Photo: Steering
wheel on a 2003 Supercharged Range Rover (from official press
photo)
Introduction
Some of the most common problems experienced by owners of the Range
Rover III/4.4/L322 have to do with the steering column power adjust
mechanism.
(For problem reports see the RR
III Common Symptoms and Fixes page). The main problem was the tilt
mechanism, with owners reporting jamming at the top of the motion
range, or sometimes dropping to the
bottom of its range and flopping freely up and down. This page is an
effort to document the official solutions and solicit input from owners
regarding any alternative solutions.
Failure Symptoms
The steering column tilt adjustment jams, usually in the uppermost
position. The problem can be intermittent. It can probably be avoided
by not adjusting the mechanism to its extreme high and low points.
Official Land Rover Efforts to
Address Problem
In December 2002, Land Rover issued a service bulletin (TA02 5704) with
a temporary cure pending the availability of an upgraded tilt motor. The cause is improper
adjustment of the
spindle nut on the steering
column
motor mechanism. The spindle comes out of the motor transmission
on the tilt or telescoping motor, and was improperly adjusted at
Solihull. The nut on the
spindle shaft
tightens
up excessively as the column reaches its end of travel and if the
driver does
not release the adjustment switch immediately, it tends to lock the
spindle and
no further movement in the opposite direction is possible. One quick
solution is to introduce a second nut after the original nut and lock
the two together. Thus,
the tendency of the two interlocked nuts to rotate any further is
significantly
reduced.The
solution consisted of slackening the tension on the jammed adjustment
spindle.
Four months later, in April 2003, a more permanent fix was announced in
service bulletin TEC570405. At this time the new tilt motor became
available and instructions for replacement were issued.
Up until 2006, there was never a service campaign to replace the motor
on all affected
RRs, so models with a build date before the April 2004 bulletin were
still at risk for the problem. Later models should have the new tilt
motor installed during production.
In April 2006, another service bulletin was issued covering all RRs
built to that date, specifying that any remaining problems should be
fixed by replacing the entire steering column. Later in 2006 this
became an official recall campaign.
Temporary Fix
To access the tilt
mechanism, simply disconnect the steering column extension bellows and
undo the three Torx screws holding the lower steering column shroud in
place. After dropping this shroud, you should be able to see the
mechanism depicted at right.
Acccording to the
first service bulletin on this issue, at
the extremes of tilt travel the tilt adjustment motor spindle can move
laterally within its bearing, causing the tilt adjustment system to
jam. From what I can glean and guess, it seems that the problem lies in
a sloppy fit of the motor output shaft to the spindle.
Without a redesigned tilt motor, the officially recommended
temporary cure was to slackening the tension on the jammed adjustment
spindle to restore operation. The procedure was simply to rotate the
nyloc spindle nut half a turn counterclockwise (viewed from the end of
the shaft). Vehicles that have undergone this provedure will have a dab
of white paint on the spindle housing to indicate this operation was
done.
(Photo at right
adapted from the
official Land Rover TSB shows the nyloc nut at the extreme right. The
tilt motor itself is
out of picture at left)
An unofficial
improvement to this fix is is to
slacken
the tension on the jammed adjustment spindle as above, and then introduce a second
nut after the original nut and lock
the two together. Thus,
the tendency of the two interlocked nuts to rotate any further is
significantly
reduced. However this is a
bit tricky because there is not much thread on the spindle protruding
beyond the nyloc nut.
Permanent Cure: Replacement with
Revised Tilt Motor
Replacing the tilt motor with the later design introduced in April 2003
is a fairly simple operation and is supposed to cure the tilt jamming
problem entirely. A kit consisting of the replacement motor and
mounting screws is part number QME500070. The main steps of the
procedure are outlined below.
(Photo at right of
tilt motor
mechanism adapted from official Land Rover TSB)
1. Move the seat back,
extend the steering column and disconnect the extension bellows from
the trim. Undo the three Torx screws
holding the lower steering column shroud in place. After dropping this
shroud, you should be able to see the tilt mechanism, looking something
like the picture at right.
2. Officially the battery would be disconnected before the next
step -- wait at least 2 minutes after turning off the ignition and then
disconnect the battery ground lead. Then disconnect the tilt motor's
multiplug.
3. Remove the two Allen head mounting screws holding the tilt motor
on (see photo). Remove the adjustment motor, being careful to save the
drive spindle piece that joins the motor output to the threaded spindle
shaft (see photo inset).
4. Stick the old spindle into the new motor, and mount the motor in
position, torquing up the Allen screws to 4.1 lb-ft (5.5 Nm). If the
nyloc "steering column tilt adjustment drive gear nut" moves, torque it
to 2.2 lb-ft (3 Nm). Slap the trim back on and you are done. Official
tech time for the operation is 18 minutes.
Likelihood of Recurrence
I have heard of the occasional case where failure occurs again even
after replacement of the tilt motor. For example, Andrew Prete
reported in April 2006: "My tilt motor failed in March 2005.
The car was still under 50,000 miles. So, Land Rover in
Harrisburg,
PA replaced the tilt motor. It worked for awhile and failed
again.
I brought the car to Jake Kaplan's Land Rover in RI and they will
not cover it under the warranty because the car now has 57,000 miles
and
it has been more than a year since the first time it was fixed (March
2005).
I was quoted $870 for a new tilt motor or $1,450 for a new
steering
column. Seem outrageous that I am required to pay to replace this
when LR is well aware of this problem."
2006
Recall Campaign
As noted above, in mid 2006 Land Rover
issued a recall on all 2003-2006 Range Rovers to have their steering
columns replaced. The new part umbers are as follows:
2003-2005 models: QMB500711 (old part number was QMB000164)
2006
models:
QMB500691
As of this writing (October 2006) it
is not at all clear that the recall has solved the problem. In my own
case, since the recall work was done, the column moves freely up and
down when in the extended position! Andrew Prete reports that his lasted 6 days
after the recall work before jamming again.
Alternative Solutions
If my theory about the problem being due to a sloppy fit of the
drive spindle in the tilt motor output shaft, it might be possible to
fix it by replacing the drive spindle with a home made piece that fits
better. If you have acces to a basic machine shop this would not be difficult.
