Thread: RACV Diagnosis of a mates Disco

Originally Posted by Hymie

My mate Pete has an immaculate 1997 Disco 300Tdi which he absolutely treasures. Yesterday his wife was ding the school run in it when it started to make a funny noise, like a petrol engine pinging, was how she described it.
Instead of shutting it down she kept driving and turned it off at the school. Upon trying to restart it there was nothing at all when the key was turned. The RACV were called to have a look and after about 2 minutes the diagnosis was seized engine.
Now Pete has just lost his job, and looking down the barrel of a new powerplant in his pride and joy was almost the straw that broke the camels back, he came around to my place almost in tears.
We had the car towed to a Landrover specialist who looked at it for about 30 seconds and came up with the diagnosis of a Loose Starter motor that had dropped onto the ring gear and locked everything up. He pulled the starter out,tow started it and it ran like a dream. Considerably cheaper to fix than a seized donk. Petes smiling again.

I don't want to be overly critical of the RACV but I can't see how roadside assist, beyond locked in keys and fuel exhaustion, can actually work in 2011 with modern cars. They should just send a truck immediately.

I blew my PS pump about two years back. When I called, I asked for a truck straight away as I explained that no patrolman would be able to change out a PS pump on the highway. They insist they need to send a patrolman out to make that call. All that means is you need to wait several hours longer than necessary.

Its a good outcome for the motor and your mate.


Regards Gordo

I would be too.