I'm about 10 payments away from not having to make any more payments on my 2005 LR3. This will be nice. I love this truck. I got it loaded a few years ago and have yet to see another LR3 I like better.

For the most part, the truck looks and runs like the day I got it, so I have very little impulse to replace it. And again, not having a car payment will be a big help.

However, for a while now the truck has had some electrical/computer related glitches that are becoming more frequent and I'm beginning to wonder if I should be worried. Some of it is very rare, some of it is fairly common.

Here's some of what's going on:

- HDC Fault: System Not Available message at startup. Goes away almost immediately and, from what I can tell, HDC is working after that (it lets me engage it). This happens, oh say 25% of the times i start the truck up.

- Radio/Stereo cuts in and out. This is almost constant. It cuts in and out like you're pulling the speaker wires on/off. Sometimes it does it once every few minutes, other times you can't even bear to listen to the stereo at all.

- Very subtle (but definitely present) flicker in dashboard display and overhead lights. This is always present.

- Parking Break light flashing on dashboard display. The parking break is, of course, not engaged (especially at 75 mph). This happens a few times a week.

- Truck gets into highest gear and refuses to shift out. Even jumping into sport/manual mode and trying to take it out doesn't take it out. I'm not all that worried that this is a transmission issue, it seems computer related (but what do I know). Stopping the vehicle, turning ignition on/off immediately resolves the problem. This has only happened twice in the last year.

Even asking the dealership to look into this stuff costs $125/hr and they don't turn anything up. Last time they called me and told me they found it and it was all fixed -- the culprit of a wiring connection behind the passenger door panel that had gotten wet and had corrosion, which they cleaned and repaired -- but, in reality, nothing changed.

So -- do I have a storm brewing -- a time bomb to ditch ASAP? Or can I drive this truck into the ground without worrying about having a $5,000 computer/electronics repair bill dumped in my lap any day?

Sorry about the long post. Lots to convey.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts / comments / etc.

 

I would find another rover shop to work on it. No dealer. If you want to keep it, then keep it. If you don't want to get it fixed, then don't. I wouldn't drive a lr3 that had all of those stupid little corks! haha The questions you asked are all opinion based. Look at the cost of getting a new rover, vs a $5000 computer bill. Would you like to tell us which is cheaper?

 

Atancreti -

I realize $5,000 (a figure I just threw out there anyway) is cheaper than a new truck, thanks. The point is that I'm not sure i want to invest $5,000 in a 7 year old truck with over 100k on it.

More importantly, the goal of my message is to see if someone with technical knowledge might be able to tie these symptoms together with a common potential cause. My hope is that there may be something inexpensive that might be causing many of these symptoms.

It seems many of them (flashing lights, cutting out radio, sensors picking up failures which aren't there, etc) could be the fault of some sort of short, loose wiring, corrosion (like the dealership found but didn't produce with), or even a module/part that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

 

Not to insult your intelligence, but the brake light flashing could something as simple as topping off your brake fluid. I just tackled this issue last month; a splash of DOT 4 fluid and you should be good to go.

 

Many owners on this forum have chased electrical gremlins in several versions of Rovers that were designed by electrical engineers run wild. The level of electronics demands a very reliable and stable power supply. That would be your battery, and unlike the old Chevy pickup that might be able to use the same battery for five years or more, you'll be lucky to get three. You can also monitor your electrical system voltage from the cigar lighter, with a $20 plug in meter from Wal Mart. Normal voltage should be in the 13.8 - 14.2 range, but what you may notice is a change in voltage when you are having other glitches. Might be an early warning for an alternator going out. Reading on this meter is a D1 at idle, with lights, AC, radio, wipers, etc. all turned on. If an alternator has a failed regulator it usually won't have any output, if a diode blows, the output amps could be reduced by 33%, so truck would do OK, except whe you try to use lots of devices (raining at night with AC, wipers, high beams on).

Also, you can buy an advanced scanner like the Hawkeye and diagnose a lot of electrical problems yourself. About 5 hours of shop time....

 

You're not insulting my intelligence, don't worry.

But, perhaps I'll insult my own ... I wouldn't think brake fluid had anything to do with the parking brake. It's the parking brake light that's flashing.

 

Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful reply. I'd be quite pleased to find out the flickering and radio cutting in and out and the seemingly bogus error messages could all be solved by something as simple as a battery replacement. It is a wonder the dealer never suggested any of this.

Looking forward to getting that meter and seeing if that's the culprit.

 

Can also be related to corrosion on battery terminals and cables, large cables and fuse links in any underhood fuse box, and the spot where the (-) battery cable is bolted to the frame. Your vehicle has more computing power than the Manhattan project.

 

My money is on the battery or alternator.

 

Reviving this thread because I finally had the battery and alternator tested. I had previously bought some cheapo meter that plugged into the cigarette lighter, but it didn't provide actual voltages, just BS lights that I should have known were useless before I wasted $8 on the thing.

Anyway, had my car into the local mechanic for an oil change and inspection and asked him to test the battery and alternator. He said the battery tested as fully charged and the alternator tested @ 13.8. 13.8 falls within the "normal" range, but is it too low for the LR3?

Additionally, odd behavior continues to pop up. On a long trip yesterday, I stopped for gas and my wife ran the radio on low power mode (engine off) for about 5 minutes while I went into the shop. Upon returning, the car wouldn't start and was behaving like the battery was dead ... also was flashing a "transmission error" message when trying to start it.

After letting it sit for just a few minutes and trying again, it started fine. I'd have to imagine that if the battery wasn't charged enough to start, it wouldn't have started again at all without a jump, no?

Once it started, it ran fine the remainder of the trip but I swear the transmission timing seemed off. It almost seemed as if the car was holding gear too long, almost feeling like I was all the sudden towing something and the engine needed to work harder to accelerate the vehicle.

I'm not sure how to proceed. I could replace the battery or alternator and hope for the best, but that's not cheap and I hate to do it for nothing.

Alternatively, I can take it to the dealer who can continue their hunting and pecking that has thus far turned up nothing -- and can also check on/reset the transmission timing. Also won't be cheap.

Any thoughts/advice are greatly welcomed. Thanks in advance.