[noquarter1]

Hi All,

I'm new to these forums and to Land Rovers in general, unless you count lusting after one my entire life. Today I brought home my new pride and joy, a 2005 Range Rover HSE with 195k miles.

So why buy a 2005 with 195k for my first RR? Well, I was browsing for a beater 4x4 that I could use to have some fun in (thinking a Montero, maybe a Trooper), when I came across this RR listed for $1k. The listing said it had a bad air suspension and needed a new catalytic converter but that the engine and transmission were strong. My palms grew sweaty, I licked my lips. What if I could make this work? I pulled the Carfax and this sealed the deal:

The best part is that all those service records were at a Land Rover dealership. The last recorded service was 5k miles ago, but I figured, "how much can go wrong in 5k miles?" (spoiler: a lot). So I contacted the seller, got him to come down to $800, then had it towed home due to the bad suspension.

So, as I'm brand new to Range Rovers, I'm going to use this thread to document the stuff that's wrong and if I'm able to figure out how to fix it, how I did it (or at least link to the resource that provided the answer). I would love to utilize the collective wisdom of this forum as well, so if you have suggestions, please let me know, as I'm a complete noob when it comes to this car.

So, my current list of what I've identified as mechanically broken (I'm not worried about cosmetics right now):

1. Hood release latch by driver's foot is broken. The cable is also stretched and needs to be replaced.
2. Hood struts are bad.
3. The key requires quite a lot of steering wheel jiggling to turn in the ignition. So far it has always turned, but it takes a solid ~30 seconds of steering wheel rotation back and forth to turn
4. All four corners of the air suspension are bottomed out. Bad compressor?
5. Error message "HDC inactive", so hill descent has some issue
6. The seller said it needs a new catalytic converter, but there's no check engine light, so...maybe?
7. The seller said it needs a new blower motor. Haven't tested the air yet.
8. The Dynamic Stability Control dash light is on

I'm a realist, so I'm going to assume that list isn't all inclusive. But once again...for $800?

So, I'm going to start digging into these to try and find answers on this forum and others. As I previously said, if you see a problem and immediatelyknow the solution, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all!

 

[mtrdrms]

Sounds like fun! I also bought a project last week. Sounds like you have a few common rover issues (key, suspension). Consider the coil conversion if you're system requires a lot of work.
Looking forward to your progress!

 

[MARK_C]

Never consider coil conversion in a RR, you might as well spend that money on a 1990 F150 if you want that kind of ride. The inactive Air system is probably causing your DSC and and HDC issues. The ECU will disable both of them if the suspension hard faults.

 

[noquarter1]

Thanks for the replies. I agree with Mark_C on this one, the air suspension is a really attractive feature, if I can get it working. I've replaced faulty air suspension componants on my Audi before and never had a problem, so I'll probably do the same here if I have to.

Update: managed to get my hood open. I kept pulling and pulling the cable but I couldn't pop it open. I came across this video (

, posted in case it helps someone else in the future) and tried that but couldn't get it to work. Finally, in a fit of rage I decided to pull the hood release cable as hard as I could regardless of the damage it might cause and voila, going gorilla on it finally worked.

Both hood struts are bad (updated the first post list), but I realized the hood hinges looked similar to my old 1987 300D, which meant the RR has a service position for the hood. I popped off the hood struts, pushed it open all the way, locked it in, and thus it shall remain until replace the hood release cable gets replaced. Threading the cable doesn't look like too much fun, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[noquarter1]

While taking a look under the hood, I discovered oil filter (I believe that's what the metal canister with the black top is) is just flopping around inside the bay, it's not bolted to anything. I assume it's supposed to be mounted somewhere, potentially the bracket in the middle lower portion of the pic below. Can anyone post of a pic of how it's supposed to be mounted? Thanks in advance.

 

[p1zaul]

I just posted a service manual I came across, could be useful to you.

Range Rover L322 Service Manual

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1f9Uq2pPcAexHIzK0LV5_Eg6sYpvhJp6p?usp=sharing

www.rangerovers.net

 

[mtrdrms]

This guy addresses the issue related to the oil filter housing

 

[Rovah]

While taking a look under the hood, I discovered oil filter (I believe that's what the metal canister with the black top is) is just flopping around inside the bay, it's not bolted to anything. I assume it's supposed to be mounted somewhere, potentially the bracket in the middle lower portion of the pic below. Can anyone post of a pic of how it's supposed to be mounted? Thanks in advance.

In your pic the housing should sit on the bracket that is shown to the left of it. Your rubber stoppers snapped in half due to the force applied when tightening and untightening the oil filter housing cap and not holding the housing while doing so, which many don't know to do. It stresses the rubber and overtime they snap. I have seen many used zip ties to secure the housing to the bracket but don't do that. Couple of options:

1. Buy 2 of these. Then go to your local hardware store to buy 4 nuts 2 washers total.

Oil Filter Housing Rubber Mount

2 used per engine

www.ecstuning.com

2. DIY route which is what I did. It was entertaining and cheap to put my own touch in there. Go to your local hardware store to buy rubber stoppers of equivalent size, not too hard and not too squishy either and 2 bolts 4 washers 2 nuts. Drill the stoppers in the middle. Make the hole barely enough for the bolts to go through it. Example below of the kind of rubber stopper you are after. This is not the size but just an example of what it looks like.

 

[noquarter1]

p1zaul, I realized I didn't say thank you for posting the service manual, it'll be a huge help! Also thanks mtrdrms and Rovah for the resources. The OEM bump stops were so cheap that I went ahead and bought them instead of trying to secure it in an unorthodox fashion.

My brother brought over his fancy Autel scanner, so we went through the entire system. Got a bunch of faults, but I'm focusing on the air suspension as that's what preventing it from being drivable right now. First, got this:

Also, looking at individual sensors, I noticed the front had both a height and voltage for the sensors, but for the rear, I got this:

So, I'm going to look through the manual tomorrow, but if anyone else can decode the info faster, here are the facts:

1. front voltage for both height sensors was ~4 and there were heights listed, so I think they're fine (there was a 1 cm difference, but I don't imagine that's a big deal)
2. rear voltage for both height sensors was <1, and there was no height, so I think they are both bad
3. using the diagnostic tool, we manually attempted to raise the vehicle, to no avail. we heard the pump come on, but the vehicle did not rise. we used it to lower it and the front lowered just a tad.
4. the fault code indicated that pressure wasn't building in the reservoir
5. the fault code also indicated that there wasn't enough energy to regulate the front

So, I think bad pump and bad rear height sensors. Before I drop the money on this, I'll confirm in the manual, but does anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks so much.

 

[phoenix37]

Highly reccomend this tool. Owned 3 x 03s and its been invaluable.

MKIII All Comms

I am the Original Designer and Manufacturer of the MKIII All Comms Hardware and Software. Used to clear and read fault codes on the L322 Range Rover vehicle computer.

www.rswsolutions.com

If you can hear the compressor run let the car run with the drivers door open for about 5-10mins. This will allow pressure to build in the reservoir. close the door and the car should pop up. At that point you should be able to hear where its leaking.

 

[Rovah]

The eas system doesn't like to pump into flat struts and when the truck is not raising quickly it thinks that something is wrong and sets fault codes and shuts off the compressor to keep it from overworking and overheating. Because the struts are all flat you need to force air into all 4 corners to get the struts going a bit. Then you can clear codes and try to get the eas system to level it up on its own. Hopefully you don't get the same eas faults. You need a good diag tool (as mentioned above. I use Faultmate MSV2 Extreme tool) to manually fill the reservoir, open the main valve block, open the front/rear link valves, open the front/rear left and right strut valves to allow air to flow from the reservoir to the air struts then shut them off. All that is done via commands on the diag tool.

 

[phoenix37]

The eas system doesn't like to pump into flat struts and when the truck is not raising quickly it thinks that something is wrong and sets fault codes and shuts off the compressor to keep it from overworking and overheating. Because the struts are all flat you need to force air into all 4 corners to get the struts going a bit. Then you can clear codes and try to get the eas system to level it up on its own. Hopefully you don't get the same eas faults. You need a good diag tool (as mentioned above. I use Faultmate MSV2 Extreme tool) to manually fill the reservoir, open the main valve block, open the front/rear link valves, open the front/rear left and right strut valves to allow air to flow from the reservoir to the air struts then shut them off. All that is done via commands on the diag tool.

sorry for the hijack.. Not familiar with the Faultmate.. Can you set ride height like you can with the IDT tool?

 

[Rovah]

sorry for the hijack.. Not familiar with the Faultmate.. Can you set ride height like you can with the IDT tool?

Yes, you can. In fact Faultmate was out on the market before IDT tool and many others but the downside is the price and it comes with a license for 1 VIN only so you are only able to work on 1 vehicle but you have the option to purchase more license or transfer your license to someone in case you were to sell your tool to someone. Other than that, it is very capable.

 

[phoenix37]

Yes, you can. In fact Faultmate was out on the market before IDT tool and many others but the downside is the price and it comes with a license for 1 VIN only so you are only able to work on 1 vehicle but you have the option to purchase more license or transfer your license to someone in case you were to sell your tool to someone. Other than that, it is very capable.

thats great intel.. thank you! IDT is also vin locked so not a big deal.

 

[noquarter1]

Okay, so I don't have the Faultmate or All Comms, but the Autel Maxidas which I'm using is sophisticated enough for me to be able to get the data that I believe I/we need to solve this.

As per your suggestion, Rovah, I cleared the air suspension fault codes and forced the system to turn on the pump to inflate the bags. The air suspension control lights came back on on the center stack, and the pump turned on to start inflating. I drove around the block and checked again, there were no fault codes. So far so good there.

Reservoir pressure got up to around 8.9 bar and the compressor temperature got up around 88 degrees C.

Front Left Height: -56.5 mm
Front Right Height: - 70.2 mm
Rear Right Height: -27.7 mm
Rear Left Height: -21.9 mm

So my questions:

-Why are these all negative? Is this measurement under standard ride height? Did I not wait long enough to let it rise up? I let it rise until the pump shut off, but it's possible it got too hot and shut off as a safety measure.

-Why the difference between front and rear? Does this have something to do with the initial error code "too much energy required for regulation: front axle"?

-I listened but did not hear any air leaking. I measured the ground to the top of the wheel well arch and will do the same in the morning to see if any side deflated.

Next steps?

I really appreciate the help. I've read a ton of threads, but a lot of times the poster disappears so there's no resolution and thus no way to know what worked and what didn't.

 

[noquarter1]

Whelp...the front left airbag exploded. Like, POP then full collapse.

I got feeling a bit cocky since the RR raised up, so I took it for its maiden voyage. I went for a 15 minute drive, nothing too crazy. The air compressor was on almost the entire time. I noticed while driving that the front passenger corner was noticeably lower than the driver, that it raised up to almost even, then deflated.

So I pull into my garage, turn the car off, noting how the front passenger corner is low and that I'll buy a new strut for that. All of the sudden there was a loud bang which either meant I had just been shot or an airbag popped. As the formerly raised front driver corner was now on the bump stops, it fortunately turned out to be the latter.

At this point, I need two front struts, so I'll go ahead and replace those and then see what happens. Prior to the bag exploding, there were still no faults.

 

[Rovah]

Nice going! Did the eas control light stay lit on the selector knob? What riding level is lit up...Offroad, standard or access? Don't be alarmed by those measurements by the eas ecu. Max pressure of the reservation is 11.6 to 12 bar so yours is not quite filled up yet. 88C temp is within range. Once it gets to 100C that is when it shuts off to prevent overheating. Also once it reaches 93C it will prevent you from selecting Access height so you don't overwork it. At this point don't worry about finding leaks until you get all 4 corners to the standard height.
Break out your measuring tape. Measure the height from hub center to the lip of wheel arch (not liner). If the truck is sitting at normal/standard riding level it will measure 493 ± 2 mm (19.4 in ± 0.08 in) at the Front and 483 ± 2 mm (19.0 in ± 0.08 in) at the Rear. If it is sitting lower than those numbers, get it to rise up to those numbers.

 

[Rovah]

Welp I just noticed that we both posted at the same time. The compressor shouldn't be running almost all the time. I bet it was compensating for the leaky strut which eventually popped lol...better you found out this way than crawling underneath spraying soapy water and what-not in freezing weather. Once you replace the struts you will be good to go then! You just earned your diagnostic skills badge.

 

[noquarter1]

While I'm waiting on the new front struts, another question to get this car up and running:

I'm trying to find 18" wheels (I have factory 19's currently on) to have options regarding off road tires. Terrafima makes steel wheels (Part number TF152) which they don't say will work with the 2005 RR, but as per Atlantic British, will work with the 2006, along with the LR3, RRS, etc. When I called to inquire why, AB was unable to tell me why these wouldn't work, but they were adamant that they won't.

From what I can tell, a 2006 RR and 2005 RR have the center bore of 72.6 mm, the same 5x120 bolt pattern, and similar offsets in the factory wheels.

Any reason that I'm missing that these wheels wouldn't work with my 2005 RR?

 

[phoenix37]

Dont rule out 20s... i have Falken A/Ts i run on 20s.