Second Year of D2 Ownership

Hey Steve

Thanks for that great advice and to rambling boy. That gives me a lot of confidence.

My mechanic is great so will ask him to check over and replace, i am doing day trips and will work up weekends etc.

My mate is getting a new Landcruiser Dual cab v8 diesel so i dont want to break down beside him!

Should I source some 16" steel wheels for travelling on rough tracks , corrugations in the D2a or will the factory alloys be fine?

If so which steel wheels fit? Will the Discovery 1 steel 16" fit a 2003 D2a?

Thanks again Iain

Hi Iain

Disco one rims won't fit. Stud pattern and size are different.

I wouldn't worry too much about steel rims. Alloys with good tyres will be just fine and if 16" perfect. That said if you have 18" fitted I wouldn't obsess about changing them. Maybe buy a second tyre and rim from a wrecker or off gumtree though.

And don't get me started on v8 toyotas and reliability...... Had an interesting job out of Alice last year with electrical issues in a brand new land cruiser wagon. Took 3 goes to get out of town and 2 trips to the Toyota dealer.

Cheers

Steve

D2 alloys will be fine.
Don't bother with steels :)

Thanks Steve and Disco Muppett

I have the factory 16" alloys with Cooper Discoverer all terrains but i will pick up a second alloy as a spare thats a great tip thanks

Iain

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Originally Posted by HarleyPup

Hey Steve

My mechanic is great so will ask him to check over and replace, i am doing day trips and will work up weekends etc.

Thanks again Iain

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Hi Iain. A bit after the event, but care to share who your mechanic is? PM is fine if you are a bit diffident. Cheers Gavin

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Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

Once you become familiar with these vehicles you have no qualms about going anywhere in them.

Mine is now 15yrs old and I'm about to prepare for my 16th trip through the SA deserts up down or across the Srezleckie/Oodnadatta/Birdsville tracks.

How shall I prepare? Make sure all services are up to date. I'll have new dampers on this trip , as the others wore out. also a new front prop shaft.Other than that basically a walk around. Nothing really goes wrong with it.

As the hair ads say ..."have the confidence tomorrow"

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They are a great vehicle until they stop dead. Unfortunately any computer controlled car over 10-15 years is on borrowed time. I just had to replace the BCU because it had a problem (probably in the board) and the vehicle simply would not start. THat can happen anywhere, anytime. I still love it and it will not stop me going to remote locations (OTT next year and Simpson following year) but these things can happen and will happen the older the vehicle gets. Lots of sensors, lots of computing going on.

Cheers

Here's NASA's thoughts on computational redundancy--

http://history.nasa.gov/computers/Ch4-4.html

something car manufacturers could well think about,,

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Originally Posted by ozscott

They are a great vehicle until they stop dead. Unfortunately any computer controlled car over 10-15 years is on borrowed time. I just had to replace the BCU because it had a problem (probably in the board) and the vehicle simply would not start. THat can happen anywhere, anytime. I still love it and it will not stop me going to remote locations (OTT next year and Simpson following year) but these things can happen and will happen the older the vehicle gets. Lots of sensors, lots of computing going on. Cheers

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So do you think have a new BCU & ECU on hand at around the 10-15 year mark? I'm genuinely interested as my leased RRV will be 12 years old at the end of the lease. These components could be one of the last items to buy before the lease ends.

Yes ECU/BCUs can fail, but I haven't seen much evidence for it being a systemic problem on the forums here.

In the D2 world I'm reading more about auto transmission, fuel pump, MAF sensor, fuel pressure regulator, front drive shaft, door lock and window actuator failures.

Each car has their own weak spots, so if you are buying insurance spares, play to these weak spots in the first instance. There are plenty of components that can fail on a car and strand you, but we can't carry them all :)

After this if you plan on keeping the car, then buy parts which are likely to become or are NLA.

As an example my Alfa is 30 years old and except for a fuel relay the year after I bought it, the ECU and other electrical boxy bits are still original and the only time I needed a tow truck was when the clutch slave cylinder failed. That said a can of contact cleaner has been a blessing in restoring functionality of some electrical systems over the years :)

Cheers

Steve

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Originally Posted by clubagreenie

For $25- you can get a cover from ebay shipped with thread and needle. Good quality, a few people, including myself have used them.

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x2 and they look really good.