The last couple of mornings I have had a message flash up on screen when starting the car saying "HDC Fault, System Not Available". The message disappeared after a couple of seconds and has not shown later in the day when things have warmed up a bit!! Is this a problem linked to the cold weather or should I be contacting the dealer?  2010 HSE TD4 auto, Biscay Blue, Almond Leather, facelift front and rear, detachable towbar, front & rear mudflaps, bib spoilers, clear high level brake light, smooth rear wiper, colour coded door handles.

Previous Land Rovers:
2007 Freelander 2 HSE i6 in Stornoway Grey
1991 Discovery 200tdi 3 door in blue

It has been mentioned on here a few times, it was thought to be to do with the cold oil in the Haldes unit but this has been discounted, it seems to lean towards the battery not being up to full strength and the extra draw on it on cold mornings, , some members have said a new battery cures it. When I had my 2007 Freely I went through to winters with this, never once failed to start.

Our Freelander has started doing this....

We now dock the key fob, press start, wait a
second then press the clutch and press start
again....we have not seen the message
since.

As you say this only happens on very cold mornings.

Reg, what sort of mileage are you doing?

I have no problems, although doing anywere between 500 - 1500 miles a week keeps the battery topped up.
On cold mornings, use of the Prog button with heated screens, ptc heater coupled with potentially lights one, heated seats on etc can cause a huge power drain on a battery that has just been hammered starting the engine, without a decent run to re charge the battery, it is certainly plausible that low battery voltage will give rise to issues.
AD327687 has no issues but I think, he too, puts plenty of battery replenishing miles on his car.

taztastic wrote:

AD327687 has no issues but I think, he too, puts plenty of battery replenishing miles on his car.

you must be joking! The only time I get to drive it during the week is if it needs fuel, SWMBO seems to have trouble getting on to forecourts

As stated earlier, the 2007 one did it for two winters but never let me down.

I thought you drove about quite a lot? or is it in something else?

taztastic wrote:

Reg, what sort of mileage are you doing?

I have no problems, although doing anywere between 500 - 1500 miles a week keeps the battery topped up.
On cold mornings, use of the Prog button with heated screens, ptc heater coupled with potentially lights one, heated seats on etc can cause a huge power drain on a battery that has just been hammered starting the engine, without a decent run to re charge the battery, it is certainly plausible that low battery voltage will give rise to issues.
AD327687 has no issues but I think, he too, puts plenty of battery replenishing miles on his car.

I'm not doing a high number of miles at all. Now I'm retired the car does not get used as much as it probably should. As you say, it could well be battery drain as the car sits outside and the Prog button does get used along with the heated seats etc.

I never had this problem with my previous FL2 (an HSE i6) but then I was working and it got a decent run each day.

I'll have to give it a good run at the weekend and try to resist using the heated seats etc!

Thanks to all for the replies so far  2010 HSE TD4 auto, Biscay Blue, Almond Leather, facelift front and rear, detachable towbar, front & rear mudflaps, bib spoilers, clear high level brake light, smooth rear wiper, colour coded door handles.

Previous Land Rovers:
2007 Freelander 2 HSE i6 in Stornoway Grey
1991 Discovery 200tdi 3 door in blue

taztastic wrote:

I thought you drove about quite a lot? or is it in something else?

Something else

he wont take the fl2 he hates autos At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

I had that message briefly on starting my car yesterday...... @2 degrees..... JT Upgraded to an ex demo, 7 mth old, Rimini Red/Ebony Napoli Auto HSE on 28th Jan 2011, added roof rails, mudflaps and side strips.
Gone - A great 57 Plate, Auto SE, Bought Feb 2009, Roof Rails and Mudflaps added on purchase. Blue colour, anything but drug dealer black.....

-3 and the HDC system fault raises its ugly head

Battery is full as I charged it the other day

At 0 degrees mine just says "HDC Switched Off"...... stupid car! I know that 'cos I didn't switch it on!!!!

However, the messages goes out instantly. I have a new kick-arse battery in the truck so lack of volts should not be an issue. I guess it is one of those quirky little things modern electronics do. John
07 HSE Narvick Black
Land Rover Series One
Triumph Rocket 111 (sadly gone!)

Mine is availible to be switched on as soon as its started too

Obviously a glitch in how it tests itself in cold weather

My 07 one always had the "HDC Not Available" on start up in the winter, just for a few seconds, never a problem though. Quirk of the car.

My 07 plate has been displaying the same message the last 3 mornings, did the same last winter.

Touch wood it's always started but seems to take a while starting on cold mornings, we'll see next week as the temp up here have been quoted as -5 at best during the day