Is your Freelander 2’s steering lock cycling more than once, only partially or not at all? Is the “Steering Column Locked” message displaying? And in each of the circumstances your Freelander will not start?

I have found a simple fix for my vehicle – replace the nano relay on the pc board in the steering lock (the relay is circled in the image below).

Summary:

Having kept detailed records of each start attempt over a two year period I was able to eliminate, as possible contributors to failures of the steering lock, the vehicle battery, alternator/charging system, two sources of current drain (front left and rear right door locking motors), the key fobs (two), the key fob docking station, the start button, the mechanical actuating system in the steering lock, the DC motor in the lock and the micro switch in the lock.

My records showed an increasing trend for the lock to fail to operate when the temperature inside the vehicle exceeded 27C. The steering lock was warm, even hot, to touch. The relay in the passenger footwell could be heard but there was no sound from the nano relay in the steering lock. Cooling the steering lock brought it back to life, the nano relay could be heard operating as the lock cycled and the vehicle would start, so this component became the key suspect. A replacement nano relay was sourced from China and fitted. There were two immediate effects – successful starts with internal vehicle temperatures as high as 43C and the vehicle battery at rest recording 12.7v/12.6v rather than the 12.4v prior to the repair. The steering lock has operated faultlessly for the 70 starts over the 18 days since the repair.

Long Story:

I have owned this Freelander for nine, almost trouble free, years. It does mostly short runs in an urban setting, with occasional long runs of up to 1000 km. Typically there are 1100 start/stop cycles each year, approximately 13,000 cycles for the life of the vehicle to date.

Two years ago the steering lock started having problems. It would either not unlock, or cycle a couple of times, both events resulting in the “Steering Column Locked” message and consequent failure to start. Sometimes the column was locked, other times not. These faults have been well covered in various Land Rover (and Volvo) forums, together with possible measures to take, such as: disconnecting the battery for a period of time, then touching the positive and negative leads together; double locking and unlocking the vehicle five times; installing the software associated with Land Rover’s technical bulletin LTB00558; and tapping the body of the steering lock with a hammer.  I tried all of these procedures, with varying but not lasting success.

After the first failure to start in January 2018 the battery plus alternator/charging systems were checked and these were all satisfactory. Tapping/whacking the steering lock from underneath eventually brought the steering lock back to life but I could not understand why without knowing the internal structure of the steering lock.

I removed the steering lock. It was a sealed unit so I looked for any external obstruction that might interrupt the operation of the locking plunger. There was only the black plastic insert with its small spring loaded plunger on the top of the unit. I assumed that it’s purpose was to lock the steering lock plunger in its locked (up) position, but that it was possible for it to stick and therefore prevent the steering lock plunger from moving to its (down) unlocked position. I thought this may be why tapping/whacking the underside worked, by releasing that small locking pin and allowing the steering lock mechanism to work as it should. Anyway, this small component seemed to be unnecessary so I removed it. The steering lock then worked as it should.

But it wasn’t long before it was again intermittently failing.  I persisted with the suggested remedial measures mentioned earlier and again checked the battery capacity and alternator/charging. By mid-year, however, it became obvious that the vehicle battery (a calcium battery, then 2.5 years old) had lost some capacity. There was a period when it was showing only 12.3 v, or less, at rest and the steering lock would not cycle, therefore no start. So began a six month period of charging the battery whenever the at-rest voltage dropped to 12.3 volts. That worked, but by the end of 2018 the period between charging had reduced to a matter of days so the battery was replaced a year ago (12 February 2019) with a Varta F21 and the problem seemed to be resolved. Comment about calcium batteries is at the end of this epistle.

During the month after fitting the new battery, however, there were two instances when the steering lock failed to operate, even though the battery was reading 12.7 volts, indicating the problem was not the battery but possibly the steering lock itself.

So the steering lock was dismantled. It was easy to do.  I milled out the five tabs that held the upper and lower casings together, separated these casings and then removed the pc board and small DC motor from the lower casing. The DC motor simply plugs on to the pc board and is very easily removed. I inspected the pc board for faults – burn/heat marks, dry joints, separated joints. There were none to be seen. Electronic components rarely fail anyway, so the next step was to identify electro-mechanical components that could wear out – there are three: a micro switch, activated by the plastic, motor driven steering lock mechanism; the 12 v DC motor itself; and a very small nano relay unit. I flushed the motor brushes/armature without dismantling the motor – quite a lot of rubbish came out. The plastic, rotary gear system was also cleaned and greased and the steering lock was reassembled. It operated freely, engaging or disengaging the metal locking plunger in the steering lock, as well as tripping the micro switch at the lower end if it’s travel.

The steering lock was refitted and worked as it should but then the new battery showed there was either a residual current drain, or it was losing capacity. My code reader returned fault codes for the front left and rear right door locking motors so these small DC motors were replaced in June 2019 and both the residual current drain and battery issues went away.

The steering lock then operated faultlessly through our winter until early October 2019.

Fortunately the detailed records I had been keeping of each start attempt, successful and unsuccessful, showed a trend. The steering lock did not like high ambient temperatures. This characteristic was apparent in each of the 10 failures through to 26 January 2020. Relays could be heard operating in the passenger footwell but the relay in the steering lock could not be heard and the steering lock would not cycle, usually when the interior temperature in the vehicle exceeded 27 degrees C – a temperature not unusual during summer in the temperate climate in which I live. The steering lock would be quite warm, even hot, to touch from heat soaking. It was interesting that if it was cooled by leaving it in the shade, preferably with a breeze blowing over it, for 20 minutes or so, it would then work again (this process could be reduced to 5 minutes by wrapping the steering lock in a wet cloth). The question was why was this happening.

The micro switch was considered serviceable because, when the steering lock mechanism did cycle, then the other associated functions occur, the primary one being to disable the engine immobiliser so that the vehicle could start.

That left the motor and the nano relay. The motor this time was dismantled – there was plenty of meat on the brushes and the armature was in good condition. These areas were again flushed clean, the motor reassembled and tested. It ran fine in both directions.

So it was down to the nano relay, which was replaced by a new one ordered from China. Success. The steering lock was tested with internal vehicle temperatures up to 43 degrees C and has cycled as it should each time.

Conclusion:

I think the problem has always been the nano relay, unidentified earlier because I was sidetracked by battery and residual current drain issues. In my view the nano relay (it has two miniature relays in the sealed unit) was not responding when the  battery voltage was low (at or below 12.3 v) and/or was periodically sticking. Tapping the steering lock body freed the relay so that the lock could cycle. The later observed effect of high temperatures implied a loss of efficiency in the electromagnetic coils that operated the relays.

Anyway, replacing the nano relay has worked for me and I hope the description above is of interest, and maybe of help, to Freelander 2 owners.
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