Thread: Engine Systems Failure ???

Welcome to the club

Mate,

It probably is just a computer error or something silly with the turbo. Best post this in the D3/D4 forum where you'll get some excellent advice.

I suggest you search the same forum as I seem to remember someone with a similar issue.

For instance http://www.aulro.com/afvb/d3-d4-rrs/...ng-beware.html which is a loooong thread that basically blames the use of cruise control while towing on long climbs.

Cheers.

Hi. I know it is a **** situation but you will only get confidence back by driving it. I have had similar feelings in the past when I first got my defender and land rover couldn't fix some issues. Contact land rover australia (bypass the dealer) and voice your concerns. If the computer went into a limp home mode it should tell them why. I have trusted MR automotive at redcliffe with my car since it was new. They cannot do free warranty work but call them and ask if they have heard of this similar problem before. Maybe worth a visit to them to get a proper diagnosis.
I hope everything works out soon.

Often a computer logged error may in actual fact be quite reliable in what it depicts has happened to a particular component, but unfortunately often smaller and simpler mechanical problems that control or power that component can cause the computer to shut things down as a safety measure.
I had a couple of cases of my computer shutting down my TD5 and reverting to limp home mode (very nasty when in a mountainous area with a van on the back- thank God for low range!), and after three different visits to a service centre where they happily each time replaced the faulty sensor switch under warranty (valued at $1100 per go and deemed by the computer to be the problem,) the problem still persisted.
It eventually turned out in this particular case to be caused by my air conditioner drain draining the condensation out of my a/c unit, (as it was designed to do!) and consistently depositing said moisture right on top of the switch.
A 2" plastic tube extension of the drain hose could have saved $3300 worth of previous repairs and a lot of anguish on my behalf.
Since that day I became a lot fussier about where I took my car for maintenance and started looking for older mechanics who are not quite so reliant on computerised assessments and who can look outside the square.
I realise that this may not be the case in your vehicle but often it could help to know what the fault logged implies and then nut out why this happened, or in other words whilst the computer can tell you "part x failed", it cannot fathom out why it failed or whether there may be a broken or dirty power source connection to "part x" or not.
I hope that you don't take this personally, but you and I are a big part of the problem here. We want the biggest van behind the smallest vehicle with arm chair comfort, whereas in actual fact we should really be pulling 3 tonnes with a truck, and as a result of this we find we are always pushing the limits. A great recipe for failure, whatever the marque!
To counteract this problem which in a variety of different forms never really went away, I downsized, firstly in what I tow nowadays and secondly, what vehicle I use as a tow vehicle. Saddest part is that it took me so long to wake up to the fact!
Regards
Glen

Mate
In this day and age you will get faults and codes etc in any modern vehicle regardless of its make.

Bite the bullett and stick your van on and get up it. Pick some local big hills and varying terrain and test it out. Sitting at home doing nothing, will bring nothing??

I drive a TDI VW Transporter for work and recently got up it in sport mode with a full load of tools on board and got and engine fault warning. Book said take it to the dealer immediately. Plugged in and it said "engine overboost". VW had no answer but logged the fault.

For the next couple of weeks it got a flogging under all types of hills, standing starts etc. To this day no more faults. Never lost confidence in it though.

Lucky you dont own a new Defender, you'd never leave home hey

We tow almost 3 tonne of horses and float with our 06, D3 V8 and have never had a fault. Go figure

Justin

Hi guys, thanks for all that info. We have decided to give it another go, but this time with some insurance. I am looking at buying "Faultmate diagnostic tool" from www.blackbox.com/faultmate in the hope that if we get this error code again, I can reset the codes and get to a town to get it checked out properly. Being stranded and then towed is most stressful, and if we can avoid this, I can see a way to work through this problem.
In the meantime we are going to put it through its paces and see if we can duplicate the problem while we are in cooeeee of the dealer at Southport.
I cannot remember if I was using the cruise control when it failed before or not, but I do have a habit of sticking it on when my foot gets a bit lazy.
Back to the Faultmate Gizmo... to order it online they need the "VEHICLE SERVER SERIAL NUMBER, (on bottom of unit ?) or the "T.U.P. REQUEST CODE". (Server settings info page of vehicle Explorer ??) Can anyone tell me what these are and where to find them. This Gizmo costs $787.36 plus P&H so I think it is a relatively cheap insurance to keep me mobile until I can get to a service centre or dealer. It may never happen again.. but I cannot take that risk without doing all I can to get a plan "B" just in case!
Thanks again for all your help, it is most appreciated.
wintonwanderers.

Hi There WW,

Sorry to hear of your woes with your D4. Alas we live in the age of the computer assisted car. Computers have many Gremlins. The more complex a system the more complex become its problems. Considering the complexity of your selected LR I find it amazing they don't have more problems. At last count your car probably has as much software as your average A320 has in its FMS. You should see their fault logs. Actually now I think about that, probably not as you might never fly again.

Not sure where you were seeking on the BBS Solutions site but the cheapest solution for your beast from BBS is around $AUD1150 (plus shipping and GST) using the Nano server. Around $AUD1250 (plus shipping and GST) using the Extreme server.

If you already have the Faultmate hardware then the full software suite will cost about what you mentioned.

Before you commit yourself, contact Paul (PaulP38A) from Hard Range. He should be able to talk you through the options and configuration of the Faultmate for your D4. Best of all he's right here in Australia . Send him a PM, or give him a call, and he'll do right by you I'm sure.

You need a Server (recommend the Extreme since it can be used stand-alone), software for your D4 modules and the appropriate leads. You supply a laptop and you have all you could possibly need. You could then probably do more/better diagnosis than many of the dealers.

Good luck with it all and may you have many fuss free years from your Discovery.

Cheers,
Iain

so your going to clear the faults (if it fualts) and then go to the dealer saying fix it,, when you have cleared the fualts already in there,???

as a to your car there is a bulletin about the sys fualt and LR is looking into as we speek, yes we no what went "wrong" with your car but there is not a fix for it yet, we have at several cars come up with this code and all have been cleared and sent to LR, not one has come back with the light on and this code again,

The most immediate action when a fault like that is to switch off and switch back on and most likely the fault will be gone but still logged in the codes.

Failing that, switch off and pull the handbrake on and wait until the handbrake light goes off. Then switch back on and most likely everything will be OK with the fault logged in the codes for when the next service is done.

Failing that - switch off and wait until the handbrake light goes out then disconnect the battery cables and touch them together to clear any residual voltages in the system - should reboot the computers when you then reconnect the battery cables and switch on. Not sure if this clears the codes in the system if the fault has fixed itself.

Failing that then I guess expert advice is needed.

Garry