Need some help here guys

Purchased the car 3 to 4 months ago, got a suspension 1 week in, indy swapped out the pump for a new one at the selling dealers expense in December, all good, in January I started to get the same dash suspension fault and light disabled but intermittently.

I don't do much mileage so have lived with it no issues what-so-ever, only inconvenience being that I like to lower the car when parking. I decided I'd better ask someone else to look at it and heard Land Ranger were nice guys and have good reviews, off I went and they plugged in, told me in 5 mins it was an exhaust fault likely to be the new air compressor sticking, common fault, cleared the fault and said come back if it comes on again, just to confirm.

After a couple of days, Bing! suspension fault, back to Land Ranger, same code, yep, get the new pump changed mate, so on Thursday I took it back to the garage whom fitted the pump for them to check, went back later that day and they told me I needed to "sit down, it's not the new pump, the pump shows no errors, it's an electrical issue that could be anywhere on the car, they can fix it but they have no idea how long it could take, 10 hours, 30 hours, just don't know sir?"

You can imagine how nice that was to hear as I drove home for the Easter weekend

The BIG problem I have is that I just can't live with being told to drop my trousers and bend over until we tell you to stop, financially speaking!!! so I'm looking for some direction and even better, some technical advise so I can try some DIY tasks, I'm pretty good with general car work but electric's on these things makes me a little apprehensive as I don't know where to start!!

May not be related but my Nokia Bluetooth unit died a couple of weeks back, thanks to you guys on this forum I used the bic pen trick until I got a new one, hoping for the same result on this one, such a shame as I do love these big boys toys

I can't offer any technical advice, but you might like to look at the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Citizens Advice summary about it. I have a recollection that faults occurring within 6 months of a purchase from a dealer are deemed to have existed at the time of sale, so you might have rights against the seller. Only Range Rovers since 1988

OK, some initial thoughts.

Bluetooth unit died.....That's in the NSR cubby which is a known water ingress point. LR made a water shield to divert water away from all those units. Yours, being a S/C will have lots of modules there so I would check all the connections in there.

Wheel height sensors are also known to fail sometimes. Needs an IID (or similar) to check out their readings although the wiring can be checked. Might be worth doing.

General connections. Battery, all the earth points (main 4 corners) are always worth cleaning up and tightening.

Beyond that you need to see if the car is generating codes.

I don't know Land Ranger, but if you trust them then why not go back there and ask them ?

Who fitted the pump, were they LR/RR specialists ?

What was the code? (not just the Message Centre fault but that as well)

Agree that with a new compressor it is unlikely to be a blocked exhaust.

What is the condition of your battery?

Any other fault codes registered? ABS? Brake Fluid Level ?

Any other work been done on your air suspension? .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

Today I have stripped out the back end, no water or damp, however I did swap out the Nokia unit and it looked to me like it was untouched from new 10 years ago, there was clear signs of oxidisation on the large connector and inside the old Nokia unit/pins. Cleaned up the connector black and replaced the Nokia unit, all working fine now.

It's raining hard here now, storm Katie doing her thing!! but I will go through every connector on that passenger rear side. Whilst sorting the Nokia device I have been raising and lowering it a few timing and all seems good although the 1st time I went to offload height I got a slow to lift message but okay on all other attempts, maybe because I never select off road maybe?

On the drivers rear side I unplugged all relating (and non related) fuses and relays and no sign of previous water damage or green oxidisation so I think that side is okay.

I will disconnect and reconnect the EAS unit location on the drivers side dash just incase and carry out some of your suggestions.

The suspension fault message warning comes up more frequent now but I did have to short drives last week and had no problems/warnings, it seems to me that if I start the car and immediately set the car back up to normal drive height, then set off, usually no warning appear?

I think I need to buy an IID tool?, the garage that swapped out the pump are not approved, just a run of the mill garage, they said their machine was £40k and they can diagnose and fix all LR / BMW and Jags. They said the codes are not relevant as they are false codes caused by an electric fault although they said the not exhausting error was not the new pump?? I didn't get a code so I'll go back to Land Ranger and get the codes and clear them again to see if all my reconnecting of modules has worked.

Sounds like low battery voltage to me, check the voltage with engine off over night and then after a few minutes of running...

Should be around 12.4 - 12.6 and 13.5-14.4...  Pete

__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Might be worth changing the EAS relay in the O/S/R cubby box, they are around a tenner and it could be the cause if the contacts are burnt..... it's rated at 70 amps so the internals get a bit of a kicking every time the compressor kicks in.... they are supposed to change it with the compressor... but few do  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

Thanks for the help so far, been through the rear end of the FFRR and all looks as it should, no damp, water or oxidisation on any of the connectors or electrics.

Today I took a little trip out to the bank, on starting the compressor kicked in and I noticed that the rear end raised slowly, to the point where the front end released air twice before the compressor got the rear up, so I'm thinking the rear control valve is failing?

Both journeys to and from the bank with no suspension fault. Will get it checked out next week regarding code info but think I should change out the rear cross link valve and the rear height sensors as they aren't expensive, is there is WIKI DIY for these two jobs?

Did you check the voltage, a failing battery can cause all sorts of problems...

If the valve or the sensors have failed then they will have logged a fault...

Much cheaper to get the codes read than it is to just keep changing bits.....

If your going to keep it well worth investing in an IID tool or similar, not cheap but very good resale value when you change vehicle...  Pete

__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Yes have been thinking of purchasing an Iid tool, would save a lot of time and money!!! I have a receipt for a new LR battery last year, could still be the source of the problem though!!

in the 753 diag menu the battery readings were 11.6 ignition on and 14.1 engine running, battery receipted July last year, genuine LR

Haylands wrote:

Sounds like low battery voltage to me, check the voltage with engine off over night and then after a few minutes of running...

Should be around 12.4 - 12.6 and 13.5-14.4...

The slow rising may be an indication of leaking airbags in the suspension. With my 2006 4.2 I started having similar issues (didn't replace the compressor) and since I needed to replace the suspension rubbers, the front struts were out anyway, showing massive cracking in the fold over area. Replaced the struts and all was good after that. Does your car sink onto the bump stops after a while of sitting still ?? Do you hear hissing (needs to be in a very quiet environment) ?? MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

No hissing and I get very little drop when left for a few days, I've read plenty on this now and believe my FF is in the range of normal, left it for 3 week over Christmas and it only dropped approx 2"
So frustrating, been working perfect to and from work today
Will get the full error code from Land Ranger in the next few days

Have you tried another £10 relay yet? In all honesty it is a well overlooked item when the pump is changed.... and as they don't have spark suppression on the contacts they will burn away eventually  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!