Thread: What happened to your D3/D4 today?

Recently completed another lap towing a 2t camper, and wanted to offer some good news on performance and reliability to add some balance to the problems normally here. A MY16 SDV6 SE. Now done 200+k kms, serviced every 10k, ATX every 70k.

An awesome trip - clockwise from East Coast, Eyre Peninsular, Maralinga, Nullarbor, Coral Coast, Pilbara, Kimberley (including Mitchell Falls), Wolfe Creek Crater, the Top End, Barkley, and back down through the Dinosaur trail of Central QLD and then Lightning Ridge. An Amazing trip. About 19k kms. 16 l/100kms measured – not bad for towing, 285 ATs, spares on the roof, and a lot of heat! One ‘highlight’ was getting caught in the unseasonal rain bomb that hit us when on the Mitchell Plateau and driving out for 2 days towing in the mud before the rivers rose and cut us off. Stopped at each water crossing to clear the wheel wells of 100s of kilos of mud.

Did some preventative maintenance beforehand, including replacing the alternator and EAS compressor, coolant overflow bottle, upper coolant outlet, the usual stuff.

Pretty much flawless performance. Only a few very minor things to fix along the way. The upper fan cowling came loose when one of the retaining tabs broke – no obstruction and phoned ahead to Geraldton to get it replaced. Then found at Bunda Cliffs that charging the house battery in the camper had stopped via the rear Anderson. Weird symptoms of plenty of volts but no amps. Turned out to be the smart fuse had died on the Traxide isolator, which I bridged and then replaced with a 80A MIDI fuse by an autoelec at the next town. Thanks to Tim at Traxide who was accessible and helpful on the phone to quickly diagnose and advise the fix. The exhaust heat shield developed a rattle, which I fixed with a washer from a shed from a Kimberley cattle station – still holding fine! And the brake pad wear indicator came on during one of the many water crossings coming out of Purnululu (Bungle Bungles). Turned out to be a false alarm as it was just a broken wire from the rough crossing, replaced in Darwin. Oh, and an inevitable cracked windscreen from a road train in the Pilbara.

Such a long trip required two services - a big shout out to Whyatt’s Landrover in Geraldton and LR Automotive in Darwin. Can recommend both.

The biggest risk was the bush rat plague in central QLD. Hard not to step on them at night. Lots of vehicles stranded in caravan parks in the queue for local autoelecs or otherwise being flat topped out home from around Cloncurry, Julia Creek, Hughenden and Longreach. Despite cable tying mothballs and leaving the bonnet open, still found them in there in the morning grinning at me. Worst they did was chew some plastic and the cabling on a battery monitor – luckily nothing vital, unlike so many others.



Anyway, saw very few Discos out there in a sea of Toyotas. Just a few of us die hards. Still the best car I’ve had in 40 years, and no plans to move it on anytime soon.

Auto gearbox service today (odo tells me 221,000). Apparently all went well with a fresh filter and new belly full of ZF fluid. Only advice, should budget for a replacement cooler at the next service at 300,000km. Happy with that.

Originally Posted by goldey

Auto gearbox service today (odo tells me 221,000). Apparently all went well with a fresh filter and new belly full of ZF fluid. Only advice, should budget for a replacement cooler at the next service at 300,000km. Happy with that.

Thanks for the reminder.
Need to order gasket and filter ready for the next service on the transmission.

I’ve just crossed the 220k threshold - in that time the transmission has had 4 fluid changes. 3 using Penrite BMV

Originally Posted by Tombie

Thanks for the reminder.
Need to order gasket and filter ready for the next service on the transmission.

I’ve just crossed the 220k threshold - in that time the transmission has had 4 fluid changes. 3 using Penrite BMV

Just done similar and found MJ Products best for ZF parts and aftermarket gaskets filters etc.

Best price LG6 oil is Run Auto as very cheap shipping for some reason. You also accumulate store credits so next time is cheaper. They have a surprising collection of Disco parts nowadays.

Replaced all my rear globes bar the indicator's with LEDs, only had to replace 2 in 7 1/2 years then I noticed a couple were out so a quick search on Amazon and these arrived today.
Reverse lights are nice and bright now.

My suggestion for the dreaded mouse/rat problem is to leave a dickhead light (head torch) on inside the engine compartment at night. They don't like daytime!

PS. My D4 has 230k, just finished second WA round trip, only vehicle that comes close is a D3.

Hi all,
Well I'm supposed to be leading at trip in Vic HC for a week ATM.
Things didn't go quite to plan.

Surfer resuscitated at Narrabeen - Northern Beaches Advocate

I'm very very lucky, I was in the right place at the right time.
We had just finished a surfing contest in which I had competed.
Walked back up the carpark and said to a mate that I felt "OFF"
He said I'll take you to the hospital, sort of luckily I didn't get that far, blacking out and falling face first onto the bitumen.
My mates sprung into action, one being a former Paramedic starting CPR with blood pouring from my face wounds.
The mate who was going to take me to the hospital rang 000.

Being at the carpark 200m south of the surf club 2 mates ran to get help. As it would be there was a CPR Training day going on! They responded quickly.
Another mate ran south to the Fire Station with the first emergency vehicle turning up a firetruck, then 2 Police cars then 3 Ambulances!
4 x Defib hits were required to get me back.
I got a Green Light Corridor to Northern Beaches Hospital.

Upon arrival where my son and wife were also awaiting there was a team of about 20 people that were attending me, rushed to the theatre were a stent was inserted in my Left Main descending Aorta ( also know as the widowmaker) it was 100% blocked.

So back home now, can't do much slowly building up over 4 weeks.
I'm 64 / 80kg 183cm and fit, I surf most weeks 4 times.
Cholesterol is 2.8 all other blood numbers are below the recommended thresholds.
Why this happened to me with absolutely no real warning signs who knows.

It could of been so much worse, out in the surf, away in the Vic HC and my part time job is driving a public bus!

Yes I have bought a Lottery Ticket for OZ Lotto tomorrow night,

Cheers Rich.

BTW no driving for 6mths because it was a Cardiac Arrest. But the Cardiologist says I can surf in 4 weeks!

Bloody hell bloke…

Glad you survived. All the best.