Thread: 3 Amigos - any help for a non-techy

I believe that their is a repair kit available for the ABS modulator, and is alot less than a new modulator. The 3 amigos may be a faulty abs sensor cable.
Sorry, I am a Mexican and can not help out as to where to take the vehicle for repairs.

Originally Posted by sjh2010

Hi everyone
I've had my TD5 for under a year and it has been nothing but problems ; new brake master cyclinder, new alternator and now the ABS, TC and Hill Descent warnings lights are coming on intermittently...after Googling I believe this fault is affectionately called the 3 Amigos!! Last week I had a second hand ABS modulator fitted (cost $1900) and at the weekend the 3 Amigos were back. I have just spoken to the garage who fitted the part and they have told me I need to buy a new ABS Modulator (cost approx $4000!!).
I gather from this forum that this is a common problem and that there is a fix involving a Hummer part?? I just drive the bl&&dy thing and know nothing about repairs etc so need someone to do the work for me. Can anyone recommend somewhere in the Brisbane area that I can take my car to get it fixed or are there some instructions I can give to the garage so they can sort this out. I'm a bit worried about buying a new ABS Modulator as it sounds like there's no guarantee it will solve the problem!!
Lastly, if this is such a huge problem, why haven't Land Rover done a recall. Surely it's a safety issue???
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Sarah

if you want to drive down to the gold coast i will plug it into my nanocom(td5 diagonistic computor) and we can see what the problem is give me a call 0418433120

cheers kelvin

Have a read through this, I changed my shuttle valves about 2 months ago and also did the pin rewire, and my prob is fixed. If you are going to come down to the gold coast so Kelvin can check your car with his nanocom and you have the parts ill give you a hand to change your valves and do the rewire, i got my shuttle valves from falcon works for about $150 and took a week to get here, plug for rewire about $7 from super cheap.

http://www.landroverclubvi.com/abs-mod.html

Jason 0405103064

You really need to diagnose the problem before spending money on parts. My D2 has done 201,000 km, and I have had two episodes of the three amigos. The first was the RH front ABS sensor. In those days the cure was to replace the whole hub as LandRover did not supply just the sensor. The second was the LH front ABS sensor. On this occasion all that was needed was a new sensor. (Land Rover has changed its policy).

In your case it could be the modulator, but it might also be something much simpler and cheaper. Get a proper diagnosis before you do anything else.

Originally Posted by sjh2010

Hi everyone
I've had my TD5 for under a year and it has been nothing but problems ; new brake master cylinder, new alternator and now the ABS, TC and Hill Descent warnings lights are coming on intermittently...after Goggling I believe this fault is affectionately called the 3 Amigos!! Last week I had a second hand ABS modulator fitted (cost $1900) and at the weekend the 3 Amigos were back. I have just spoken to the garage who fitted the part and they have told me I need to buy a new ABS Modulator (cost approx $4000!!).
I gather from this forum that this is a common problem and that there is a fix involving a Hummer part?? I just drive the bl&&dy thing and know nothing about repairs etc so need someone to do the work for me. Can anyone recommend somewhere in the Brisbane area that I can take my car to get it fixed or are there some instructions I can give to the garage so they can sort this out. I'm a bit worried about buying a new ABS Modulator as it sounds like there's no guarantee it will solve the problem!!
Lastly, if this is such a huge problem, why haven't Land Rover done a recall. Surely it's a safety issue???
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Sarah

Hi Sarah,
I too have a 2000 TD5 discovery and have been experiencing the same problems as you for the last 4 years.
It affects series 1's, series 2's and also series 3's. I don't know about the latest series 4's, land rover have done nothing in the past to rectify the problem with a National recall. They will almost certainly do nothing at this late stage in the cars development. Just content to continue making and selling and hoping that this problem is kept quiet and not made public! I wonder if Mr Tata of TATA motors is aware of his beloved land rover woes? (current owners of land-rover).
It is a very serious defect, because when the lights are on, you do not have any ABS braking system working, just basic brakes on a $75,000 car. I think that it is reasonable to expect the total system to be in working order at all times. In Australia, it is an offence to sell a vehicle with defective ABS and one could be prosecuted for it.(dealers beware) If found to be known to be defective at the time of a resulting accident, insurance company's would have the right to make your insurance null and void no less! I am sure that they are fully aware of the situation with regard to Land-rovers, so watch out.
The problem has been with us for so long now, that I think that some form of government body should be made aware and appropriate action taken to ensure a National and possibly ,worldwide recall be implemented, ASAP.
Well I have had my say, now its up to others to have theirs.....
Peter

Thanks for the responses everyone.
I spoke to the garage who fitted the 2nd hand part this morning and they have confirmed that the error code was for the ABS Pump, not the Shuttle Valves. My understanding is that the Shuttle Valves can be replaced by the Pump cannot? The company who supplied the faulty 2nd hand Modulator are sending another one which will be fitted free of charge so I'll give that a go before doing anything else.
My question now is, if it is a Pump Fault can this be repaired/replaced?
FYI, to make things more interesting, Land Rover (who serviced the car recently) have told me that the shuttle valves need replacing but have told the garage (who fitted the 2nd hand modulator) that the Modulator needs replacing...I will be phoning Land Rover again to find out exactly what is going on and why they are telling me one thing and the garage another!! ....I love my car but I'm not sure I'd buy another one
Sarah

Shuttle valve errors are generally caused by brake fluid leaking from the modulator. So they both may be correct.

Sounds like you may have it sorted with the replacement.

MR Automotive in Redcliffe rebuild the modulators (~$1400). If I lived in Brissy, this would be where I would go. Also, British Off-road at the Sunshine Coast do an exchange item (~$1800).

I wasn't aware of it being an issue in D1s (no HDC, TC) or D3s(fixed). I thought it was a D2 only thing.

Also, I would recommend minimising the use of HDC by using good brake control and leaving it turned off. And minimise the use of TC by getting the CDL hooked up.

Hope this helps.
Waz

hope it all works out for you.

Jason.