After five and a half years of virtually trouble-free motoring in my FL2 TD4 Auto I decided to chop it in for another after it reached 100,000 miles. I searched online for months and found just what I was looking for: FL2 SD4 HSE Auto 2011 MY, facelift model with the spec I wanted. It was at a reputable non-LR showroom some distance away. The car had one previous owner and had done only 13,000 miles genuine, documented miles and was in excellent condition. It had been serviced annually at a Land Rover franchise.
I bought the car last March and a few weeks later I had the first of a very intermittent series of warning lights come on while being driven. The continuous amber DSC warning light came on with a sudden drop in power that was only momentary. The DSC lamp (picture of back of car with two skidding tyre tracks) stayed on but once I stopped the car I was able to reset it by switching the engine off and restarting. This happened again a couple of weeks later. I contacted the selling garage and they were quite happy to take it into their workshop to try to analyse the problem but as the problem was so intermittent and with the distance involved I decided to get it looked at locally if it happened again. I mentioned the problem to a local indy but the person I spoke to doubted that a fault code would be retained as the fault cleared immediately on restarting. Meanwhile I drove it for a few thousand miles before the same thing happened again.
At the end of October I was driving home from Gatwick airport when, after pulling away from a roundabout the car suddenly died, lost power and lights and warning notices came on. I managed to limp into a side road. I managed to reset it again but still had DSC and HDC faults showing and no speedo reading. I was not too far from home so drove home, switched off and when I restarted it everything was normal. I checked on this Forum again and it seems that often a poor battery can cause many odd faults. So I bought a new, good quality battery and also added the extra earth lead mod.
I thought that had cured the problem but two weeks ago and again yesterday the problem returned. On both these occasions I had parked the car and not driven it for two days – each time we were over 100 miles from home. On starting the car to come home the DSC fault lamp instantly came on with the warning messages ‘HDC Fault, System not available’ and also ’Special Programs Off’ in the centre message box alternating with ‘Engine System Fault’. There was no indication on the terrain control rotary switch and the engine would not rev beyond 1100 rpm. On both these occasions I eventually reset the engine problem after stopping and starting it leaving various interval but yesterday it took nearly an hour before I was able to get normal revs. I had already arranged recovery but cancelled it. The DSC fault lamp still showed until I reached home and then dared to switch off and restart the engine but it drove without any other problem.
Despite being six years old the car has covered only 23,000 miles. This problem has now got to the stage where I have to do something about it. I imagine it has to be caused by a faulty sensor or connector somewhere. Has anyone else suffered a similar problems while driving rather than the temporary fault indications that flash up when starting and then disappear. The loss of power is the most worrying thing. 1982 RR Classic-converted to 200TDi-gone
1992 RR VogueSE- converted to autogas-gone
2000 FL1 3dr (wife's)
1996 Disco 1 300 Tdi(gone)
2007 FL2 TD4 GS auto (gone)
MY 2011 SD4 HSE Automatic

I can see you fitted the extra earth strap, is the original one replaced too? I have seen members on here post that it had corroded inside the sleeve, worth a look?

colinrr wrote:

the person I spoke to doubted that a fault code would be retained as the fault cleared immediately on restarting.

This is not correct, the faults codes will be recorded, with the mileage they happened at, and remain until they are manually cleared by a fault code reader, so first thing to do I should think is get a diagnostic done. 
Hung like Einstein, smart as a horse.

taztastic wrote:

I can see you fitted the extra earth strap, is the original one replaced too? I have seen members on here post that it had corroded inside the sleeve, worth a look?

shiggsy wrote:

colinrr wrote:

the person I spoke to doubted that a fault code would be retained as the fault cleared immediately on restarting.

This is not correct, the faults codes will be recorded, with the mileage they happened at, and remain until they are manually cleared by a fault code reader, so first thing to do I should think is get a diagnostic done.

Booked in for diagnostic check at 3 pm today.

Colin 1982 RR Classic-converted to 200TDi-gone
1992 RR VogueSE- converted to autogas-gone
2000 FL1 3dr (wife's)
1996 Disco 1 300 Tdi(gone)
2007 FL2 TD4 GS auto (gone)
MY 2011 SD4 HSE Automatic

Diagnostic showed numerous faults but apparently many are inter-related and some can throw up other fault reports. so the guy said the best thing to do was clear all the fault reports, wait for it to happen again and take it back when the first fault in the system should hopefully show the cause.

Colin 1982 RR Classic-converted to 200TDi-gone
1992 RR VogueSE- converted to autogas-gone
2000 FL1 3dr (wife's)
1996 Disco 1 300 Tdi(gone)
2007 FL2 TD4 GS auto (gone)
MY 2011 SD4 HSE Automatic

Well over a year as passed now did it ever happen again and if so how was it solved please

I have noticed from problems shared on this forum, that some faults / symptoms seem to persist after the original fault has been cleared.
Is it necessary to have fault codes cleared properly, after actual fault has been fixed, to stop things like limp mode and restricted traction from being triggered?

Is the system just to clever for itself?

Of course it may be just that the original poster just forgets to tell us what the final problem was. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 79k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

If the fault code persists after its been cleared, its because the fault was registered again. not because it wasn't cleared. 
Hung like Einstein, smart as a horse.

Thanks Shiggsy,
I don't think that I explained myself that well.
What I meant was I have noticed that some people have been having codes read, but not cleared, even after the associated repair work has been done. Then after further trouble, they have further diagnosis by an expert, and they report fault codes cleared, but then we hear nothing more as if the fault has gone away.

A few do post their final outcome. Some times it is recalibrating that has been required, others ???

I don't know how sophisticated the FL2's fault monitoring system is, but I would expect it to continually monitor all recorded faults, and change outcomes and priorities according to factors including mileage, time, and number of occurrences of that and possible associated faults.

If this is so, then clearing of old codes is vital. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 79k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

Fault codes come with a time, date and mileage marker, so even if they have not been cleared (which seems a wise thing to do) it should be possible to determine whether they are new faults. 2005 D3 2.7 Auto
Previously:
2010 MY FL2 TD4e GS - Now gone at 199,500 miles, about 135,000 of them mine.
‘93 Defender 110 200TDi CSW
‘87 Defender 90 4 cyl Petrol
‘83 110 CSW V8 - best ever!
Range Rover 2-door V8 (not sure of year - 4-speed box and vacuum diff switch)
Series III SWB Diesel

Thanks worms.
My query is about how the FL2 itself deals with past recorded faults.

I am hoping that someone on the forum understands the LR / FL2 systems and can tell us how clever, or not, it is.

On my part, it is partly out of curiosity as I have an idea what could be possible, as in the 1980s, I took part in some national level experiments into remote computer diagnostics and early service desk trials.

From what I read, I believe cars will be following aircraft into the world of remote diagnostics. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 79k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

My Mclaren F1 can be plugged into the phoneline and diagnostic details sent to the factory
.
.
.
. I mean the F1 owned by my ex boss

I presume he is Ex as he went bankrupt with the repair costs???  If it ain't ***ked don't fix it