On a serious note

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Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

What a crock of $hit. I for one am totally fed up with being stranded roadside by electronic failures. I can introduce to plenty of other people who have had similar experiences. I can introduce you to others who are totally fed up with dealers who are unable to diagnose or repair electrical/electronic problems except by the repalce item by item method.

We are talking outback/remote area vehicles here, not St. Margaret's cars (insert name of your city's expensive private school). Not Discos, Range Rovers, Freelanders, and similar vehicles aimed at a higher income city based buyer group, but real rough country working four wheel drives that will spend a considerable amount of their time well away from technical assistance. There are three rules to apply, simplicity, reliability, repairability. All electronic singing and dancing vehicles that just instantaneously stop working and won't restart and can not be diagnosed have no place in the outback. They will cause a tragedy sooner rather than later. What are you going to do in the Channel Country or Simpson when the main electronic control box fritzes? Call the NRMA whilst you break out the wine and canapes?

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Wow, Brian, more aggressive response than your usual friendly banter.

But, consider this, ALL the 4wds since the multivalve Landcruiser are ECU controlled...

Does anyone question taking one of them on site at a mine? Nope...

How many discoveries have I seen in the Simmo? Hundreds...

Would you like to phone number of my mate from Birdsville Garage? He's seen 99% mechanical / electrical (NOT electronic) failures...

I can take a TD5 discovery... Rip out every sensor bar the timing pickup and drive that car across the simpson...

In limp home mode it will continue....

Everyone quotes the "One of these days it will kill someone" line.
It hasnt yet... Everyone carries a piece of electronics to prevent this issue (sat phone or HF) perhaps you still have a HF using valves in case a transistor fails? :p


And dont attack on the private school line, I live on the edge of a desert.

We dont have soccer mums and private schools like you refer to.. :cool:

We're a mining / steel making town :angel:

I think the main reason for the "small engines" that you refer to is the price of fuel in the UK.
Would you run a 5 litre V8 if you were paying $3 per litre and travelling 1000 kilometres a week :eek:

As a pom living in Australia, I think most Australians do not realise just how good it is here. But that's another topic ;)

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Originally Posted by Tombie2

Wow, Brian, more aggressive response than your usual friendly banter.

But, consider this, ALL the 4wds since the multivalve Landcruiser are ECU controlled...

Does anyone question taking one of them on site at a mine? Nope...

How many discoveries have I seen in the Simmo? Hundreds...

Would you like to phone number of my mate from Birdsville Garage? He's seen 99% mechanical / electrical (NOT electronic) failures...

I can take a TD5 discovery... Rip out every sensor bar the timing pickup and drive that car across the simpson...

In limp home mode it will continue....

Everyone quotes the "One of these days it will kill someone" line.
It hasnt yet... Everyone carries a piece of electronics to prevent this issue (sat phone or HF) perhaps you still have a HF using valves in case a transistor fails? :p


And dont attack on the private school line, I live on the edge of a desert.

We dont have soccer mums and private schools like you refer to.. :cool:

We're a mining / steel making town :angel:

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Tombie your not alone, i lived in Mt Isa for years and have traveled from the gulf country to the Simpson. You may be able to pull out all of the superfluous electrickery in a td5 and drive it but Joe public cannot. with mechanical failure you generally get a warning through noise etc. that tells you something is wrong and where it is. Possibly allowing for a work around. Electrical failure sees a sudden stoppage and a burning smell. Not very helpful unless you carry full diagnostic equipment plus the parts needed to replace whats fried and the specialist knowledge to do so. The combustion engine hasn't changed in the last century. Vehicle manufacturers and politicians are unnecessarily complicating a simple design. There was nothing wrong with the 4BD1 except a lack of turbo and that is easily rectified. If landrover still offered a simple Defender with this engine and a V8 option i would go out tomorrow and buy a new one.
I have better things to do then wait around for a dealer to charge me thousands of dollars to fix an electrical or complex engine management problem. I also don't really like the idea of paying close to a thousand dollars for a major service. I want a simple reliable vehicle that i can trust to do its job well and time after time. Thats why i am trying to buy an early defender or a county. When i track one down it will do me for many years yet.
P.S. is your mechanic mate in Birdsville the one who used to charge stranded people $600 to drive out into the desert even if he couldn't help them?

electrical NOT electronic failures

And there in lies a big difference.

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Originally Posted by jerryd

I think the main reason for the "small engines" that you refer to is the price of fuel in the UK.
Would you run a 5 litre V8 if you were paying $3 per litre and travelling 1000 kilometres a week :eek:

As a pom living in Australia, I think most Australians do not realise just how good it is here. But that's another topic ;)

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dont forget about road tax and insurance....these also go up the bigger the engines

Oh and heres a topic from tonight of an electrical failure leading to a towed vehicle

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/general-ch...side-road.html

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Originally Posted by Mick-Kelly

Oh and heres a topic from tonight of an electrical failure leading to a towed vehicle

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/general-ch...side-road.html

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lol all cars have fuse boxes or are we suggesting you get rid of those as well:D:wasntme:

You can look at it this way,I have a defender,10lt per hundred,10,000 servicing,dynoed 63kw at the wheels,weighs 1.9t.My mates 100 series,14lt per hundred if driven below 100k/hr,5,000 servicing with twice the oil and three times the price in filters per service,dynoed 73kw and wieghs 2.3t.So where is the advantage of the bigger engine?.As far as jap vehicles flying by I have yet to see one.The above model cruiser and all the previous models struggle to pull there own bulk up hills. Pat

maybe we need to go down the eastern creek race way with a puma or a chipped td5 and get someone to bring down there cruiser, on a run what you brung night
just to see what happens

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Originally Posted by dullbird

lol all cars have fuse boxes or are we suggesting you get rid of those as well:D:wasntme:

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Elsa only has one fuse :p:p:p:p even i can tell if thats the one thats blown


............................... So after three pages..........does anyone like the new defenders :angel::angel::angel::angel::angel::angel: