Member Since: 01 Oct 2007
Location: Perth
Posts: 15
1st weekend of play
Took my new toy off-road for its first taste of WA dirt.
Very impressed with how smooth the ride was over rough gravel roads.
Must admit it will take a while to get used to 4wding with a automatic. And the different style of approaching obstacles required by the disco. Though it may be the fact that the car is new that didn't have me approaching at speed
Alas the dealer did not even mention changing the standard tyres and it did not even occur to me to ask ( haven't been driving a 4wd for the last 5 years). So as you can imagine got the disco almost stuck a number of times in muddy conditions and will need to find a replacement tyre fast, though if it dries up may be able to wait another year.
I did manage to crash the terrain response computer once. As I came to an abrupt halt up a slippery muddy bush track, rectified by a stop and then restart ( thank goodness or it would still be there ). A question for other D3 owners, is this a regular occurrence? The computer basically crashed as I started spinning all wheels going uphill, is this a case of no harm done, as i reset fine or should I talk to LR about this?
But overall the weekend was a success. The D3 even with road tyres on dry tracks climbs like a goat and has a great smooth ride over rough surfaces.
There are lots of posts on all subjects mentioned u need to go through all the topics and you will fined the answers.Home of RLD Hidden winch mounts Spare wheel Locks Trailer Body Fabrication ray@rld-tech.co.uk D3/4 sump plates MY 14 sump plates and the Discovery Sport wheel protectors Discovery 5 wheel locks
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"After your hands are coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to pee!"
What do you mean by "crash the TR computer"? Did the a message display say "Special Programs Unavailable" or "Range Change Unavailable"?
I've never had this happen in slippery conditions when the wheels lost traction. This has occasionally happened when I start the D3 and a reboot usually clears the fault.
My advice is that you should have the Dealer look at you D3 because it doesn't seem right to me.
Chris2011 Discovery 4 (MY12) SDV6 HSE with General Grabber AT's, Traxide Aux Battery system, custom rear drawers and Autosafe half height cargo barrier
Gone - 2005 Discovery 3 TDV6 HSE
ARB Bull Bar, Warn 9.5XP Winch, IPF D/Lights, Cooper STT's, LR Raised Air Intake, Traxide aux battery system, custom drawers and half height Autosafe cargo barrier, Mitchell Bros 4x4 tow hitch
2nd Oct 2007 1:43 am
stevo68
Member Since: 23 Feb 2006
Location: Gold Coast
Posts: 49
Ditto with PCH, I have had my D3 is some hairy situations and never has the TR crashed on me. Please explain further to ensure we are on the same page. And yes they are a joy offroad 8)
Member Since: 18 Jan 2006
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 295
Good to hear you enjoy it Muz, what area did you go to?
2nd Oct 2007 12:52 pm
Phil TDV6
Member Since: 02 Oct 2007
Location: Canberra
Posts: 16
Hi Guys,
New to the forum, although the D3 has been in the family since late last year.
The post from muz caught my eye. I've had a similar issue with the D3, although I'm not aware the terrain response computer actually crashed in our case.
On two separate occasions now, on steep muddy hills, the vehicle has given the wife and I grief. On the first occasion, with camper trailer in tow and all four wheels rapidly spinning forward, the whole rig proceeded to slide backwards down the hill. Three attempts produced similar results, despite a different line being taken each time and we ended up being towed the short distance to the top of that particular rise. I put that one down to useless road tyres on wet clay; six vehicles with trailers ahead of us also had to be pulled up the hill, as did another two behind us. All vehicles in the convoy without trailers made it successfully, as did two with trailers (Patrols with decent tyres and screaming engines).
On the second ocassion, same destination but different hill, the Disco again sat there spinning wheels but going nowhere. This time I had the Grabber AT2s on, with just over 25psi in each tyre. However, not only did the car not go anywhere, but it also stalled the engine (the first time in over 30 years of driving I have stalled an auto). After three attempts and actually getting less distance each time, I called for the winch (on another vehicle). We were at the end of a four vehicle convoy, but the other three each managed to scramble up the hill (another wet clay track). Two were Prados with open diffs, and the lead vehicle was a Jeep. Three times on this particular trip the engine stalled after failing to negotiate a hill, with wheels simply spinning away merrily immediately before the engine died. Not happy Jan!
I no longer had lousy tyres to blame (nor a trailer attached), and having driven 4WDs for well over 20 years, I found it hard to accept it was my driving technique in this particular instance; I've climbed far worse hills, in vehicles with open diffs, and the Disco should have climbed the hill with ease with its factory rear e-diff and traction control. Speaking of which, at no stage did I hear or feel the TC kick in, and because I don't have the sat nav system, I have no way of knowing when or if the e-diff kicks in. I assumed it wasn't kicking-in at all. To cap the weekend off, the Disco guzzled diesel at the rate of about 17l/100 kms - the Jeep (3lt diesel) sipped about 13 lt/100 kms.
I took the Disco back to the dealer after the trip, told them my tale of woe, and after having it for another day, they informed me that the ABS/TC system had been 'recalibrated' (because it was 'out of calibration'!), and they 'reprogrammed the ECM and TCM'. They claimed there were no relevant error codes, which surprised me given the engine had stalled three times. The dealer could find no real reason why my fuel consumption had sky rocketed.
I haven't had a chance to take the D3 back into the bush to test the latest efforts by the dealer, and to be honest at the moment, I have lost considerable faith in the vehicle off-road and am reluctant to try anything too difficult until I am confident there is NO problem with the Disco and its traction aids.
Am I missing something with the operation of the D3 in the bush, or could the ABS and traction control really have been out of calibration? I certainly didn't get any warnings or error messages in the information panel, and the terrain response appeared happy enough to have various programs selected (mud/ruts was selected at the time). Is it safe to assume the computer was NOT in fact doing 'its magic' on both occasions? The dealer believes this was probably the case, even though no relevant error codes have shown up; although I also have little faith in the dealer's service dept actually knowing much about D3s and their various systems.
I need the grin on my face reinstated.
PhilMY07 TDV6 SE, ARB winch bar, Kaymar rear bar with dual wheel carriers, Long Ranger aux fuel tank, Land Rover raised air intake and rear diff lock, adaptive headlights, ARB (Engel) 40lt fridge, dual batteries, factory roof tracks and Rhino-rack Aero cross-bars, Black Widow rear awning, Bushranger Super Max air compressor, GME Tx3400 UHF radio, Grabber AT2 tyres, VMS on & off road Satnav system, Jumbuck 'Castaway' off-road camper trailer and Supreme Getaway caravan.
yes - an amazing vehicle huh! the ease with which it tackles obstacles, even in stock mode, is quite amazing. I recall going from my Disco 1 to the Disco2, and thinking wow; but the D3 surpasses that by a long way!
cheers,
SimonD3 - Buckingham Blue, SE, TDV6, 06 model; chipped; underbody armour; Mickey Thompson ATZ 275/65-18 AND MAXXIS Bighorn muddies; rear wheel carrier from 4x4intelligence.com; iPOD aux connection! GME 3200 UHF - aerial mounted on wheel carrier ; LR roof rails/cross bars; Autosafe cargo barrier, Safari Snorkel; Traxide - aux battery; ARB bull bar with Tigerz11 winch; Lightforce 240 XGT driving lights (mitchell bros tow hitch to come)
3rd Oct 2007 12:24 am
disco4x4au
Member Since: 19 Jan 2006
Location: Perth
Posts: 409
Phil TDV6 wrote:
Hi Guys,
Am I missing something with the operation of the D3 in the bush, or could the ABS and traction control really have been out of calibration? I certainly didn't get any warnings or error messages in the information panel, and the terrain response appeared happy enough to have various programs selected (mud/ruts was selected at the time). Is it safe to assume the computer was NOT in fact doing 'its magic' on both occasions? The dealer believes this was probably the case, even though no relevant error codes have shown up; although I also have little faith in the dealer's service dept actually knowing much about D3s and their various systems.
I need the grin on my face reinstated.
Phil
Hmmm - with the rear e-locker and decent tyres, the car should sail up most obstacles! Did you have the DSC still switched on? In some situations where all 4 wheels are spinning, it can cause you to stall, and this wouldn't lodge an error code (as it's not an error). And note that your driving style will need to be modified a bit over what you've been used to with older 4WDs. Otherwise, yes I'd believe the dealer - the car _should_ be more than capable of keeping up with a std Prado.
Cheers,
Gordonex - 2006 D3 TDV6 SE, silver, with lots of stuff - R.I.P.
ex - 2009 D3 TDV6 SE, silver, had lots of stuff too!
Now - 2010 RRS 3.0 TDV6, rimini red, 18" rims + Cooper LTZ, rear eLocker, Spider tuning box, GOE protection plates and rock sliders, GOE 3way shortened rods.
Spinning wheels and stalling engine is foreign to me - never happend to me in the D3. I always switch DSC off to help prevent loss of momentum but this isn't probalby the answer to the stalling engine.
I've had spinning wheels on a wet clay slope and the D3 couldn't get up it with Cooper ST's and had to be towed up with a Defender with F&R lockers with Simexes. The TC was trying to stop my wheels spinning so I tried Rock Crawl to make the e-Diff more aggressive in locking but it still didn't work.
This maybe totally unrelated but worth mentioning. One day I stood on the brakes with my left foot while I had my right foot on the accelerator and an engine fault came on in the message display and I lost power for a few seconds then it went away. I was trying to bead some pads in and in the past I've done this in other cars without such a weird experience. So I wonder if in the above cases by standing on the brakes to prevent sliding backward while the wheels are still spinning forward would the engine stall. Just a thought.
Chris2011 Discovery 4 (MY12) SDV6 HSE with General Grabber AT's, Traxide Aux Battery system, custom rear drawers and Autosafe half height cargo barrier
Gone - 2005 Discovery 3 TDV6 HSE
ARB Bull Bar, Warn 9.5XP Winch, IPF D/Lights, Cooper STT's, LR Raised Air Intake, Traxide aux battery system, custom drawers and half height Autosafe cargo barrier, Mitchell Bros 4x4 tow hitch
3rd Oct 2007 1:01 am
PierreJ
Member Since: 22 Aug 2007
Location: Perth, W.A.
Posts: 448
Congrats Muz,
Seems like the Perth numbers are growing on the forum.
We will plan a day out very soon.
Cheers,
PierreWhy is the fear of long words called hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia?
3rd Oct 2007 1:02 am
disco4x4au
Member Since: 19 Jan 2006
Location: Perth
Posts: 409
PCH wrote:
Spinning wheels and stalling engine is foreign to me - never happend to me in the D3. I always switch DSC off to help prevent loss of momentum but this isn't probalby the answer to the stalling engine.
Chris
I've had it almost stall twice. Both times tackling an extreme muddy slope, such that I wasn't game to take a run at it, but nudged the front wheels up and then fed it power to invoke the TC/locker. Both times I inadvertently had the DSC on (as I had switched from mud/ruts to rock-climb). It hasn't happened any other time (even on the same slopes), so I'm _assuming_ that the DSC was responsible?
Cheers,
Gordonex - 2006 D3 TDV6 SE, silver, with lots of stuff - R.I.P.
ex - 2009 D3 TDV6 SE, silver, had lots of stuff too!
Now - 2010 RRS 3.0 TDV6, rimini red, 18" rims + Cooper LTZ, rear eLocker, Spider tuning box, GOE protection plates and rock sliders, GOE 3way shortened rods.
3rd Oct 2007 3:52 am
razzle
Member Since: 18 Jul 2006
Location: Tas
Posts: 170
Just wondering if the dynamic stability control was at work here, I have read on the forum that in some situations they recommend you turn the DSC off.
Was the DSC light flashing at all? Did You feel/hear the TC kicking in? The DSC control will reduce power/apply braking to individual wheels if it detects any unusual, excessive vehicle motion i.e. roll, pitch and yaw.
I have just been out in the disco in the rain on a steep clay track with the original tyres on, The disco ate the track up with TC kicking in, a normal opened diff 4wd would not of made it up this track. I was very nervous coming back down as I thought I might lose control on the clay, but I switched on HDC and this guided me safely down. This again hi lighted how good the Disco is.
3rd Oct 2007 5:31 am
muz
Member Since: 01 Oct 2007
Location: Perth
Posts: 15
Chris
Yes I meant special programs unavailable. Which in my opinion means it crashed. If they are not available then they aren't working.
Yes I thought that it wasn't good that I both came to a slipping stop and the computer stopped working at the same time. For a second I was worried as the way out wasn't all that pretty either.
I think I will call it a gremlin and if I don't see it again won't go into the dealer. No doubt will soon be back out in the same situation so will soon see if the problem re-occurs.
RichardK
I was down around Balingup. Parents have a farm there so I know a number of "interesting" roads and hills which i sampled a few of.
Muz
3rd Oct 2007 10:44 am
RichardK
Member Since: 18 Jan 2006
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 295
Muz, I've been on some good tracks through the forrestry areas around Balingup-Lewana, been a while though so I don't know how good it is now.
It would be a good day out somewhere if we can get a few D3's together
3rd Oct 2007 12:42 pm
Phil TDV6
Member Since: 02 Oct 2007
Location: Canberra
Posts: 16
Thanks for the comments and interesting to note that I'm obviously not the only one to have experienced a traction problem on certain wet, slippery slopes.
I must admit, I didn't even think about DSC at the time - I was too busy trying to restart the engine and control the now rapidly increasing descent; backwards. What I did notice though was the general lack of any warning lights in the dash, such as the DSC/TC light. My understanding was that the light lit up when either the DSC or TC kicked in. Once or twice on the entire trip I noticed it flash, but not during the particular incident on the hill. I could also hear/feel the TC working on very rare occasions, but again, not during this incident.
I also appreciate the comment about the need to modify one's driving style compared to that for older fourbys. However, what I failed to mention in my original post was that before the D3, we had a 2004 model Pajero with TC and DSC along with the other Mitsubishi goodies. The TC on the Pajero was brilliant and it DID sail up all types of obstacles that many others struggled with, including Series II Discos. In fact, from my limited experience with Series IIs, I believe Mitsu did their homework well and had their TC set up much better than Land Rover did at the time. My understanding is that Land Rover have regained the 'crown', although I am yet to experience it personally. The other good thing about the Pajero was that there was a display in the dash that showed exactly which wheel was being 'controlled' at any given time by the TC - I guess that is why I was glancing at the dash in the D3 at the time - it was out of habit. However, as an overall package, the D3 is a fair way ahead of the Pajero.
At the time of this particular incident, I wasn't on the brakes at the time the engine stalled - I was later as reverse gear (in low range) was next to useless at trying to lower the vehicle back down the hill under some semblance of control. I was also using 'manual' gear selection at the time (with mud/ruts selected), as I had found on previous occasions the gearbox incredibly slow at changing down when left to its own devices on steep tracks - to the point where the vehicle has all but stopped before it kicks down and then launches itself because it has suddenly realised the right foot is firmly planted on the floor trying to get some response. I have let the gearbox do its own thing a number of times now on steep, dry tracks and always with the same, slow response (I was aware the throttle is damped to varying degrees depending on the program selected, but I didn't think the gearbox kick back was also delayed). Given that momentum is usually your best friend on wet slopes, I haven't trusted the box to work itself out in auto. Given my experience on two different occasions, it probably couldn't do any worse so maybe I should 'let it do its own thing' in the wet and see if it surprises me. Interestingly enough, each time the engine stalled, I had somewhere between 2500 and 3000 rpm showing on the tacho - not the sort of engine speed that should have had the engine 'labouring' to the point of stalling. Maybe this was the DSC in action - killing engine power to the point it washed everything off.
Razzle, I note with interest your comment about switching HDC on when coming down a steep clay track in the rain. I assume you were traveling forward? I've had the opposite experience a couple of times in similar conditions (wet clay, steep hill) where the HDC has actually induced wheel lock up resulting in a short slide down the hill until I switched HDC off, and just let 1st low hold the D3 back. Not what I was expecting to say the least - I've got friends with Series IIs with HDC and they swear by it. This could tie in with what the dealer was suggesting - if the ABS was out of calibration and therefore not working as it should, then I guess it would have a major impact on the correct operation of the HDC given it is working off the ABS as well. Let's hope the dealer's 'reprogramming' exercise has worked and everything now works as it should.
All that said, I love the D3 and reckon it is the best fourby the wife and I have ever had - apart from a couple of little glitches which hopefully have now disappeared. Trouble is, I've got some lost ground to recover within the 4WD Club I'm in - they get worried now if the D3 is on a trip and there is any chance of rain!!!!MY07 TDV6 SE, ARB winch bar, Kaymar rear bar with dual wheel carriers, Long Ranger aux fuel tank, Land Rover raised air intake and rear diff lock, adaptive headlights, ARB (Engel) 40lt fridge, dual batteries, factory roof tracks and Rhino-rack Aero cross-bars, Black Widow rear awning, Bushranger Super Max air compressor, GME Tx3400 UHF radio, Grabber AT2 tyres, VMS on & off road Satnav system, Jumbuck 'Castaway' off-road camper trailer and Supreme Getaway caravan.
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it did not even occur to me to ask ( haven't been driving a 4wd for the last 5 years). So as you can imagine got the disco almost stuck a number of times in muddy conditions and will need to find a replacement tyre fast, though if it dries up may be able to wait another year.
road tyres on dry tracks climbs like a goat and has a great smooth ride over rough surfaces.
Law of Mechanical Repair:
; LR roof rails/cross bars; Autosafe cargo barrier, Safari Snorkel; Traxide - aux battery; ARB bull bar with Tigerz11 winch; Lightforce 240 XGT driving lights (mitchell bros tow hitch to come) 
