Member Since: 28 Nov 2016
Location: London
Posts: 57
Complete electrical shutdown (then fixed itself)
Hi,
Today I fired up the car, a 2005 D3 HSE, and while waiting for the heated front glass to clear the frost, the dash went almost blank, the radio displayed "System fault shutting down system", the doors locked and unlocked, the right indicator started flashing, Hvac stopped. All buttons stopped working (though engine carried on running). iid tool wouldn't connect saying can't connect to CAN.
Then on its own everything cane back. However a minute later the same thing happened. I stopped the engine and restarted and all seems to be back to normal, idled fine and drive fine. I had a heap of "lost connection" faults with all the ECUs. Cleared them and nothing came back, all normal.
Recently I've had "special programs off" briefly on startup, and iid tool shows battery as 11.8v, then with engine running usually around 14.5v to a max of 14.8v, so I've suspected I'll need a new battery soon. However today after this the iid tool was showing as between 15.1v and 15.3v with engine on.
Does this sound likely as just a new battery needed, or could it also possibly be start of alternator fault? I'll measure properly tomorrow with multimeter.
Oh and also just to add - I did some Green laning 2 days ago, where water got above centre caps of wheels, and it was -1degres out there so wondered if this could have been as a result, but I drove the car for 3 decent journeys yesterday after the green laning without incident
5th Jan 2017 8:57 pm
Disco_Mikey
Member Since: 29 May 2007
Location: Dundee, Scotland
Posts: 20713
Member Since: 28 Nov 2016
Location: London
Posts: 57
Cheers bud, I'll have a look for that, I'll have a search of the forum tomorrow and find out where the tccm is, but water ingress is a real possibility, there's old water marks on the carpets, and if the tccm is in under the bonnet, the possible water has got in after the big puddle green laning, even though it wasn't a fast wade
6th Jan 2017 6:39 am
lynalldiscovery
Member Since: 22 Dec 2009
Location: Maidstone
Posts: 7274
My battery pretty much reads 15.1 volts all the time, peaks at 15.4 if its well loaded and can drop to 14.0 on a long run with no lights on etc.
I changed the battery recently and the readings are the same.
When I start mine and switch the demist button on the voltage drops quickly, but let car run for 10 secs or so then switch demist on and voltage stays nice and high, been like this for 2yrs now.
6th Jan 2017 6:55 am
Gianni330
Member Since: 08 Jan 2014
Location: Latina
Posts: 102
Hi,
Today I fired up the car, a 2005 D3 HSE, and while waiting for the heated front glass to clear the frost, the dash went almost blank, the radio displayed "System fault shutting down system", the doors locked and unlocked, the right indicator started flashing, Hvac stopped. All buttons stopped working (though engine carried on running). iid tool wouldn't connect saying can't connect to CAN.
I had almost the same as this last week.
I plugged a phone charger cable into the cigarette lighter to test it as it wouldn't work in another car.
Oh boy
In the split second it took for me to pull it out again it caused....
Christmas tree lights on the dash
Doors locking and unlocking rapidly
Hazards flashing
Dropped to the bump stops
They are the main ones I can remember but the engine stayed running.
I turned it off and when I tried to restart... nothing didn't even click.
I plugged in an IID and it couldn't connect to the Discovery.
I left it for about 20 minutes and when I came back to it with the intention of doing a hard reset but I didn't need to do that as it started and drove perfectly with no lights on the dash. IID showed 40 errors cleared them and all is well since except that cig lighter socket doesn't work and the phone charger went in the bin.
6th Jan 2017 1:16 pm
Gianni330
Member Since: 08 Jan 2014
Location: Latina
Posts: 102
what a scary story
It's a nightmare what a cigarette charger can do to electronics on a pseudo harmless point!
I wouldn't try to understand how it could happen an why
6th Jan 2017 4:38 pm
tuonov
Member Since: 28 Nov 2016
Location: London
Posts: 57
Unfortunately it's done it again, interestingly it's again -2 degrees out there, which seems to suggest that it is a water issue which is freezing. This time however the engine doesn't start at all, just get a click from a relay. Both times its done this the car has been facing downhill, not sure if this is linked, but I'd imagine it means that the water is running forwards.
My own fault, I didn't take Disco_Mikey's advice and check the TCCM for water ingress after last time, as it's been working fine all this time. Now I'm just hoping that once the car warms up, it starts so that I can drive it off the road to my garage, so I can check the TCCM.
18th Jan 2017 10:09 am
martin-t5r
Member Since: 08 Apr 2014
Location: suffolk
Posts: 31
I had a similar problem, changed battery and hasn't done it since. Maybe not the answer in every case but it worked for me
18th Jan 2017 11:12 am
cosmic329
Member Since: 17 Dec 2013
Location: Chichester
Posts: 177
Hard to diagnose these things over the forum and I would definitely take DM's advice, but the symptoms you describe are the same as I had when I needed a new battery. It presented itself when the weather was below freezing - presumably as the battery takes a hammering then. In addition to other checks, it might be worth charging the battery and seeing if the symptoms disappear.Discovery 4 SDV6 HSE '65 - Projects in planning phase!
Member Since: 23 Jul 2014
Location: Melksham, Wiltshire
Posts: 868
Batteries don't like the cold, old ones can also show good Volts but the current drain on a cold day can be too much for it.Dave
D3 2006 HSE, Cairns Blue - gone
D4 2016 SE, White
Member Since: 28 Nov 2016
Location: London
Posts: 57
Disco_Mikey, you know your stuff
I couldn't see any sign of water ingress at all, took apart the fuse box, looked at all boxes and all dry and no signs of water. Even tried a brand new battery, starting to doubt your advice, however no cigar.
Next I took off the cover for what I presume is the TCCM, and alas dreaded green corrosion under the connectors.
I've cleaned it up as best as I can, and as I type this in waiting for the last of the contact cleaner to evaporate, and I'll try it again. I hope that this is enough to get it working, and haven't fried the ecu
18th Jan 2017 10:03 pm
tuonov
Member Since: 28 Nov 2016
Location: London
Posts: 57
Success!!
All working as it should again, hopefully that's the last I'll see of that problem for the foreseeable future.
Only downside of the whole saga was that I lost my little fuse puller (what horrible access to the glove box fuse box, there's a wiring loom in the way!)
Thanks Disco_Mikey once again for the top advice
18th Jan 2017 11:12 pm
noizeman
Member Since: 14 Oct 2006
Location: Wirral
Posts: 133
tuonov, I'm having exactly the same problems as you described in your original post. My D3 has been standing unused for about three months so it could be a water/corrosion issue as you found.
My question is, where is the TCCM you describe? I don't recognise the location from your photo.
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