support a 21W load which would therefore damage the height sensor. If the fault is with a height sensor then it will be that the sensor is sending incorrect values due being faulty, not a circuit continuity issue.

Was the replacement sensor a LR genuine part? I've read of after-market sensors giving false readings.

I agree, I am suggesting to test the wire at each end disconnected from the module & sensors, sorry if that confused

coopss wrote:

I also have this. Except it usually happens 5-15 minutes into a journey, sometime straight away, which makes me think it’s something electrical

Edit:

Quote:

Used a current clamp to measure the current applied to the rear VDS solenoids whilst driving. This revealed that the solenoids were getting the correct ~1.5A current during normal driving. This is also confirmed when viewing live data of the current demand in SDD and IID.

How did you read the values in IID tool?

GraemeS wrote:

The calibration process allows the ecu to determine how much to open the valves (varies the pwm duty cycle) on rough surfaces in order to provide a smooth ride, as detected by the 3 accelerometers mounted on the body. If the calibration surface is too smooth then the valves won't be opened enough on rougher surfaces and if too rough then the valves will be open too much on lesser surfaces resulting in inadequate damping. I tried several different surfaces and travel speeds on my initial calibration, finally settling on a stretch of road with minor surface irregularities at 80 kph then used the same stretch of road when recalibrating the next time. Mine's rear shocks were worst due to towing a van with a heavy ball weight but the fronts are now at the point where they're not doing a proper job.

Ah, I thought it was the other way around - where a smooth calibration surface would give you a lower damping rate and a rough surface would give you a higher damping rate? Currently, mine is definitely OVERdamped over imperfections etc. I will try recalibrating on different surfaces but I'm not too confident it'll have much effect (going by my previous tries).

R.e. the height sensors, is there a way to check what they are reading vs. the set height?
Also - has anyone else heard of the 'longitudinal acceleration sensor' causing an incorrect vehicle pitch before?

I stuck my head under the back of the truck earlier and noticed that the subframe bushes look a little past their best-

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Thanks all for the replies so far

That’s one of the accelerometers that affects the damper ECU. There are three I think and from memory this one is under the spare wheel cover.

To answer your question about the history of my issue similar to yours: it’s always been like this in my ownership. I have no errors on mine.

Watching the bonnet movement in relation to the road does seems as though it’s the front bouncing but as per your notes it feels like it’s the back  1995 4.6 v8, green/tan (long gone)
2005 4.8iS X5, blue/black
2011 4.4 tdv8, black/black (gone)
2003 3.0d X5, Oxford green/black/manual
2021 p575 SVR, BR green/vintage tan

Great vids, been watching with interest!

WRT your issues - I've seen it mentioned on another thread here (so not my idea) that one or more of the accelerometers could be loose and not secured correctly, giving these symptoms. Worth a check.

Jon 1992 RR Classic 3.9 efi Vogue
2014 Disco 4 HSE
===================
Both my fatties now gone...
Previous: 2011 L322 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE /// 2002 L322 4.4 V8 HSE /// 2009 Discovery 3 2.7 TDV6 XS /// 2004 Defender 90 TD5 /// 1993 110 V8 Snatch Landrover /// 2005 Discovery 3 2.7 TDV6 SE (Aus) /// 1990 110 Isuzu 3.9 County (Aus) /// 1976 Series III Trayback (Aus)

LandyManSam wrote:

R.e. the height sensors, is there a way to check what they are reading vs. the set height?

The height sensors with 6 pins are a twin height sensor used only on the later L322 whereby the 2nd height signal is used by the CVD ecu. However the height sensors used on the L494, L405 and later-released vehicles have only 1 height sensor/signal which is shared by height control and CVD control, being located within the one enclosure compared with the L322's 2 distinct modules.

Bi-xenon headlights that swivel use a headlamp levelling ecu to keep the beam level under hard braking and hard acceleration whereas fixed bi-xenon and halogen headlights don't.