Please make me feel better broke my disco and trying not to get depressed about it.

[ade]

so I backed into a tree with my TDV 06 this morning. Had dropped my trailer at a mates and was reversing concentrating on a tree at the front when I hit a tree at the rear:mad: pretty sure the reverse sensors didn't
beep, confirmed by my 8 year old daughter.. is that because I didnt turn it back on after disconnecting the trailer?
Anyhow, it was a low speed impact, see pics of damage, just scrapped the drivers side rear and broke off the right rear plastic wheel arch/mud guard.
thing is now I have faults. car will raise it self to normal height but once I start driving, it lowers with no HDC fault, no air suspension up or down, park brake works but have a yellow brake fault on the dash, yellow air suspension fault on the dash, also when I drove it from my mates to home, about three minutes drive, the steering wheel was straight as it always has been. parked up for ten minutes then drove to the shop, now for the car to drive straight, the steering wheel is 45 degrees to the left and there is a yellow fault on the dash, its a triangle with an exclamation mark in it surrounded buy a circle with an arrow. I pulled into the shops and centered the steering wheel, to find the front wheels were straight. drove home from the shops and steering wheel was same 45 degrees to the left for the car to travel straight..impact had nothing to do with the front end. Please what do I need to do?? I have a nanocom but haven't plugged it in yet and haven't done a hard reset. I haven't had a look around the wheel on the impact side but cant believe any damage was done other than superficial body stuff and the impact was so low speed.
Advice opinions please
upset
Adrian

75815

75816

[Marmoset]

I feel your pain, mines in the body shop after a minor altercation in a car park that left it with a front wheel with a lot of camber on it and a few dented panels.

Could part of your problem be related to wiring to your height sensor? The wheel arch liner may have moved and damaged the wiring...might be worth a look, although the cars usually resort to standard height if the sensors are confusing it. The movement might have also done something to other wiring around there, so check it all.

Not sure about the steering to be honest, unless the dsc is applying brakes when it shouldn't be..

[ade]

Wheel arch liner is still in place around the height sensor

[Meken]

Maybe it was enough push to push the body off the chassis alignment so it twisted everything?

[ade]

Don't think so. Wouldn't have been going more than 2-3 kms/hr

[ade]

And how can I jack it up to check in the wheel
arch if I can't raise the suspension to off-road height as per the
instructions in the manual?

[Graeme]

As you have stated, the suspension works until you drive so off-road height should work if you don't drive after starting. The suspension system is lowering due to a brake/steering fault - nothing wrong with the system itself.

I suspect there's a problem with the steering angle sensor, perhaps loose or a loose electrical connection or just needs to be calibrated, that is causing all the problems. The steering angle sensor is monitored by the brake system.

If you don't have front parking sensors then the rear ones don't reactivate when the trailer plug is removed until the engine is restarted - a poor bit of design or programming.

[Epic pooh]

Did the rear wheel impact the tree ? If so, could it be as simple as severely bad wheel alignment or something bent / broken in the rear suspension ?

Did you hook up your Nanocom ? What errors are logged ?

[tiddy]

For my two cents worth..but I will say my knowledge on Discoveries is limited, but given the speed of the impact is minimal, I would suggest to disconnect the battery for an hour or so.

Now maybe it's a Jeep thing, but whenever my Jeep gets issues like error codes etc, you disconnect the battery, let it sit for a while and it clears the error codes.

Doesn't always work, but no harm in trying, given how many sensors are on cars now & they are computer controlled, like a home PC, disconnect to re set and if it doesn't work, get it checked out.

tiddy

[ade]

Did the rear wheel impact the tree ? If so, could it be as simple as severely bad wheel alignment or something bent / broken in the rear suspension ?

Did you hook up your Nanocom ? What errors are logged ?

Starting to think it could be wheel alignment. Going to nanocom
it today. Annoying thing is the closest panel beater is three and a half
hours away, closest landrover mech is 12 hours drive away

[ade]

Where is the air susp relay for compressor?
I want to keep it at normal height so it isn't driving on the bump stops.

[Graeme]

Get it up to normal height before driving then remove the 20A main suspension fuse from the engine bay fuse box. Then remove the 5A suspension fuse from the passenger compartment fuse box (behind the glove box) so that you don't get an annoying 50 kph message every minute or so, only once on startup.

Check behind the RR wheel to make sure nothing got broken.

The compressor is in front of the left rear wheel but no need to touch that to stop the suspension from lowering.

Removing the compressor relay will not stop the suspension from lowering.

[gghaggis]

You may have bent/broke a bolt in the rear control arms / mountings, especially if the rear wheel took the brunt of the hit at an angle (which would account for the lack of serious body damage). In that case the wheel will not track straight when driving, requiring you to turn the steering off-centre to maintain a straight path. Jack the car up (from the chassis), put it on car stands and check for movement of the wheel.

Cheers,

Gordon

[ade]

Get it up to normal height before driving then remove the 20A main suspension fuse from the engine bay fuse box. Then remove the 5A suspension fuse from the passenger compartment fuse box (behind the glove box) so that you don't get an annoying 50 kph message every minute or so, only once on startup.

Check behind the RR wheel to make sure nothing got broken.

The compressor is in front of the left rear wheel but no need to touch that to stop the suspension from lowering.

Removing the compressor relay will not stop the suspension from lowering.

Thanks for the advice I'm about to do as you suggest. have taken the right rear wheel off no obvious damage apart from the following pic of a the upper ball joint. gonna need to drive it to Perth 1400kms for four wheel alignment. Not ideal at all but nothing really I can do about it. Any suggestions for otherwise? Picture is reversed for some reason

[sheerluck]

That'd do it!

[Epic pooh]

Yep, that would do it, I'd say.

My 2 bobs worth --- Any local mechanic should be able to sort that out without too much fuss - get online and get a rear upper control arm complete assembly (including ball joint and bushes) delivered to you and get the nearest mechanic to fit (or do it yourself it's pretty easy) - I don't think rear upper has anything much to do with alignment so change it and you should be ok to go when changed.

[ade]

Yep, that would do it, I'd say.

My 2 bobs worth --- Any local mechanic should be able to sort that out without too much fuss - get online and get a rear upper control arm complete assembly (including ball joint and bushes) delivered to you and get the nearest mechanic to fit (or do it yourself it's pretty easy) - I don't think rear upper has anything much to do with alignment so change it and you should be ok to go when changed.

I will get one and change it myself. I had a look at removing it. I'm pretty sure it does affect alignment
And when I loosened off the bolt to see of I could move it closer to normal, I could tell the hub and disc where moving laterally in and or out depending on which way I turned the bolt. But a new one will go along way to getting it closer.

[Epic pooh]

I've been through a lot of suspension 'issues' (read wear and tear) on mine and have had a lot of wheel alignments and I am pretty sure that the rear adjustment is only the lower arms (could be wrong, don't have technical docs to hand) - but either way, you'd be traveling a lot straighter with a ball joint that's in the right place !

Good luck and hope you can get one and fit it up without too much pain (maybe you could temporarily try to repair it with a hammer and a crow bar ... !??!).

Just out of interest, couldn't you get a wheel align done at Port Hedland (assuming your nanocom can engage tight tolerance mode) ?

Cheers,
Mick

[ade]

[QUOTE=Epic pooh;2129852]I've been through a lot of suspension 'issues' (read wear and tear) on mine and have had a lot of wheel alignments and I am pretty sure that the rear adjustment is only the lower arms (could be wrong, don't have technical docs to hand) - but either way, you'd be traveling a lot straighter with a ball joint that's in the right place !

Good luck and hope you can get one and fit it up without too much pain (maybe you could temporarily try to repair it with a hammer and a crow bar ... !??!).

Just out of interest, couldn't you get a wheel align done at Port Hedland (assuming your nanocom can engage tight tolerance mode) ?

Cheers,
Mick[/QUOTE
I did try hammer and crow bar to no avail. Will get a new one. Did also consider port hedland but I need to go to Perth in June for some other stuff and won't be using very much till then. Have the wife's car. I would rather leave it with a mechanic I trust in Perth while doing some personal business and I can catch up with some friends / family while I'm down there on a weeks holiday. Still kicking myself over it though it seems a lot worse the first day when you have just done it. A days thinking and checking it out makes things a little bit better

[ade]

Is it possible I can get just the bushing that's stuffed. The rest of the
control arm looks fine. Have looked around on the web. Seems the parts I need is RHF500100 rear. Suspension knuckle bush upper. Can anyone confirm please. ?

[Epic pooh]

Yep you can just buy the bits you need

try these guys for diagrams and part numbers http://www.roverparts.com.au/rear_suspension_arms__knuckle___hub___discovery_31 ?b=1

I just replace whole assemblies because that is lighter on labour.

[ade]

To buy the complete arm doesn't include the bush I need.
Is there any special tools, a press required to install the hub knuckle bush
I need?

[Epic pooh]

Now that I've looked at the schematic, I get which bit that is ... here's the page from the online version of the service manual :

Land Rover Workshop Manuals > LR3/Disco 3 > 204-02 Rear Suspension > Upper Ball Joint(64.15.07) (http://workshop-manuals.com/landrover/lr3/204-02_rear_suspension/upper_ball_joint(64.15.07)/)

Probably could improvise something to press it out and then back in or as you have to take the whole knuckle out, you could take it to a mechanic / machine shop or similar that has a press and away you go. Good luck !

[ade]

Just had a look at the manual to remove the knuckle. Has any one done it
without special tools?

[Owl]

Hi Ade,
Don't feel bad.
I have a Kaymar bumper / rear wheel carrier with HF antenna mount and did the same as you. Took the trailer off and, didn't reset the LED module. Backed into a tree not taking a great deal of notice what I was doing and pushed the antenna mount into the rear window.:o:censored:

Too easy to do.
Good luck with your repair.