Member Since: 12 Jan 2011
Location: Aberdeenshire
Posts: 4
Major electrical issue
Looking for some pointers on where to start looking for a fault. A couple of days ago wife was driving car and it came up with a message on the stereo LCD something like system fault, system shutting down, all the interior lights went off along with stereo, heater etc however it carried on running. She kept on driving and everything came back a minute later. Later that same day the same thing happened however car stopped at side of the road and was completely dead and nothing worked. After a few minutes however it allowed her to put the hazard warning lights started working. By the time I got there along with the AA, it started ok. AA tested battery and alternator and all seemed ok.
Same thing happens now pretty much everytime we have driven it (although car not stopped completely again, just shut down of all systems and lights inside). I followed her yesterday and it happened twice and each time the hazard warning lights come on when it goes into fault. It does this for a couple of minutes and then seems to all come back to life again. All the other lights stay on outside the car ok.
Seems like a very odd issue, any pointers to where to start looking? I don't have or know anyone with a fault reader unfortunately.
Only other issues we have at the moment which may be part of the symptoms is the airbag warning light came on about 2 weeks ago, not sure what is causing this. Also we have the screeching EPB issue which I am going to go out and adjust today although cannot imagine this is causing the issue.
2nd Jan 2014 12:56 pm
cerbfan
Member Since: 12 Jan 2011
Location: Aberdeenshire
Posts: 4
Anyone? I see a lot of people have read but no suggestions so far. It seems to be getting worse however and not even going a couple of miles now without faulting.
2nd Jan 2014 5:17 pm
adam
Member Since: 20 Sep 2005
Location: Home and Happy
Posts: 6917
I did have something similar a few years ago - eventually turned out to be a badly fitting terminal connections
2nd Jan 2014 5:21 pm
Robbie
Member Since: 05 Feb 2006
Location: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Posts: 17932
Hi cerbfan,
Welcome to the forum and sorry it is in such circumstances.
You have a canbus issue.
The canbus is the databus that links a load of different systems together. Given the sheer amount of systems and interconnections they can be a real pain to track down. A fault code reader can help a little, to at least narrow-down which bus has a fault (medium speed or high speed). The individual faults themselves cannot be used directly for diagnosis as with the bus in distress it will be throwing up all sorts of codes.
The airbag (restrains control) and EPB are on the high-speed bus but I don't think this is relevant yet.
The stereo and heating are on the medium-speed bus - given your symptoms this is where I would start.
I'm a bit ham-fisted at canbus diagnosis and it takes me ages to work stuff out the hard way. Hopefully a guru will give you better pointers than I can.
Sorry if the forum seems a little slow with its response; we do our best but I have been adjusting a hydraulic log splitter with my finest hammers. Blinkin thing.
Land Rover - Turning Drivers into Mechanics Since 1948
Last edited by Robbie on 2nd Jan 2014 8:03 pm. Edited 2 times in total
2nd Jan 2014 5:36 pm
crwoody
Member Since: 09 Mar 2009
Location: Littleborough
Posts: 2109
I'm with Adam here, loose battery terminals or possibly loose connection from battery earth lead to body. That's where I'd start anyway.
Edit; but happy to be proven wrong Clive
2nd Jan 2014 5:36 pm
cerbfan
Member Since: 12 Jan 2011
Location: Aberdeenshire
Posts: 4
Thanks for the info, so it looks like the medium speed canbus. I've checked all the terminals on the battery and earths and all ok. Been out for a drive and the same again, goes into system fault and driving around with the heating and stereo off and the hazards flashing (outside only no indication inside). I stopped and then the thing would not restart again, even after a hard reset, eventually it came back to life and allowed me to start it again.
What other things are located on the medium speed bus, is there any sort of schematic that shows where all the bus components and connectors are located?
2nd Jan 2014 7:12 pm
Robbie
Member Since: 05 Feb 2006
Location: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Posts: 17932
Member Since: 29 May 2007
Location: Dundee, Scotland
Posts: 20836
A fault with the H/S CAN BUS system will also cause all of the faults you list, but will also bring on a whole heap of warnings on the speedo pack My D3 Build Thread
Member Since: 12 Jan 2011
Location: Aberdeenshire
Posts: 4
Thanks Mikey, I've put the battery on trickle charge overnight as well, that was showing 12.60V so not that low however the charger said it was only at 80% so not sure if this could be causing any issue or not. I think its the original battery that is on it so would make it 7 years old if that is the case so probably due a change. The alternator was replaced last year so would hope that is not the problem.
I'm going to go and have a look at the transfer ECU for water ingress as well as I see a previous post from you pointing to this giving similar issues in the past as well.
Out of interest, it looks like you work on these yourself on location, whereabouts in Scotland are you, I'm in Peterhead.
2nd Jan 2014 9:04 pm
Disco_Mikey
Member Since: 29 May 2007
Location: Dundee, Scotland
Posts: 20836
Transfer case ECU is the most common area for CAN BUS issues, with the tail end of the chassis loom area next most common
A low battery would not cause CAN BUS issues, but would cause various issues upon start-up
I am mobile (or will be very shortly) and based in Dundee My D3 Build Thread
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