Thread: Warning! don't Ghostie your D3.

Well all things considering it was cold last night up at Wandiligong. -4 degrees and very frosty this morning. Not the kind of night you want to Ghostie your D3 forcing you to stay out all night.

Disclaimer, I wasn't there so this is second hand info. I hope it is no one on the forum but please fill in the blanks if you are.

What is that behind the steer? (Note the frost still on the ground)



Now to fill you in, there 50 metres behind the photographer is a fence and a road. It might be about 7 metres above the height of the ground level you are seeing now. Therefore a moderate slope, not steep by any means.

The gentleman walked into the neighbours place this morning asking for a hand to get his car out. The inlaws went to help with the winch on the 98 Disco TDI.



So what happened? Apparently the driver (who was by himself) was looking for a camping spot last night around 7pm. he pulled up and got out the car for whatever reason. He reached into the car for something and accidently knocked the handbrake button. The result was that it Ghostied maybe 70 metres resting near the creek in the trees. It snapped off a concrete fence post on its way through the fence.



Apparently he spent the night with a handsaw cutting branches and trying to recover his car. At this time of night, we had a roast venison in the oven and were about 2km away, easy walk if you knew where we were.
apparently the D3 had something stuck under the front wheels which may not of been obvious in the dark but making a self recovery very difficult.



There is damage to the bonnet, the windscreen, the roof the front of the grill. Missing passenger mirror and a branch also pushed the radiator into the fan so it no longer holds water.

I assume the car must of been in neutral for this to happen.

I love the D3's but to accidently knock the handbrake release button and this to happen could of ended up alot worse. I thought you would have to have your foot on the brake to release it or some other safety feature.

Would appreciate comments on this matter from D3 or D4 owners.

The car was a V6 Petrol from Melbourne I believe. It is currently in the neigbours shed after trying to pull the radiator out of the fan. The poor bloke had a mate come up and get him. We left the inlaws around 11pm last night and it was already -2 degrees at that stage and I would bet it would of been colder where this bloke was............ And the Roast was sensational!

Originally Posted by oldsalt

I have to agree with you "Watpub" - it's not a real handbrake.....I'm damned if I know why LR went down this route on a serious 4WD vehicle....but they have and we'll just have to learn to live with all it's little foibles (and squeals)

I remember in my younger days hearing drivers with automatics say that you didn't really need the handbrake if you left the car in Park.

At work I park on a pretty steep incline and I've never been game to test this theory to its max. Indeed, I often tried to ratchet the handbrake up an extra notch in my previous cars - I still feel a bit nervous about the D4's EPB.

I wonder also what happens as they get older - does the EPB self adjust??? Might have to pack an extra brick or two as backup.