Thread: Traction control in Sand - Range Rover

Hi Chris, As I was by myself I was not game enough too venture into the dunes behind the wreck. On the way down my little TD5 was really working so I did not to push my luck.

Back up near Anna Bay had a play in the back dunes and found it easier compared to the beach.

Has the sand down near the wreck always been that soft?

Drivesafe / PCH - I read through the owners manual and can only find reference to the DSC button which should be off for deep sand/snow. It says that even if DSC is off TC still operates, so looks like you can't turn it fully off.

I will have to go back again and test with DSC off and see if the power still drops out.

I don't mind that TC does it's thing, but no power when you want it made my knuckles go very white!

Hi Spudboy,

I agree with Drivesafe, might be you need to practise more and get the best from using TC

I was looking the way how to disable it too, but then managed to keep floating on sand even on slow speed. Understeer and losing power were common things on sand to me, but not anymore. 10-12 psi also helps a lot.

Cheers,
Ruslan

Hi Ruslan - I will give it another go. First experience of TC so all new to me. The Disco has ABS but no TC, and the 130 has nothing at all.

The brakes seem to work a lot when u do this though - won't it wear them out quickly if you have to do a lot of beach driving?

For the D2, there was a way of starting the vehicle with the central diff locked and the TC dis-engaged. It might be applicable to the RR. Maybe some of the D2 owners can elucidate.

Cheers,,
Gordon

Hi again SpudBoy, it all depends on how you drive.

As I posted, I have never had a problem while driving the RR on sand.

Spent 3 days on Fraser and the only problem was with the height setting, it kept lowering itself. Turned out to be no more the a software up grade fix.

You will quickly learn that this is not your ordinary 4x4. I did an off road training course with a local 4x4 club.

Most were missan or riceota owners and the RR was fair game they reckoned.

I took the jokes and smart remarks all day while on the course but at the end of the day they did a friendly social drive around the perimeter of the property.

The last hill climb was on loose grave and all the other 4x4, landies included, needed a run up to get up this hill.

You entered the climb through the base of a T intersection, you turned into the hill, stopped and then you could only backed up about 10 meters on the flat and then gunned it.

Even doing this some didn’t make it the first time.

I was one of the last to attempt the climb and when I approached the turn for the hill, one of the locals instructed me on how to backup and give it heaps.

I had a passenger in with me and when the instructor walked away, I told the passenger it was time to show the yokels how it was really done.

Now note, this was before the D3s were released so none of the yokels had seen a new Landy TC vehicle in action.

I simply turned onto the hill and drove straight up it at no more than 10 kph. You could hear the wheels locking and releasing all the way up but I never so much as slowed down let alone stopped.

You should have seen the looks on the faces and all the landy owners were giving me the thumbs up as I came over the top.

If I had have gunned it, I would probably had the same problems as everybody else.

The trick is, you DON’T need to thrash the RR, just let it do it’s own thing, it does it very well.

Cheers

The brakes seem to work a lot when u do this though - won't it wear them out quickly if you have to do a lot of beach driving?

No, brakes don't work a lot, because I'm not pushing to hard, not necessary. It just goes and sometimes I can hear ABS pump noise (or whatever it is) and light comes ON. Usually if I do U-turn on a beach or sharp turn, or beach exit, or hill climb with turn at the end. I noticed, if i do something wrong I can hear brakes clicking noise, body starts vibrate... Stop, relax, get out and check where you are. Bogged - low range and slowly pack sand. Yep, it is good exercise to get bogged and then unbogged without assistance. Trust computer, it helps to us to communicate, it helps to drive our Landies

Originally Posted by spudboy

I took out my L322 on the weekend to play in some deep sand, and have got a question on traction control. Never had a LR with TC before.

When the going got really slow because the sand was soft, the traction control light on the dash came on a lot (fair enough) but several times it felt like all the power was being cut from the engine, even though I had it flat to the boards.

Is there something I should disable when in sand?

There is an on/off button an the dash for DSC (Dynamic Stabillity Control). Is this any use in these situations (ie to turn it off)?

Also, it smelt pretty hot after this from the brakes I think. Would this be a related issued from the ETC working overtime?

Yep, disable DSC.

One of the things DSC can do is reduce power from the engine...

HTH

M