Driving to work this morning the amber Service Engine Soon light came on. The at lunch, upon restart, the SES light extinguishes itself only to be replaced by the red SRS light!

Anyone seen this? Am I about to battle my first Gremlin?

 

Sounds unrelated. SES and SRS shouldn't have anything to do with each other as far as I know.

For your SES light.....have it scanned. See if there are any pending codes, or other codes that aren't setting the MIL (SES light).

For your SRS light....it could be as simple as one of the seat sensors or seat belt sensors not working. Did you have someone in the truck with you before? Or maybe you put something heavy on the passenger's seat on the way to lunch? Sometimes its just that easy.

 

The SRS light comes on when there is a short in one of the connections from the DCU to one of the SRS components.

Diagnosing the truck will cost you around $120 at a Land Rover dealership of you might be able to find a indie LR shop that will do it for free or on the cheap. The testing equipment is expensive and not only brand but model specific. Some scanners can read a D2 DCU but not a D1 DCU.

WARNING: before you do any work on the SRS system you must disconnect the battery and let the truck sit for 10 minutes. Most items related to the SRS system are pyrotechnic and will explode and can cause serious enjury or death if proper precaution is not taken.

What sets off the SRS light? It can be something as simple as dust in the seat belt sensor. Try connecting and disconnecting the passengar side seat belt 20 or 30 times in a row with the truck running. Then restart the truck. If that doesn't work then try going to an empty parking lot turning the wheel all the way in one direction then start driving and just let the wheel work its way back to center. If you hear any unusual whining or other sound coming from the steering wheel it is the driver side airbag module that needs replacement. Another common problem is a short at the ground of either the driver side of passengar side seat belt pre-tensioner (where the seat belt clicks into). Check the bolt that holds the pre-tensioners in place. Loosen it and try tightening it down again. This is an eletrical ground for the pre-tensioner.

If you get a diagnostic it will tell you exactly what the problem is. If you need a new seat belt pre-tensioner, you have two options. The best bet is to get one from the dealer new. $218. You will need your VIN. Your second option is to get one used from one of our trusted parts guys like Will Tillery or Paul Grant. Besides seat belt pre-tensioners another common problem is the airbag units themselves. These I would suggest buying the part new from Land Rover and installing it yourself. Installation is fairly easy for both. Again disconnect the battery before handling the SRS system and always place the part not installed face up so if the airbag accidentally goes off it will not launch itself as a projectile.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I have a decent OBD scanner but haven't had a chance to check for any codes. I will tonight when I get home and hopefully that will shed some light on the subject.

W/ regard to the SRS light- if that issue persists I'll have James @ British 4x4 check it out. He'd most likely not charge me at all to hook it up and see where the issue lies.

It'll be interesting to see what (if any) lights are present when I leave in a few minutes!

 

That's good - because as you seem to know you won't be getting SRS codes with an OBDII scanner.

This is not Rover specific at all, but it's usually the seat belt switch. I've had heavy crap bash the clip side of the belt around on more than one occasion (think old school 20+" CRTs) and end up having the same problems, sometimes resolved as easily as plugging a seat belt in and removing it once (I suppose the switch ended up off-center/misaligned, etc).

Also check the connection under the seat if you've had anything rolling around down there.

 

Scan for codes, you won't be able to read the SRS codes. Then go clean and retighten your battery cables, go to a parts store and have them do a free charging system test. Better you system, most likely the battery is failing, needs to be between 13.6 and 14.4 volts.
Let us know what you find.

 

One stored fault code, P1173- which my scanner doesn't recognize definitions for.

Battery is a nearly-new Optima Yellow Top. I have a volts gauge installed in the truck that consistently reads right around 14 volts.

I tried fastening and unfastening the seat belts a few times, to no avail. Nothing heavy was in any of the seats. I'll have the SRS system diagnosed by James over at British 4x4 sometime this week.

 

RAVE says:

Front sensor aged - rear HO2S adaption too lean/too rich RH bank (NAS and EU-3 only)