3 months and LR still haven't diagnosed my D3 electrical problem..

[djambalawa]

Getting very tired of this :( You may have seen my old posts in the D3 forum...

Basically I'll be going along and suddenly hear the door locks clunk, hazard lights will go on and the aircon will cut off (and a few other weird things like outside temperate number on dash goes blank etc)

I can still drive when this happens.. but if I turn it off I'm stuck.. it wont start, giving you errors about HDC and EPB etc...

Problem is that when its happening frequently you often wont be able to start it... but then an hour or 4 days later it'll just start no worries...

They said it was the instrument cluster originally.. but it reappeared a couple of weeks after they replaced that.. then they had it for 3 weeks and eventually said that they couldn't find it and it was working ok now - so I took it back and it was good for like 6 weeks... even on the gibb river road etc... then went to the local supermarket the other day and it happened again.. Been in there for nearly 3 weeks now and they can't find whats wrong...

/sigh

Any suggestions appreciated! :)

The other problem is that I found out this car had been drowned by the previous owner (LR themselves recognised it when a LR service manager was in Darwin - i bought it from Melbourne a few months ago and drove it up) - so they are quick to point out that its probably because its been drowned and that its not really their fault... and I'll have to pay for it if it appears its from the water immersion when they find the problem (if?)

This is despite the fact that Landrover themselves did the repair for the insurance company (totally new engine and turbo) and said that they'd honour the warranty... also the local guys are saying that the wiring they have looked at looks good as new - no sign of water damage etc...

I was attracted to the car as it had a new engine but the owner told me a fib that it was replaced because of a warranty issue - not an insurance one :(

Either way.. whether I have to pay for it or not.. I just wish they'd find the problem so it can be fixed...

[buzz66]

Sounds like you have a faulty Earth connection somewhere.
Get the service people to see if the systems you are having problems with have a common earth piont.

[Stue 3 doors down]

Its not the one used by a 4x4 mag that was use in the car of the year and drowned by them then it would be a Landrover problem.

As for the previous owner why not name and shame him, from what you have said he has lied and I would not want to buy from him. It bugs me from previous experience from both a brand new 4x4 to second hand how they lie. I had Ford replace a brand new car due to faults and it wasnt too hard just had to fight loud and dirty like they do.

Can you take it back to the previous owners insurance as it is faults with that "accident" ;) and if it was drowned it should have been a write off. A mate of mine had a previous owners insurance company fix the job properly this time.
Hope this help you so your not out of pocket as that is not fair or just.
Cheers

[WhiteD3]

The other problem is that I found out this car had been drowned by the previous owner (LR themselves recognised it when a LR service manager was in Darwin - i bought it from Melbourne a few months ago and drove it up) - so they are quick to point out that its probably because its been drowned and that its not really their fault... and I'll have to pay for it if it appears its from the water immersion when they find the problem (if?)

This is despite the fact that Landrover themselves did the repair for the insurance company (totally new engine and turbo) and said that they'd honour the warranty... also the local guys are saying that the wiring they have looked at looks good as new - no sign of water damage etc...

I was attracted to the car as it had a new engine but the owner told me a fib that it was replaced because of a warranty issue - not an insurance one :(


Mate, I feel for you I really do:eek: I thought (and I can't give you a concrete argument) that drowned cars were by law, write-offs. Not that its going to help as you've paid for the car, etc. But I'd be investigating the drowned bit.....the D3 is run by computers...cabling and electrical/data connection integrity will be critical (like all modern cars, not just the D3).

[djambalawa]

thanks guys... i'll mention the common earthing possibility to them.. and yeah it might be good to do a bit of research on car drowning... it was fresh water at least it seems...

I haven't even mentioned it to the guy I bought it from.... :(

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Mate, I feel for you I really do:eek: I thought (and I can't give you a concrete argument) that drowned cars were by law, write-offs. ....That's not technically correct,

"Fresh Water Damage - means when a vehicle is immersed in fresh water up to the dashboard/steering wheel for more that 2 days (48 hrs)." - http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/publicationsstatisticsforms/downloads/45070618.pdf so a vehicle that is drowned overnight is not technically a Statutory Write-off (never to be re-registered) but may be declared a repairable write-off.

Salt water immersion is a different matter, any immersion in salt water up to the door-sills can be declared a "Statutory Write-off".

Diana

[garryc]

Sounds like you have a faulty Earth connection somewhere.
Get the service people to see if the systems you are having problems with have a common earth piont.
With up to 25 computers in the D3(HSE) there are so many earth connections and cable connectors that water and corrosion could be a problem. Having put a rear power outlet, HF radio, rear camera etc in my D3 'S' I'm amazed at all the connectors and earth connections all over the vehicle. The dealer must be able to give an indication of the area of the faults surely:confused:

[Katie]

I have seen a simmilar problem in a DII, this particular car had a leaking windscreen that allowed the fuse box to get wet. The fuse box not only does the obviouse but turns the analog signals of the car in to digital ones for the computer. This fuse box would incorectly detect the shunt switch being triped and would open the locks and put the hazard lights on thinking it had been in a crash.
Katie

[powella]

A couple of suggestions...
The next time it is in the dealer for a service, or whatever, get them to download the errors from the ECU's and print them out. That way you can start to build up a history. You could even ask them if they have a record of them on file.

From there you can start pin pointing the likely culprits. It could be a dodgy connector or ECU....

Also I suggest keeping a note book in the car, writing the details of each fault as it occurs, time of day, date, driving conditions etc.

That way after a couple of painfull months you can sit down and look for any patterns.

Cheers,
AP

[Radz]

This may or not be relevant to your probleme with the D3. My 2005 Defender drove me nuts for nearly a year with a similar intermittant problem. Sometimes out of the blue when turned the ignition on motor would crank but not fire. Some of the icons on the dash did not come on. Anyhow to save a lenghty dissertion found the problem to be a dodgy relay socket in the computer compartment under the seat. There is a bank of yellow relays. The socket was not making reliable contact with the blade pin of the plug in relay. Retensioned all the sockets with a small screw driver. As well gave a squirt of contact cleaner and viola !
The intermittant starting problem disappeared, now a year or so later, for good.
Hope this is of use.
These things at times can be almost untraceable.

[catch-22]

At what point can one say 'nup, dud. Give me another' ?