Dead Disco4

[Bobc163]

LAst Thursdat at about 3:30pm I get a call from a very distressed wife "car won't start
Told her to contact LR Support who sent a "technician" out to try and start the beast
NO GO error message "steering column locked" thenn a whole list of errors
Off on the flat bed it goes for a long weekend away without us

LR have been helpful to say the least even arranging and paying for a hire car for my wife

Local dealer has been running tests to determine problem but could not find any so after 8 days we are going to pick up the Disco

They did a complete reset and checked the system out but could not get any thing to show up

Question now is :- will it happen again and where
Has anyone else had this experience
Vehicle is MY12 SDSE with all the added extras 28k on the clock

[BobD]

Hopefully it does it again soon so that you can find out what the problem is quickly! Doesn't do wonders for the wife's confidence, though.


I've had a distressed call of this nature from my wife twice but in each case there was a real problem. The first was a failed starter motor, exactly one week after returning to Perth from a trip to Cape York via every rough road known to man and the second was after the indie fitted a new EPB, which was the wrong one for my VIN number. It spat the dummy about 3km from the repair shop with a heap of errors after running perfectly when it left the repair shop, although we new it was wrong and the computer didn't recognize the EPB. The errors escalated, probably each time the car was switched on.


The one big problem that doesn't seem to have an error message recorded is brake switch failure. At least I was driving when this failed and I had to get flat bedded within an hour of the dealer updating the software and telling me it was fixed. This may turn out to be the problem so if the car hesitates after a bend or after stopping at an intersection (ie after applying the brake) be suspicious of the brake switch. Also, make sure your wife never puts her foot on the accelerator and brake at the same time, even for an instant.

[Graeme]

make sure your wife never puts her foot on the accelerator and brake at the same time, even for an instant.

I do this every time I reverse a trailer uphill to a loading ledge on a shed and never have any problems. Perhaps being in reverse makes the difference.

To the OP, I suspect a loose earth connection somewhere, possibly at the bottom of either the left or right front pillar.

If you can get the list of fault codes and descriptions and post it here someone might spot a clue that's been missed. A lot of the faults will most likely have cascaded from 1 or more systems becoming unavailable so getting to the root cause can take some informed guessing.

[Bobc163]

all electrical checked FDault codes have all cleared and the dealed could not get them until he was able to reboot enabling the steering lock to release then start , once started it checks then clears all faults

[BobD]

Graeme,


I'm no expert but I think there must be some tolerance built into the programming to enable some overlap of braking and accelerating. However, when it happens too much (such as failure of the brake switch) the car seems to chuck a hissy fit in a big way. Hence, best for wives not to encourage possible faults by keeping their foot on the brake while driving when they have no way of knowing how to fix it when it goes wrong.


I have enough trouble with frantic phone calls when the car hasn't recognized the fob and won't start!! On my car she has to remember to turn the ignition off with no foot on the brake and then press the button again with the foot on the brake to get it going. If she keeps pressing the button with her foot on the brake, nothing happens and I get the frantic phone call and abuse about stupid D4's. As soon as I tell her what to do again the car starts with no problems.

[Epic pooh]

I do exactly what Graeme does when reversing my van into its very tight garage. I also do it regularly (as in 3-5 times a week) going forward to park close to a car on an extremely steep driveway (you cannot get the car into position without it rolling back or taking off forward and hitting the car in front unless foot on brake and throttle is done).

About every three years it throws a fault when doing one of these actions and I lean into my centre console, get my spare brake pedal switch and reach under and change it. Wife is wise to this so if it happens to her she cycles the ignition and tells me so I can sort it out.

The system is quite tolerant of foot on brake and throttle at very low speeds is my experience. That said this habit may not be doing the switch any good ... !!

[SBD4]

I am continuing to have this issue too. Mine did it twice in two weeks after christmas after having the steering lock replaced in Dec to "fix" the issue as they said they had "found" the problem.

I can say that I know I can get the car started every time by either one of two ways:

1. sit in the car lock it and wait to hear the steering lock engage. this can some times take a long time - 20 mins to a couple of hours.
2. do a hard reset (open the bonnet, wait for all lights to go out on the dash 2 to 5 mins, then remove battery cables and short them together)

[scarry]

There was an article a while ago in a local Rover club mag.

A club member had bought a D4 new and it had all sorts of issues,LR could not sort out.They actually gave him another D4 to use and it started having the same issues.

Once he stopped left foot breaking,no issues appeared in either vehicles.
With this type of driving style both pedals are on occasions both pressed,which was the cause of the issues.

[nat_89]

There was an article a while ago in a local Rover club mag.

A club member had bought a D4 new and it had all sorts of issues,LR could not sort out.They actually gave him another D4 to use and it started having the same issues.

Once he stopped left foot breaking,no issues appeared in either vehicles.
With this type of driving style both pedals are on occasions both pressed,which was the cause of the issues.

Totally agree there never use any other foot than right but my father in law is a useless driver and left foot brakes in his prado 120 all the time and when he went for a drive it was doing weird things possibly because his foot was only just touching the brake and they are so sensitive the brake pedal switch!

[Bobc163]

Well after receiving call from local dealer at 4:30 to say all was good to go,
arranged for loan car to be returned and pick up Disco this morning (Sat)
Arrived at dealership to find vehicle in lot unwashed , dissapointing but not an issue,
Salesman unlocks vehicle and drives it to pick up area. when he gets out he has this strange look and say's "did it arrive with all the panels off ?"
When we look inside the vehicle is still in a partially dismantled state from where they were trying to locate the problem!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wife not happy to say the least

Makes you start to think a"did they do anything"

I think this is utterly deplorable and my wife is FAST LOSING CONFIDENCE in the marque to say the least

Watch out LRA on Monday AM