My D3 has got a bit of a cold

**PCH** · 15th June 2005, 12:27 PM

Anyway on the way to work this morning the poor girl chimed at me to tell me "Special Programs are unavailable". These are the Terrain Response program. After a stop, turn off and reboot the poor girl was still unhappy and chimed at me to tell me "Special Programs are unavailable"

. After a few more reboots (restarts) she was still unhappy

. I continued onto work then stopped again to try to see if I could engage Low Range. She was really unhappy

with that request and told me "Range Selection is unavailable" After a further reboot she was happy again and both erros cleared [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img] .

The "Special Programs are unavailable" error has ocurred once before on Mt Wellington track but it cleared after a restart and I was already in low range. Now if I wanted low range and could not select it I would have been stuffed to get out of Mt Wellington tk.

Now I'm worried. I've got the poor girl booked in a MLR tomorrow morning for a check up. Hope they can identify the problem quickly.

Last night I took the her down to the hot wash and gave it a bit of a clean up after Walhalla. Washed the engine bay and underneath with the high pressure hot. It's not the first time I've had to do this. I wonder if there is a link - water and electronics 8O

Chris

**DEFENDERZOOK** · 15th June 2005, 01:16 PM

i would say so....

an example of off roading and electronics is the suzuki XL7......the rough terrain catches and unplugs the wiring to the electronic difflock.... 8O

the high pressure and/or steam may have got into a connector and is causing the problem....there may not be anything wrong at all...

water and engines never did go well together...let alone water and HOT engines......but im sure we all do it at some time or another.....

landy_man · 15th June 2005, 06:12 PM

so what you are saying is that there is no mechanical link between high and low range.... only elecronics... :roll: :roll:
you have got to be kidding.... that is possibly the dumbest thing (second only to no CDL in S11 Disco) LR has ever done considering their.. umm lets just say "interesting" electrical past...

**PCH** · 15th June 2005, 07:08 PM

Originally posted by landy_man
so what you are saying is that there is no mechanical link between high and low range.... only elecronics... :roll: :roll:
you have got to be kidding.... that is possibly the dumbest thing (second only to no CDL in S11 Disco) LR has ever done considering their.. umm lets just say "interesting" electrical past...

Well there's a switch inside and that must turn something on to mechanically change the transfer case from hi to lo and vice versa.

The manual doesn't mention any manual override like the electronic park brake so maybe it is all controlled inside the transfer case.

Chris

**gruntfuttock** · 16th June 2005, 04:19 AM

Fact

The more electronics you have in a car the more it <span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%">WILL</span> break down. The rate increases if it happens to be British [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

running for cover

**DEFENDERZOOK** · 16th June 2005, 05:13 AM

Originally posted by gruntfuttock
Fact

The more electronics you have in a car the more it <span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%">WILL</span> break down. The rate increases if it happens to be British [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

running for cover

you shouldnt run from the truth...

**DirtyDawg** · 16th June 2005, 06:30 AM

When it comes to serious 4WDing Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) surely applies..
Just imagine what you would do in the middle of the Great Victorian Desert when your new electronic nightmare tells you your Special programs aren't functioning or your traction control has overheated with your ABS failing as well...
Power windows are about the limit for me if I'm going serious off road.
How long has the D3 been available and already the gremlins are moving in imagine after they have travelled some decent Km's
Should have bought a new Defender and spent the other 30K on extras..
:roll:

**Ace** · 16th June 2005, 06:47 AM

I have total faith in electronics, yes they are complicated and yes there are few people who are qualified to fix them if something goes wrong in the bush, but electronics is the way of the world, all new cars are using them. Pretty soon we wont have much choice. Whilst a 300TDi disco is simple and any bush mechanic with some brain cells should be able to work on it things can still go wrong and you can still be left stranded waiting for parts or anything. Christ even the defender has electronic traction control these days. Matt

landy_man · 16th June 2005, 07:17 AM

Originally posted by DirtyDawg

Should have bought a new Defender and spent the other 30K on extras..
:roll:

the Defender has a drive by wire system, which if fails, does not allow you to accelerate...
It also has a self mapping ECU which, if fails, will not allow you to drive...
It also has traction control and ABS linked together which, if fails, could be a problem....

So I dont see why buying a new Defender would be any more "simple" in terms of electronic bits...

**drivesafe** · 16th June 2005, 07:19 AM

With anything new, there will be teething problems but to say the electronics will make the vehicle less reliable is about as far from the truth as you can possibly get.

The cold hard facts are that the electronics will most likely sense a minor problem and do something about it while there is a way to fix it as a minor problem, whereas if it had been purely mechanical, the first time you knew you had a problem is when the system failed and usually total failed.

Many of the functions of the modern automotive electronics are not only to control the operations of the vehicle but also to make you aware of a problem and in many situations, give you options about how you can continue your journey all be it at a reduced speed and / or with the lose of some of the vehicle’s functions.

Again, if it’s a mechanical failure, you are usually stuffed with or without the electronics but with electronics you may very well reduce the amount of repairs needed by being notified far sooner of an impending problem.

10 to 15 years ago with the introduction of the first major applications of electronics to the automotive industry, automotive electronics could already be shown to be 100 time more reliable than the vehicle’s mechanical components and to date that ratio has only improved.

One point I do whole heatedly agree with is that there is very little you can do to get around an electronic fault and it is getting to the stage where many auto electricians are in the same boat and this is one area that needs to be addressed.

Cheers

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