electrical problems – Page 3

November 15, 2010May 15, 2023

Uggggh! Electrical Problems (Post #220) 11/15/2010

I love electrical problems. I love them like I love ingrown toenails. I love them like I love getting speeding tickets. I love them like I love getting phone calls from my children telling me they have dropped ANOTHER cell phone in a toilet or a sink at work or jumped in the swimming pool with it in their pocket.

Lately my electrical problems have been related to the transmission system. When I pull the shifter to change gears the warning tone goes off. Here is the page from the Range Rover Owner’s Manual 1993, Page 41.

Just before I took the Range Rover out of service RovErica and I had been seeing the odd Code 69. And during the really, really cold weather the tone would sound randomly. DietMtDrew thought that was, “the coolest code ever”. Great, teenage boys, I’m pretty sure that is something he and I should talk about. Anyway, it looks like I have something going on with the switches and monitoring of my transmission.

I am guessing the next thing is to find all the electrics and check the connections. Right now the engine and transmission are hot and will need to cool. With the weather change outside that will be easy. Today the temp outside was 57 (F) degrees. It is interesting that when I started this project the temperature is 107 (F) outside. By the time I finish this project, and I say finish in a “finish for now” sorta way, the temperature will be closer to 37 (F) outside.

The engine and transmission were hot, because I swapped the transmission fluid in the transmission. And after I swapped it I went for a little drive. The fluid that came out was a nasty color and had a burnt smell. That was totally expected. If you have read the blog you know I burnt four gear pulling the camping trailer back from Fort Sill where I took possession from military surplus.

I ran an errand early this afternoon to fill up my wife’s Honda CRV with petrol and while I was out I bought a gallon of Mercon/Dex-a-something-or-other. I read a blog post where swapping the fluid was as easy as dropping the fluid and pouring in a gallon of new fluid. It took a little more than a gallon to top her off.

While I was working on replacing the center console I managed to damage the emergency brake position switch. And now it’s broke. I’ll get to that after I sort out the last of my lovely electrical issues, brake light. The last time I shut the Rover down all was well. When I started her up this time, I have a nagging brake light illuminated in the warning lights. Nothing has changed in that system from the last time I drove her so I’ll have to get under and check all the sensors and pray I find a loose wire somewhere. It’s a lead pipe cinch it’s not the emergency brake position switch.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

November 13, 2009May 15, 2023

Central Locking System Woes (Post #158) 11/13/2009

I attempted to repair the central locking system on Veteran’s Day. I could write this post in the form of a battle, but I will not. I won’t write the post in that form mainly because…

“History is written by the victors.” – Winston Churchill

So with that quote you have probably figured out I lost the battle.

First, I wasn’t totally confident I would win. I took a lot of INTEL (reading and research) in to the battle with me.
I had all the RESOURCES (tools and time) to win.
None of that allowed me to carry the day.

I got the panels off of the passenger side doors. These were the locks that bounced UP and DOWN four or five times each time one of them was locked. This resulted in the locks either being locked or unlocked when it finished. It was a crap shoot each time. So to lock the Rover you waited for the cycling to stop and then you manually lock the doors. As you can imagine, I received quite a bit of teasing from the unwashed non-Rover people that ride in my beloved Landy.

After the panels were removed I attempted to sort out what was happening each time the locks were depressed. I’m guessing there is a threshold that checks if the locks are in the locked state. And at the point you press the lock it attempts to lock the door several times until it just gives up. That is a basically a WAG (wild ass guess).

Even my remote fails to do the job. I did use it once to unlock the doors as a last resort after my daughter locked the last remaining key in the truck on a very cold winter day. Also locked inside the vehicle that day was her coat. So with freezing rain coming down we each learned a valuable lesson that day.

I guess I’m going to replace the entire system. Or I’m going to at the least replace some bits to get it back to functioning. There is a great post by Chris-St Louis on DiscoWeb describing how he repaired his central locking system. There is even a schematic that shows how to wire the entire system with two relays. To check out his post you will have to register at the site.

There are some great tips on the RangeRovers.net site as well. I’d go through these before jumping to the replace everything stage. A used replacement door lock module could also be a solution if you are willing to spend the money for it. Perhaps your’s is just worn out.

So for the mean time I have pulled the fuse and I am locking and unlocking the doors “the old fashioned way” ala’ my 1978 Malibu. It is a barbaric method of locking your vehicle. But it does cut down on the disparaging remarks from my non-Rover buddies.

Chris graces all his posts with another great quote by Winston Churchill.

“Truth is incontrovertible; malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it; but, in the end; there it is.”

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.