Thread: Sand Driving and Terrain Response

Yep, if the power is disappearing, disable the DSC (we actually teach people to do that so the dealer is wrong).

Couple of things to bear in mind:

• When driving on sand, it will feel as though the power is being taken away from you anyway. (Especially when you move between different sand types.)
• DSC is never fully disabled... It is just moved to the end of the queue.

HTH

M

I was reading the D3 manual a couple of days ago, and I believe it mentioned that you should turn off DSC when driving in soft sand, even when you have terrain response set to 'sand' mode.

Thank you for your replys, I may not have been fair on the D3, it just may take some getting used to the pros and cons and yes it may have more to do with human error

Originally Posted by WhiteD3

Guss,

What are you driving?...

LR3 05 HSE TDV6 Auto

It runs fine, heaps of power, great for towing. I've been through some steep rutted muddy hill climbs with no problems (quite impressed actually). It's just the sand I'm having issues with.

Originally Posted by Graeme

Are you aware that DSC has to be set off after selecting sand mode, as changing modes resets DSC to on?

Yes, worked this out the first time we went on the beach

Originally Posted by Leo

You may have a problem - like Jamo has written above and some users reported on another forum. A software update usually cures it. Try sand mode on a dirt road or something and check if you experience a drop in power.

I'll give this a go

Originally Posted by Jamo

When on sand, particularly soft sand, there is a tendency for the vehcile to slide a bit sideways. If DSC is on, it detects this and thinks that it should correct the vehicle from what would be a dangerous situation on the bitumen. So it applies the brakes (a growling noise can be heard) and it can also mute the throttle response. Thus momentum is lost right when you need it.

I'm not sure about growling but I do hear some weird noises, I think it is more when I am bogged and reving the engine, I thought it was the turbo backing off, sort of a whoop whoop noise. It doesn't make any difference whether the DSC is off or on.

Originally Posted by camel_landy

Yep, if the power is disappearing, disable the DSC (we actually teach people to do that so the dealer is wrong)....

That wouldn't supprise me, he put it down to not having the DSC on as to why I got bogged, big help.
I definately had it off though.

Originally Posted by MobyDisco

I was reading the D3 manual a couple of days ago, and I believe it mentioned that you should turn off DSC when driving in soft sand, even when you have terrain response set to 'sand' mode.

Unless your manual is different to mine it definately says it should only be turned off if you don't have all terrian response.
I had it off anyway

Several times when on soft sand I've had my computer go a bit troppo even with stability control off. This tends to occur when (a) driving across ruts where other drivers have entered/exited the beach thereby causing my tyres to jump about, (b) not having the steering pointed straight ahead, and (c) when in extended height and doing between 40 & 50 km/hr. Note the last point is before putting on shortened sensor arms . This can lead to flashing dash lights, loss of power, deflation of the suspension and on two occasions, the transmission going into "safe mode". The solution each time was to shutdown and re-start. Of course now that I'm mentally ready for this to re-occur it never does....

I'll make sure I'm mentally ready for that also, so it never happens to me.

What's the go with the "shortened sensor arms"

OK,

Turning DSC off is important on soft sand, but..It's not a magic wand to not getting bogged! You still need to lower your tyre pressures. What profile tyres do you have?? I had to put the 60 profile wranglers down to 10psi to get flotation once.

Even then, you have to pick your ground and may still get bogged if you are not familiar with the beach.

If your stuck and getting the woop woosh noise, then stop, lower you pressures some moe if you can; and dig! Pack something under the tyres and then go to Gravel mode to get out.

You call it an LR3, are you in the USA?

wow 3 pagers of what buttons to push LOL

sounds strange to a county driver.

not taking the Mickey just think about how things have changed

No Jamo, Aussie, I should have said D3

Yes I agree with tyres pressure I could have reduced them more.

Gravel mode, I'll give that a go next time.

Yes clean32, there seems to be a button for everything, I do miss the manual selections, but, I've never been so comfortable and it still tackles most conditions