The Simpson Desert in a D3

[matti4556]

Hi All - Before I left I got some great advice from members on this forum about doing this trip, and a big thank you goes out to them!
I have done a write-up (attached) but not about the desert as such, but more about how a D3 goes on a trip like this. I hope this is interesting for some of you.
I added some pictures as well - always makes for a nicer read.

Feel free to ask questions.

Cheers - Matti

[matti4556]

Oh - and the Landrover wave is not dead in the outback - Landrovers 100% success rate. But then again nearly everyone waves to you West of Quilpie.:)

[Fitzy2011]

Great write up. Thanks. It gives me even more confidence in my d3.

[winaje]

Great write-up, confidence inspiring, thanks a lot.

BTW, how the heck do you get 8l to 9l around town? Is that on the computer or done with kms vs litres?

[DiscoPaul]

great read thanks, is a trip i'm looking forward to doing soon

[matti4556]

Winaje - my "town" has some country roads and stuff. Forgot to mention that bit, so yeah - its better than most - cheers
And that's what the 'puty displays as an average reading.

[Graeme]

A good write-up Matti!

For Llams causing faults when the suspension is being fully extended at slower speeds I suggest enabling fade-out mode. Fade-out progressively reduces the height increase for an affected corner as the suspension extends, more properly aligning height with true height signals but not affecting Llams' extra height when the suspension is not operating at extremes. Fade-out is enabled by pressing the red button while at the medium (+30mm) setting which will then be active at either medium or high and is disabled by momentarily selecting low (-20mm).

[Bytemrk]

Great report Matti!.. thanks for taking the time - I know it will help lots of us;)

[Trngia]

Fantastic report. Really enjoyed it and good to hear how you got on.

[TerryO]

An excellent report, thanks for taking the time to write it.

[PTC]

Cheers for the report. Its great to hear how others went on the way across.

I am in Alice Springs at the moment. 6 of us crossed the Simpson on a few days ago from East to West. Sitting outside the Birdsville Pub there was a party of 4 new shiny Disco's. And i ran into a few Rangeis and a 90 crossing the desert. Everyone seemed to get over there nice and easy. And as for fuel consumption. I was expecting a whole lot worse. It was only just higher than driving around the city. High 2nd and 3rd the whole way across the desert. TD5 130 this is in.

[Redback]

Great write up and report on your trip, great photos too.

Baz.

[gghaggis]

Cheers for the report. Its great to hear how others went on the way across.

I am in Alice Springs at the moment. 6 of us crossed the Simpson on a few days ago from East to West. Sitting outside the Birdsville Pub there was a party of 4 new shiny Disco's.

That would have been us :D

I'll have the pics and writeup on the GOE page in the next week or so.

Cheers,

Gordon

[Tombie]

Nice write up and looks like you had fun!

[CaptAwsm]

Cheers mate. Appreciate the effort you put into it and explanation of the trip. Pretty confident in the capability of the D3 to do it solo!

Ben.

[TerryO]

One question, did you work out why you may have had the suspension issues?

[PKD4]

Great write up, thanks for taking the time to do the post.

A mate of mine will be doing a similar trip in a couple of weeks and I was unable to get time off to go. Reading your review has made me pretty sorry that I did not push harder to make time to join him.:( Next time hopefully....

Pat

[matti4556]

One question, did you work out why you may have had the suspension issues?
Not definitively Terry (where I can say I resolved the issue or read the codes) but Graeme's solution of setting the "fade-out" mode on the LLAMS system is probably on the money. It seemed that the compressor could not keep up with the air demands of the system/vehicle rocking sideways so violently (to the extremes). I have never experienced sand tracks scalloped like that before, and it was only on the first hour of the trip at the Eastern end of the QAA line. I will be interested to read from others (GGHAGGIS) how they found the track conditions some weeks later. Once BOR reads the codes at my next service I will post up the findings. Cheers Matti

[matti4556]

Great write up, thanks for taking the time to do the post.

A mate of mine will be doing a similar trip in a couple of weeks and I was unable to get time off to go. Reading your review has made me pretty sorry that I did not push harder to make time to join him.:( Next time hopefully....

Pat
Pat - its a beautiful part of the country. You simply must tick this one off your bucket list. I cant wait to go back again one day.

[matti4556]

Not definitively Terry (where I can say I resolved the issue or read the codes) but Graeme's solution of setting the "fade-out" mode on the LLAMS system is probably on the money. It seemed that the compressor could not keep up with the air demands of the system/vehicle rocking sideways so violently (to the extremes). I have never experienced sand tracks scalloped like that before, and it was only on the first hour of the trip at the Eastern end of the QAA line. I will be interested to read from others (GGHAGGIS) how they found the track conditions some weeks later. Once BOR reads the codes at my next service I will post up the findings. Cheers Matti

TerryO. I have finally had the codes read at my last service and they might make sense to Graeme or yourself.
Ride level control module -
C1A73-1C front right height sensor mechanism ... Circuit voltage out of range.
C1A74-1C rear left height sensor mechanism ... Circuit voltage out of range.
C1A75-1C rear right height sensor mechanism ... Circuit voltage out of range.
C1131-92 air supply ... Performance or incorrect operation.
U0416-86 invalid data received from vehicle dynamics control module ... Signal is invalid.
C1A07-62 cross articulation ... Signal compare failure.
C1130-7A air spring air supply ... Fluid leak or seal failure.
C1130-66 air spring air supply ... Signal has too many transitions / events.

The last fault code is what my brain told me as well, I was so over trying to work it out for myself on the run, so we pulled up off the track and boiled the billy and had a brew. Compressor cooled down and off we went. I am suspecting the continuous rolls and pitching and yaw (sometimes extreme) over the crappiest large dune crossings on the eastern side caused all this. Comments anyone? Cheers Matti

[Graeme]

C1A73-1C front right height sensor mechanism ... Circuit voltage out of range.
C1A74-1C rear left height sensor mechanism ... Circuit voltage out of range.
C1A75-1C rear right height sensor mechanism ... Circuit voltage out of range.
C1A07-62 cross articulation ... Signal compare failure.

rrsport.co.uk list a TSB for height sensors prior to vin 9A502505 for LA (Disco) vehicles that can trigger this same set of faults plus the front left. Manufacture process improvements for the sensors were introduced with that vin. Is your vin prior to this?

My D4 rocked badly going slowly across bumps and ruts near where I turn to reverse up to my house until the shocks were replaced recently with current D4 shocks. I suspect the cross-link valves were opened trying to improve the ride but had the opposite effect. Monitoring the cross-link valves was on my to-do list to see if they were indeed opening but the vehicle no longer rocks so no point.

If your vehicle has the earlier sensors then perhaps the rocking combined with LLAMS making the sensors operate out of their normal range triggered the known fault in the sensors.

[matti4556]

Thanks Graeme, makes sense. My VIN is 9A497881 so the faults are plausible as you note. I wonder what the improvements were? Time to trawl yet another forum - I didn't realise how educational a D3 could be!? :D

[Graeme]

SSM39634 - a special service message rather than a TSB.

[rar110]

Does this affect the RRV or RRS?

[Graeme]

I couldn't load the pdf but here's the text:

Air Suspension Height Sensor Modifications.
Models LA - Discovery 3
LS - Range Rover Sport
Title Air Suspension Height Sensor Modifications.
Last Modified 11-NOV-2008 13:05
Category Chassis
Symptom 304000 Suspension System Issue:
The air suspension warning lamp may illuminate causing the ride height to become frozen. DTC's C1A03, C1A04, C1A05, C1A06, C1A72, C1A73, C1A74 and C1A75 may also be recorded. Cause:
Manufacturing process improvements have been made to the height sensors to overcome the symptoms previously mentioned. Action:
The improved level height sensors were introduced
Content to production at VIN numbers:
LS 9A199490 LA 9A502505
All service parts are now to the new level. These can be identified by a date code on the end of the sensor (see attachment). The assured date code is 21108 where 211 is the day of the year and 08 is the year.
If any issues of this nature are experienced POST these VIN's or assured date code please submit an ePQR


A USA LR3 owner had the same set of fault codes occur a couple of times on a particular section of road but also had some communication faults that suggested a poor earth somewhere. He replaced 1 height sensor but got the set of faults again so was looking for a different cause. No conclusion was posted.

[Wasa57]

Enjoyed the helpful posts, Matti.

Question: Assuming you did the same trip without LLAMS, using the standard off-road height setting when necessary, what problems would you have experienced, and would it have made a great difference not to have LLAMS?

Thanks,
Wasa

[matti4556]

wasa57, thanks. I really don't think the issues were llams related. The sensors would have gone out of range regardless of what height it was set at. The "wombat holes" we're spaced so that the vehicle was going to rock from side to side (causing the wild swings in sensor readings) A vehicle with an open front diff and no TC will degrade the track even further whenever a wheel lost traction going into a hole and just dig more sand out and on it goes, just digging deeper wombat holes. When you are committed to a long dune climb, on a one lane track, trying to avoid the spinifex type brush ready to bite you on both sides, you just grin and bear it :) The vehicles towing large trailers were the culprits on this trip. I can't wait for trailers to be banned in the Simpson Desert. They have banned fires in some Aboriginal Parks, so why not ban trailers that stuff up the environment out there more than a camp fire.
Llams was a godsend when fully laden on high speed undulating roads as it gave a good amount of bump stop clearance. I just added one click and kept driving. I have had it on the beach since in similar conditions and no issues after following Graeme's advice to have it on Fade-out mode. Without Llams I guess I would have just driven slower. The D3 does lull you into driving too fast for conditions so you have to remain alert to that.