I’m hoping that someone might have some ideas here………

The car is a 2007 Freelander 2 HSE which comes with dual-zone climate control, which is having some problems. The symptoms, which came on a few days ago:-

Front cigar lighter socket not working
HEVAC blend motors not working, though fan works fine under manual control, and I have heat. Air permanently directed at windscreen and the fixed vents at each end of the top of the dashboard. So it seems I have a blend motor problem.
All other controls work.

Fuse F45 in the engine bay supplies the front cigar lighter socket
Fuse F39 supplies the Pollution sensor, air intake stepper motor, LH temperature blend stepper motor, RH temperature blend stepper motor, face/feet distribution stepper motor, windshield (defrost) distribution stepper motor
Both fuses are fed by Relay R5 which is activated with the ignition through the Central Electronic Module (passenger footwell)
See attached extracts from TOPIX (a) Fuses and Relays and (b) climate control circuitry, with the relay, F39 fuse and CEM highlighted on the first page

The fuses are OK and the relay coil checks out OK with an ohmmeter, and there is a live feed to the relay. I have also tried a new relay. So the circuitry all seems OK.
I have tried removing the top of Relay R5 to operate the switch manually which activates the cigar lighter circuit correctly, but doesn’t seem to activate the blend motor circuits via Fuse F39
I have looked at the passenger fuse box (where I believe the Central Electronic Module lives) but all plugs seem to be in place
I have a code reader but only the basic OBD – no error codes recorded
I have tried disconnecting the battery for 20 minutes and connecting the pos and neg cables to do a ‘hard reset’ of the car’s systems

The problems seems to be the lack of activation of relay R5 due to no earth connection via the Central Electronic Module. Manually operating the relay should provide power to the blend motors, but doing so does not seem to activate them.
I have a copy of TOPIX (all 3,229 pages!) but I can’t find a description of the functions of the Central Electronic Module but I assume that this is blocking operation of the blend motors as well as not activating the relay.

Does anyone have any ideas of anything else I could check?
Is this likely to be something an independent garage could be trusted to look at? Or am I in the hands of a dealer?

Click image to enlarge

As it may be very complex tracing I won't even try and answer technically but being cold is your battery very old ? Have you fitted the extra earth lead ? When was the last time your cabin filter was changed ?

Try a hard reset at some point. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

Hi Yorky Bob

Thanks for your reply.

The battery is 5 years old but usually starts the car fine. Last week when the problem arose it wasn't particularly cold. An extra earth lead is fitted.

I can't recall when the cabin filter was last changed.

I tried a hard reset a couple of days ago with no benefit.

Cheers

Pete 2007 TD4 HSE Auto

Treat yourself to both then and then start looking for faults, you never know they may just fizzle away. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

Well I got the Freelander into a garage with dealer level diagnostics and they confirmed an ECM fault.

The only options available were a new Electronic Control Module (incl Fusebox) at £1,044 including VAT (plus coding) or sending off the unit for examination and a quote for repair (if feasible) by the ECM repair specialists they know, which would involve the car being off the road for a week and an open cheque book. Apparently the repairers have never seen one of these units before, so I'm reluctant to start down this route without any certainty of success.

I managed to get hold of a second-hand unit from a breakers but this cannot be coded at the garage. I am reasonably handy with electronics and a soldering iron but having had a look inside the unit there's no way I could start raiding it for parts even if i could identify where the problem lies.

Meanwhile I'm stuck with no control over the air temperature in the car or the blend flaps - all I can do is open/close the dashboard vents and adjust the speed of the fan.

Any thoughts or comments appreciated!

Pete 2007 TD4 HSE Auto

I managed to get hold of a second-hand unit from a breakers but this cannot be coded at the garage.

Can a second hand unit be coded anywhere is the first question and if so for how much ? FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

Ok, something doesn’t sound right here.
By ECM you mean BCM?
Garage/dealer level diagnostics??? LR dealer with SDD????
In SDD there is specific “Service procedures” for the HVAC module for testing and resetting stepper motors for all air mix actuators. The specific routine will identify exactly what the problem is.
Very unlikely it will be the BCM from what you have described, there would be far more issues. More likely the HVAC module has lost LIN communication which SDD will identify. This will require a software update or reflash of the HVAC module.
You cannot take the BCM or IPC from another vehicle into another as there are security features inbuilt to prevent this and can only be done by a LR dealer or a select few companies and even then unlikely. MY15
Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)
Surround Camera System
InControl Apps soon to be replaced with CarPlay (WIP)
Meridian Premium Surround Sound
Digital Audio Broadcast
Timed Climate
Cruise ECO Data
Follow Me Home Reverse
Extra Features Menu
Picture In Motion
4x4i screen (WIP)
Digital Broadcast TV
Meridian Rear Media with WIFI
Factory Powered Tailgate
Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM)
Reverse Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA)
Electrochromatic Wing Mirrors (WIP)

Hi Stuartc

Thanks for your comments. I called the module ECM because that is how it's described in Topix - but my garage called it the BCM.

I believe the diagnostics the garage used was Autologic.

What does SDD stand for please?

Cheers

Pete 2007 TD4 HSE Auto

Systems Driven Diagnostics is “Dealer level diagnostics” auto logic is not.
In this situation you need to take you vehicle to someone with SDD or get the dealer to diagnose the issue with the HVAC.
There is specific diagnostics routines for the HVAC module. MY15
Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)
Surround Camera System
InControl Apps soon to be replaced with CarPlay (WIP)
Meridian Premium Surround Sound
Digital Audio Broadcast
Timed Climate
Cruise ECO Data
Follow Me Home Reverse
Extra Features Menu
Picture In Motion
4x4i screen (WIP)
Digital Broadcast TV
Meridian Rear Media with WIFI
Factory Powered Tailgate
Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM)
Reverse Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA)
Electrochromatic Wing Mirrors (WIP)