Total Electronic Failure - deemed "totaled" 2011 LR4

[mtaylo32]

Hey all, I have a 2011 LR4 with 162,000 miles. Had recently left the sunroof cracked and we received a large amount of rain that must have made it into the gear console.

I recently was driving back from a weekend trip when I lost all electronics inside the vehicle as well as turn signals, headlights, taillights and A/C. I pulled off the highway to try and restart the vehicle and right before shutting down lost all the safety features as well. Upon trying to restart I received the key not recognized message and the car wouldn't even try and turn over or restart. Disconnected the battery, tried to jump it with a donor vehicle with no luck. Had it towed to a local shop here that has worked on this truck extensively and after their diagnostics they came back and said the care is basically totaled.

They hooked up their diagnostics equipment with their vendor and it said 80% of the modules in the car were fried (waiting on the diagnostics report). To further diagnose they would have to disassemble the inside of the car and I'd be looking at possible $15-20,000 in work to get the car back up and working and after investing that amount of money there would be no guarantees everything would be properly sorted. A couple of questions for everyone... Does the above sound accurate? Would you tow it up to a LR dealer ~2 hours away for a second opinion? Or cut my losses, total it out and part the car? I have coverage that would pay for the balance financed as well as give me credit towards a new vehicle, but the market is crazy for used cars... Would love any direction. thanks!

 

[plh]

what does your insurance appraiser say? Second opinion required or not? Take the payout if insurance is offering it up. Damage by water is no joke.

 

[rgallant]

It would be odd that everything fried - however all it takes is one central component to fail an everything appears to be dead. I would wait on the diagnostics report then ask the LR dealer about the report.

 

[calicamper]

If your handy….. Its fixable

A friend picked up a brand new auction Mazda Miata for a huge discount a few yrs ago. Huge list of multiple dealer history trying to fix a electrical issue. Took him 30 minutes to figure out the reverse switch on the manual shifter was shorting out the dash display and causing all sorts of wonky drama. $25 part. Drove the car three yrs as his daily zero issues really nice ride. Sold it to his neighbor still a great little car!!
All it takes is ability and time to fiddle?

 

[SDDiver5]

Sounds like a nightmare. Sorry to hear!

 

[OregonGX]

You really haven't given us enough information to keyboard diagnose this. If it was standing water in the floor, sure you could be looking at a large amount of corrosion in wiring looms or dead modules. Or, as another commenter mentioned it could just be one dead module throwing a bunch of codes. Is the local shop a LR speciality? I wouldn't jump to conclusions until someone who knows these trucks inside and out gets a chance to go through it. I bet it has a million codes thrown, but unless properly diagnosed and not just scanned I doubt you really have a clear picture of what you are working with.

 

[NatersXJ6]

Personally, I would tear it down myself and try to figure out what was going on. However, if you’re an apartment dweller, or it’s your primary car, or there is a spouse involved who will never be happy if the car can’t be 100% trusted … probably shouldn’t have bought a Rover… but I digress. The mileage is getting up there, it might be time to consider a swap. However, you mentioned a balance owed… if you owe money on a 162k mile rig…. That’s a whole different set of problems.



Key question / warning sign… did the shop offer to buy it and “get it off your hands”?

Bottom line, if it’s an extra car, you have nothing to lose by trying yourself, and you’ll learn a lot along the way!

If I was betting (and I know very little about modern Rovers) I would guess there is a major junction under the center console where body control, possibly transmission, and SRS/ABS controllers live and the plug got wet. Unplug everything, blow-dryer it all, spray with contact cleaner, silicone spray, plug back in, and drive away.

 

[calicamper]

Personally, I would tear it down myself and try to figure out what was going on. However, if you’re an apartment dweller, or it’s your primary car, or there is a spouse involved who will never be happy if the car can’t be 100% trusted … probably shouldn’t have bought a Rover… but I digress. The mileage is getting up there, it might be time to consider a swap. However, you mentioned a balance owed… if you owe money on a 162k mile rig…. That’s a whole different set of problems.



Key question / warning sign… did the shop offer to buy it and “get it off your hands”?

Bottom line, if it’s an extra car, you have nothing to lose by trying yourself, and you’ll learn a lot along the way!

If I was betting (and I know very little about modern Rovers) I would guess there is a major junction under the center console where body control, possibly transmission, and SRS/ABS controllers live and the plug got wet. Unplug everything, blow-dryer it all, spray with contact cleaner, silicone spray, plug back in, and drive away.

Ic
I recall a faulty harness in the L3 but can’t recall if that was pre 2011. Also the Rover and Merc SUVs for a while liked putting various electric units on the floor under the front seats. It only takes one switch or plug to short and cause a cascading effect of other impacted systems

 

[vintageracer]

Maybe you will have better luck with your next LR4 purchase!

 

[catmann]

Take a look here to see if this helps you, I had the same thing happen and it was just one harness on the shifter assembly that corroded, after a new gear shifter assembly I was back in business. But there are other harnesses under the center console, so you would need to check them all to be sure. In most cases you can just clean them up and you will be fine, it does not necessarily fry a module depending on how much water you actually had. I broke a pin when cleaning mine and that is why I had to replace the whole assembly. Check the post below and keep reading to see if it helps.

LR3 shift selector problem

hi guys got a strange one for you got a 05 lr3 hse with 95k on it when I shift the truck from park to reverse or any other position on the shifter D is always lit up on the dash board it shows I choose P or D or R but on the shifter it always shows D even the car is in P and off. When I put it...

www.landroverworld.org

The harness in question for me was the one that I thought was an "unpluggable" one in the first image below. Once I unbolted the 4 screws for the shifter assembly and pulled it up and out I was better able to see and get my hands down in there to remove it (as shown in image 2).