Hi All-

Ordinarily I wouldn't buy a car and post a same-day question about how to fix something, but...well here I am. Wrecked my D1 a couple weeks ago and found a LR3 today to take home. Price was right and it checked out with only a non-CEL-causing P0561 System voltage unstable. Since the PO just had the battery and alternator replaced (reman, and under warranty), I figured it couldn't be that bad. I drive back 100 miles with torq set to monitor voltage and it seemed to fluctuate btwn 13.7 and 14.1. Seemed innocuous.

But also on the way home, I got a suspension fault and the yellow rollover icon on the dash. truck didn't seem to dip or drive differently. It re-set at lunch and happened again another 15 minutes in. Truck raises to off-road height and seems to stay there when I tell it to. I can hear the compressor working.

So the reason why I'm asking now rather than diving in (which I already have to some degree) is because I was hoping to have some recourse with the seller who didn't disclose the suspension issue and time is of the essence. I'd like to get an order of magnitude for what I'm dealing with. I'm wondering if someone could a.) let me know if the suspension issue could be related to the voltage instability code and/or b.) shoot me a quick link to finding a magical way to determine what the suspension issue is. I don't have IID and live in a town nowhere near a LR dealer, and likely without a good LR indy, tho that's TBD. I tend to do all work myself.

My name's Peter, hello. I'll probably be hanging here for the near future and promise this is not how I would normally roll.

 

small update, I was just watching a video and went out to lift to off-road height in order to leave it overnight. Raised right up, no problem. Turned off the engine and went to leave and heard a hissing noise from the front left wheel well. So if it hits 40 degrees tomorrow I'll see if I can see exactly where it's coming from. Should be easy to find anyway.

 

Hissing is never good, likely a leaking bag as a valve block would generally just leak slowly and mostly silent. Remove fuse 26 for self leveling and you see which side drops overnight
Does sound like a dicky alternator which this guy also had -

https://landroverforums.com/forum/ge...ng-lr3-106610/

 

Thanks for the input. At least I feel like I can rule out the 2 things, unstable voltage and suspension fault, being related.

For the P0561: Is there some sort of voltage regulator on the alternator itself? Or elsewhere?

For the suspension: if it's the "bag," does that mean the strut gets replaced? If so, can only one side be done at a time? What's a good source for these? I see listings for ~$130 on eBa_y--are these decent?

I guess it's too early to go down that path but I should know more later today.

 

You can replace the air bag only. I think Rock Auto sells complete units and just the bags.
How rapidly does your voltage change? If it is 14.1 when you start the car and then drops to 13.7 after a few minutes I would call that normal. If there is a rapid oscillation that suggests a probkem with the regulator in the alternator but I would loosen, wiggle and retighten related wires and cables first.

 

It could be a hissing from the air tank as well. I went through that myself. Pretty easy DIY job. Fingers crossed it's the tank and not the bag. EAS leak test will help. Have to pull F26 or power though.

 

So it was pretty easy to find the source of the hiss/leak. It's just underneath the tin can at the top of the strut where it hangs over the black part. There's a pic below, its just above the tip of the screwdriver. I can manipulate the rubber there where it seems to attach to the strut body and change the hiss. So troubleshooting is complete.

Quick research indicates the strut comes out with a little difficulty--OK no problem. Coupla quick questions. Can I do work on one side without doing the same on the other? If sourcing a replacement, is there a "best" way to go? I'm super happy to replace only the bag (@Gordo51) and saw a video of a Chinese guy doing it with no explanation as to order of components, etc. Are there instructions included with that? Do ppl ever replace these with used take-offs?

At this point, I'm not concerned with the urgency of getting the PO to contribute. I was thinking the worst. This seems manageable.

 

How many miles on the Rover? I'd recommend replacing the whole shock and doing them in pairs.

 

I failed at grabbing a log that showed the fluctuation, but it was basically from mid-13s to low-14s. So nothing out of a useful range, just a lot of bouncing around. I haven't really ever looked at this before on any car to see if it is rock-solid straight-line VDC, but this is definitely moving around a lot. Haven't had a chance to check out the wiring but the truck seems to be well sorted in that regard. There hasn't been a lot of hack mechanics (until now...) and there's no rust so I doubt there are loose connections.

 

It really should settle down to a constant voltage while driving. If connections are all good I would suspect the alternator.