Darwin Land Rover service - who to use?

[dukemasterpro]

Hi everyone,

Bit stuck here in Darwin due to a potential technical issue with my D4 which the LR dealer is finding difficult to diagnose ( and they are also very expensive at $225ph ). Was just about to head into Kakadu then south to Sydney in a week or 2 when the gearbox fault light came on.

Can anyone recommend or point me in the direction of someone independent or otherwise with expertise in D4's that will be a bit cheaper as I also have another less critical repair pending.

Cheers.

[jonesy63]

The closest competent dealer service would be Sutton Motors in Alice Springs.

Is your D4 still under warranty? I know there is also a decent independent in Darwin, but if you need warranty work it limits you to dealers.

[dukemasterpro]

Hi jonesy63 I'm out of warranty so not tied to LR. Agree with Suttons Terry there seemed to know his stuff when we quizzed him on another issue a few weeks ago. They are $132ph which is more reasonable but I'm undecided which is worse - getting stuck 1/2 in limp mode or paying the LR garage in Darwin an extortionate rate to systematically rule out which module is causing the power train module fault code.

[jonesy63]

Hi Rich,
Take a look at this one:
Fitting starter motor in Darwin

Cheers,
Rob

[Ean Austral]

If you have no joy in Darwin, you may be worth contacting someone like Gilberts transport or ABC transport, they run road trains back to Adelaide empty, so may get a cheap freight rate to Alice, and fly down to meet the car.


South bound freight out of Darwin is mostly back loading so could be worth a couple of phone calls and price up the real cost of sending to suttons, compared to the real cost of keeping it in Darwin.


Cheers Ean

[lewy]

its possibly down to who has the diagnostic equiptment.perhaps when ringing around ask if they have the correct gear.some repco repairers may have up to date stuff.

[Graeme]

Do you have the fault codes?

What are the symptoms?

[dukemasterpro]

Do you have the fault codes?

What are the symptoms?

Dropped in for an oil change and to get an intermittent suspension fault message checked on the computer. This fault code turned out to be a TSB from 2012 due to the compressor filling slowly - a known problem with version 1 of 3 types of D4 compressor. All the hoses and struts were checked and ok.
There wasn't much we could have done to repair and parts to Darwin not available for a week and $400 plus fitting. ( I have priced from the UK at $150 shipped and quicker than the road freight used for the spares here! )
The issue which has now had 2 hours of technician time and is still unresolved happened after leaving the dealer the evening and morning after is the usual yellow Suspension Fault warning on startup or soon after followed by several red 50km/ restricted message the Gearbox Fault & Restricted performance cut the throttle back.

I don't have the codes yet as I have not paid or seen the invoice. The LR tech here said the two fault codes are not related, he's checked that all power train module software is up to date, road tested with no issue but still getting the fault code. At that point as we were on the clock decided to call it a day.

Something he has not been able to rule out is the hi-line audio, sat-nav & Bluetooth is not working and hasn't been for 8 weeks. We removed the fuse in the glove box for this to stop the sat-nav screen lighting up. Whilst in Alice a few weeks back Terry at Suttons did do a quick test on the battery and fuses as at that time we had had 2 flat battery's, the radio was off from start of the trip and trailer park lamps were either working or blowing the fuse ( yep there's been a lot of fun on this trip! ). I think Terry mentioned re the Hi-line it was maybe body control module related bit without taking the dash apart hard to day and the battery voltage was fine, higher amps than spec but fine ( not sure if Traxide kit contributes to that )

Been a long day - have to decide to give the same tech at LR here another crack and spend 3.5 hours total investigating or cut losses and head to Alice - just concerned about the restriction in performance issue popping up. Driving back from the garage this evening was fine, just one suspension message and restart fixed that. 1400kms world be slow going like that.

Apart from all of the above everything else seems normal.

[dukemasterpro]

its possibly down to who has the diagnostic equiptment.perhaps when ringing around ask if they have the correct gear.some repco repairers may have up to date stuff.

Hard to find, I know Kununrra is a smaller town, the Repco 4x4 place guy had a look ( no charge ) but his computer ( $7k odd ) wouldn't recognise the car, other mobile mechanic guy his computer was out at a mine. Also was told that a wheel alignment was required but the only place in town the Tyreplus wouldn't go near air suspension / LR!

Sometimes I think easier to fly in parts from the UK and fly in your independent LR tech from
Sydney. The LR tech here reckons they have the right computer for the job but it will take time to isolate each part of the system with the computer to check and also inspect the relevant parts of the loom - can't be that complex can it?!

[dukemasterpro]

Hi Rich,
Take a look at this one:
Fitting starter motor in Darwin

Cheers,
Rob

Cheers Rob will give them a buzz in the morning, staying at a campsite in Holtze so not too far away. Traffic noise from the Stuart asides it's the most deserted campsite I have been too, lots of vans / 4wds but all empty or at work!