New Disco 3 Owners bewildered!

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I knew it was unwise to think we would get our D3 back on the road!!:( It seems finding a few corroded wires and sorting these out did not fix the problems. So, the saga continues and its back in the garage. I'm thinking it may have been a friday afternoon vehicle,a rogue, surely not all D3 are this bad? Its not a great intro to the brand and I'm torn between asking for my money back (which the garage will do (by law)) and sticking with it on the basis that I really like the car, and once fixed we should not have a repeat - or is that naive?
 
I'm sure that a trip round Morocco is what a Land Rover should be capable of, but at the moment ours can't make it round Truro without throwing a load of faults:eek:
 
RichardTH said:
Its not a great intro to the brand and I'm torn between asking for my money back (which the garage will do (by law))......
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This sounds like the best course of action to me, Richard;) You really don't want to be in the same position in days/weeks/months to come eh!
 
Bump said:
What is wrong with yours?

Not claiming mine is perfect and problem free, but, even all the way round Morocco the worst i got was the odd suspension error light...
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Well, since you asked, the freaking thing started having issues starting in the morning. Going on "the experts" advice that said that it was normal with these cars to have cold starting issues with duff heater plugs so we needed to replace those. I didn't even know the freaking thing had heater plugs underneath all the plastics and maze of wires and hoses like the good old diesels. So away it went for a day, came back with supposedly new heater plugs and fixed and it still would not start the next morning :mad:. I obviously had to call in to complain that after spending all the $$ the car was still not fixed. Being the the only dealership around here (or probably the whole country) I was told I had been booked for a service 3 days from that day on account of them being fully booked.
In that time, I realized the problem was getting worse in that it was taking longer and longer cranking times to get it started in the morning.
One more day to go for service, middle of the day after a run into the city center and the freaking thing would just not start no matter what we did to it. Naturally had to shell out more $$ to have it recovered 30 or so kilometers to the local dealership. That was 4 weeks ago.
In that time, I'm told its had a new fuel pump and whatever needed changing per what the diagnostics threw at them but still refuses to run.
Currently waiting on some harness of some sort that has been ordered.
The missus gave up on it sometime within the second week and resorted to waking up earlier to catch the bus to work.
Me thinks its about time I cut my losses and put a match to that blasted lemon.:mad::mad:
Why did my disco 2 have to die, I miss it so much now :(:(
 
ifloochies said:
Well, since you asked, the freaking thing started having issues starting in the morning. Going on "the experts" advice that said that it was normal with these cars to have cold starting issues with duff heater plugs so we needed to replace those. I didn't even know the freaking thing had heater plugs underneath all the plastics and maze of wires and hoses like the good old diesels. So away it went for a day, came back with supposedly new heater plugs and fixed and it still would not start the next morning :mad:. I obviously had to call in to complain that after spending all the $$ the car was still not fixed. Being the the only dealership around here (or probably the whole country) I was told I had been booked for a service 3 days from that day on account of them being fully booked.
In that time, I realized the problem was getting worse in that it was taking longer and longer cranking times to get it started in the morning.
One more day to go for service, middle of the day after a run into the city center and the freaking thing would just not start no matter what we did to it. Naturally had to shell out more $$ to have it recovered 30 or so kilometers to the local dealership. That was 4 weeks ago.
In that time, I'm told its had a new fuel pump and whatever needed changing per what the diagnostics threw at them but still refuses to run.
Currently waiting on some harness of some sort that has been ordered.
The missus gave up on it sometime within the second week and resorted to waking up earlier to catch the bus to work.
Me thinks its about time I cut my losses and put a match to that blasted lemon.:mad::mad:
Why did my disco 2 have to die, I miss it so much now :(:(
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hmm... i see... :( - get it vaguely working and go part-x it with LR - I part-x'd mine last night and was surprised by how much I got for it given the number of scratches from laning!!! (and it is a commercial so rather scruffy inside)

I'd seriously return it and get your money back though, don't let it put you off D3's - but clearly you've got a bad one which will just keep causing problems for you.
 
RichardTH said:
Soon after driving off the central locking cycles (can hear the door locks moving), the interior lights come on and the hazards flash just as if it thinks its been in an accident that would activate the airbags (according to the manual) except, thankfully the airbags do not activate. My wife also had a message come up on the dash saying '#### (too quick to read) failure, system shutting down', which I didn't get on the occasions it happened to me. The fault is random but frequent. It happened every time we drove it after collecting it from the garage we bought it from. Annoyingly, the only time it has driven faultlessly was on the test drive before we bought it!! Sometimes it clears itself, and sometimes I need to switch the eng off then back on and it would clear, but soon return after driving off again.
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You have symptoms of the high side of the medium speed CAN bus being shorted out, could be water in a connector or module, or the loom could be chafing somewhere. if it is the ms CAN shorting the HEVAC will shut down when it happens.
On the ms CAN are the instrument pack, fuel burning heater, central junction box, parking aid module, heater and audio module. so the fault could be anywhere from the front to the rear of the vehicle.
 
Yes, I'd suggest that it's a connectivity problem or some sort of fault with the wiring. I expect there are more problems with chafed or corroded wires than the garage has found. Land Rover wiring looms can deteriorate - they look more or less OK from the outside but the copper wire is brittle and the insulation goes crisp and crumbly, so that a variety of faults show up as the circuit continuity is broken and re-established. I'm not familiar with the D3 wiring looms so I wouldn't know where to look but that's what I'd be working on.
 
Thanks Brown and Owl (!), the garage are looking at all the wiring looms going through bit by bit which is taking ages - I understand its not possible for them to narrow it down to any particular area either by using logic and fault diagnosis skills or plugging in the diagnostics, which I find frustrating and, poor system design, I guess. No wonder the LR dealership dropped the car like a brick as soon as it was apparent it was not a module issue. It really concerns me that they are not prepared to tackle it, or maybe they don't have the expertise? Does not breed confidence that even (presumably) LR trained techs can't fix LR vehicles. I really like the D3 otherwise and am looking at getting my money back and getting another one, but there are lots of 2006 D3s for sale so now I'm suspicious that this is this an indication of an age-related fault on D3s just as we have suffered and everyone is dumping them?
 
Hi Richard
Personally I'd get rid and get another. Sounds like way too much hassle and like the others have said find a good'un and enjoy!

Good luck :)
 
I would also get rid of it at chances are this will soon be a parts vehicle after any warranty has run out

a lot of modern vehicles are scrapped for impossible to find wiring problems and you really do not want this fixed enough for it to go out of warranty then be stuck with it

good luck
 
tomtomtom said:
I have an 06 plate disco, we have had the odd issue, but nothing massive.
Rear door lock/handle stopped working (twice) and the alternator has just given up.

Tom
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These are two of the most common faults with D3's I do them all the time, fortunately both are easy to fix.
CAN bus faults are less common and usually due to an unresolved water leak or loom chafe. They aren't impossible to fix but can be very time consuming especially when they are intermittent, I have stripped complete interiors out and taken engine looms out to inspect them, I once spent 40 hours on a supercharged L322 because the rear wash pipe was leaking onto a connector which resulted in both the body loom and engine looms being replaced. So that is why dealers of load them 40 hours @ £120 and 3k for a new loom.
The new 405 and 494 has 5 CAN bus systems plus a fiber optic system, LIN bus and low voltage differential signaling system amongst others and up to 110 ecu's
Land Rover have dealer standards and we get tested all the time. I have just done exams on the RR hybrid that had a 90% pass rate. there are techs at main dealers that know what they are doing but corporations being what they are profit is king.
 
Yes, thanks to all for those inputs - I completely get it re the economics. Although the car has 2 years left on the warranty, I had thought that now that this common (ish) problem has occurred (the CAN fault) but someone else is paying to fix it, I should be pretty safe in knowing this vehicle is now sound. As compared to buying another D3 which has not suffered this fault but nonetheless may be there lying in wait to pounce at a time when I would have to foot the (large) bill! My head says 'too risky' to keep it, my heart still likes the car.
 
Thanks to all who have contributed on this thread but this is me signing off as an ex-Land Rover owner - £2000 and 12 weeks into the CAN fault and the exact point of failure has still not been found, let alone fixed, so I have given it back to the garage for a full refund and hope they can get some of their money back before it goes for parts. I'm sure there are some good ones out there, but this has certainly put me off Land Rovers big time...thanks again.
 
owl said:
These are two of the most common faults with D3's I do them all the time, fortunately both are easy to fix.
CAN bus faults are less common and usually due to an unresolved water leak or loom chafe. They aren't impossible to fix but can be very time consuming especially when they are intermittent, I have stripped complete interiors out and taken engine looms out to inspect them, I once spent 40 hours on a supercharged L322 because the rear wash pipe was leaking onto a connector which resulted in both the body loom and engine looms being replaced. So that is why dealers of load them 40 hours @ £120 and 3k for a new loom.
The new 405 and 494 has 5 CAN bus systems plus a fiber optic system, LIN bus and low voltage differential signaling system amongst others and up to 110 ecu's
Land Rover have dealer standards and we get tested all the time. I have just done exams on the RR hybrid that had a 90% pass rate. there are techs at main dealers that know what they are doing but corporations being what they are profit is king.
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So, if I win the Lottery, I will not be buying an L405, 110 ECU's & 5 CAN bus systems? Fecking madness.
 
RichardTH said:
Thanks to all who have contributed on this thread but this is me signing off as an ex-Land Rover owner - £2000 and 12 weeks into the CAN fault and the exact point of failure has still not been found, let alone fixed, so I have given it back to the garage for a full refund and hope they can get some of their money back before it goes for parts. I'm sure there are some good ones out there, but this has certainly put me off Land Rovers big time...thanks again.
Click to expand...

I did a D3 last week with the same fault as your which turned out to be the instrument pack pulling the MS can bus down, so all fixed now, new IPK and 6hrs labour.
 
Datatek said:
So, if I win the Lottery, I will not be buying an L405, 110 ECU's & 5 CAN bus systems? Fecking madness.
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I always liken it to a pointless arms race, they just want more "features" than other manufactures and most owners don't know how to use them.
Just take the seats, 18 way adjustable with memory settings (computer controlled), 4 stage heated or cooled (computer controlled) many massage programs, just your lumber, just your shoulders, from the bottom to the top or top down all with variable intensity, plus programmable time wise so you can have it start after an hour driving, all set up on the touch screen and this is on all 4 seats in some. then they have SRS air bags in them not to mention video screens and speakers all worked by more computers.
Get some water in a reversing camera which shuts a BUS off and half the car don't work. Give me a Classic RR.
 
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