Looking for help to troubleshoot my wife's 2008 LR2 with 120k,. Original owners.
Filled up with gas and reset the message center mileage. 10 minutes later, the gauges, message center, odometer and blinker stopped working (basically the dash went dark) while on the freeway. (Navigation and Radio still had power.) We pulled off, verified the brake lights were working and after 5 minutes restarted with gauges working except gas which showed empty (low fuel light on) - it slowly crept back to full. About 10-15 minutes later the cycle repeated itself. Stopped, waited a few minutes and restarted and everything was working again. We decided at that point to head home.

The cycle repeated itself several more times, with the addition to the message center showing a sequence of errors - transmission, engine faults, bonnet, doors, tailgate open - before it went dark, but after the gauges stopped. The car was running fine during all of this. There are no other errors popping up.

Previously we have had intermittent issues with the message center going dark, fuel temporarily showing empty after a fill up and resetting the message center miles. Based on other threads (thanks P_Gill!) I recently replaced the battery with an AGM and and R1, R2 and R7 with FOMOCO relays. I have not replaced fuses but have pulled several and cleaned and wire brushed the connections. I'm thinking this may not be a fuse issue since the blinker and dash are on separate circuits?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. The dealer's schedule is 2+ weeks out, and I didn't have the best experience with them troubleshooting/replacing a steering lock sensor (steering wheel locked message - would not start without removing the negative cable) a couple of years ago.

Thank you,
Paul

 

Paul S.,

You are on the right path.

A long time ago I had instrument panel problems, the root cause was a failing battery.

I replaced the battery and it has been good for several years.

I see you replaced the battery recently, that’s what I would recommend to do first.

Because you are still having problems my next recommendation would be.

1. Measure the voltage dip at the battery while starting (the voltage should stay above 10 volts)

2. Verify the charging voltage from the Alternator ( should be above 13.5 volts at idle)

3. Ask you wife to power up the vehicle first and start the engine second (dock the key but don’t touch the brake then press start for two seconds and everything should turn on then press the brake and the start button and the engine should start)

4. Replace all of the fuses by the front passengers feet

5. When the dash board isn’t functioning turn on the hazard Lights and press the lock button. All of these circuits use the same ground connection. A bad ground should disable all of these.

let me know what you find out

thanks

Paul G.

 

This thread has more information

https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic34604-30.html

 

Paul S.,

One more link.

This link shows some connectors behind the carpet by the front passengers feet that can come loose.

And according to the Wiring Diagram the CAN BUS connection for the instrument panel is part of these connectors.

The CAN BUS for the instrument panel is connected thru C23

Note: the connectors are hidden behind the carpet and behind a plastic panel

https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic27748.html

Good Luck

Paul G.

 

P-Gill,
Thank you so much for your help!

Here are the results;
1. Voltage at Start - 11.42 first round, 11.68 second round.
2. Voltage at idle (measured at battery, not alternator) - 14.04
w/headlights - 14.12
+ w/Seat Heaters 14.09
+w/Front/Rear Fog Lights 14.01
+ w/AC 14.05
Accessories off but at idle 14.08
Engine back off - dropping - 12.9 after a couple of minutes
3. We will try powering up before starting.
4. Will work on changing passenger compartment fuses next and advise if that makes a difference.
5. The dash has been mostly fine since the whole instrument cluster and turn signals went dead over the weekend. When the cluster fail occurred, I tried the flashers (dead) but not the lock button (that I recall). You mentioned a possible ground issue. Would an additional earth ground strap be something to try? We were having occasional slow start issues (in addition to the wonky display issues) before replacing the battery and had considered adding a ground, though I couldn't quite figure out where to terminate it on the block.
6. I found the connectors under the passenger carpet (after some fiddling, I was able to open the white box by pulling the tabs OUT.. The C23 plug looked to be solidly connected, but I unplugged and re-plugged the connector. Anything else to check there?

A couple of other notes;
Since the weekend, the majority of the dash has been working OK. However, my wife reported an average speed of 624 MPH on the information display while out running errands. Impressive! It also keeps zeroing out, something I don't think happened before the gremlins surfaced.
The full instrument cluster failure seemed to be correlated to filling up with gas and resetting the information mileage. In the past, this caused a cycle of a low fuel light and empty gas gauge that slowly moved back to full. This weekend was the first time the dash went completely dead..
Also,
I called an independent Land Rover mechanic to get advice - he said he didn't have much experience with LR2's (go figure) but thought it might be either a bad instrument cluster or a bad medium speed bus, but only based on experience with other models.
I then contacted an instrument cluster repair site (on the chance that my LR dealer may recommend a new instrument cluster) and they said this was an "extremely difficult" cluster to repair and would require 2 days to load the immobilizer data, plus other stuff...

Thanks again for the help..
Paul S.

 

G3D134 should be the ground point you are looking for

I suspect that its near the gear selector.

 

Paul S.

One last thought

When you fill up with gas do you leave the key in the Docking station.

I don't do that anymore.

For my LR2 if I hot soak it at the gas station with the engine off and the key docked then the fuel pump won't run and the engine will not start.

If I remove the key and then install it after I fill the gas (or Petrol if you prefer, it is a British car) then everything works fine.

I recommend never restarting with the key docked.

Always remove the key when the engine is turned off.

Take care

Paul G.

 

One last thought

All of the measurements you made look good to me.

Don't give up.

i am confident that you will find the answer

take care

Paul

 

Are there any fusible links on the LR2? This sounds like a classic fusible link issue where a hairline crack develops. Voltage readings good, but the link can not handle the voltage.

 

Paul G.

• Passenger fuses are installed, and the car started up with all of the information center data reset (avg mpg, speed, trip meter) and trip meter on the odometer reset. Will report back to see if it solves some of the daily issues like the avg mileage display resetting to dashes very few minutes while driving. We don't remember if the avg mileage resetting to ---- periodically is normal for an LR2?
• Next up is to check the G3D134 ground. I found a couple of videos -
  How to remove the center floor console on Land Rover Freelander 2
  and
  Freelander 2 auto gear stick **** removal and replace
  that should help me get things opened up to have a look around, but it may be a day or two.
• We don't usually leave the key docked when filling up - I read you earlier posts and have been following that process (as well as for the last fill up when the dash went south)
• Driving over the last few days, we haven't seen any repeats of the dash going dark and resetting...
• Thanks for the positive words, and the continued help.

Dakota - I did a quick search and found there are a couple of parts labeled as fusible links on the LR2. https://www.landrovermerriamparts.co...fuse-and-relay. This doesn't look like the type fusible links on my sons old Nissan truck which are wires hanging off the battery terminal. I have already replaced some of the relays, and will look into these fusible links as well..

Thanks,
Paul S.