Disco II systems failure

It's had a brain storm, try disconnecting the battery negative for 10 mins and whilst it is powered down check all the fuses in the engine compartment and by the steering column. Mine through a real wobbly when F16 blew, wouldn't do anything, no starting, nothing, just six "boings" and all segements of the automatic gear indiactor flashing.

Had to be lo-loadered to the dealer (25 miles away) and they took several hours to find it. Fortunately under the Approved Land Rover Warranty. B-)

I doubt it if a "reboot" doesn't sort it out. It may be something simple like a plug half fallen out of one of the many CUs but which one and where...

Dave,

Thanks for the reply. My local dealer says he can reset it for me. They're pretty good so if he didn't mention a charge I doubt there would be one. I'll try that first.

Cheers, Div

Probably best. At least yours is still driveable mine was effectively

2+ tonnes of useless metal and plastic. The only things that worked were the mechanical things that you operated like drivers door lock or switches but the majority of those didn't produce any result because the computers where down, frightening.

When you take it in bear in mind that you don't know the true state of the ACE, SLS etc they may or may not be working properly. Take it easy and slow...

Well, I took it in for a reset. The dealer ran the testbook against it, and a flutter-valve switch in the ABS modulator is stuffed. That's a $AU6000+ replacement part! It's a 95% likelihood, but there's another Technical Bulletin that can be done to prove it conclusively. That's about $AU100 to do. I expect I will have it done before spending the big bikkies. Because the vehicle is still stopping ok (just without ABS assistance) I'm taking my time to consider all the alternatives. I'm also driving even more defensively than usual.

Cheers, Div

the wifes saab currently has a duff abs system, I've not yet traced the fault but it is not affecting the breaks (aside from not being abs now) so I consider it quiet safe to drive.

Regards. Mark.

or GBP2,500. I find a single part of a bigger unit really costing that much hard to believe, it's a noticeable percentage of the vehical cost. Or is that price supplied and fitted but even so that's an awful lot of labour...

Quite, anyone who drives such that the "toys" cut in all the time needs to learn how to drive... OK the odd patch of gravel at a junction will wake up the ABS or bit of mud/wet grass the TC on occasion but when on iffy surfaces I deliberately try to drive so as not to wake them up.

On or around Sat, 04 Jun 2005 11:54:30 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice" enlightened us thusly:

that's fecking ludicrous.

My sierra 4x4 had ABS when I first had it. I think it came into play in anger (rather than provoking it to see if it worked) about 3 times, and maybe once saved me from a collision, but I could probably have still avoided a collision anyway (unexpectedly slippery road surface). After a yera or so, in getting the hub carrier off to remove a stuck failed bearing, I damaged the ABS sensor (wasn't much choice at the time) with the result that the system stopped working. Quite frankly, I didn't think it worth the

100+ quid it cost for a new sensor to fix it. If I ever get to fixing it up properly, I'll probably repair it for the sake of completeness.

It's impossible to know whether all these 'driver aids' make that much difference. I've had ABS kick in a few times, but only as I've been thinking "the brakes are going to lock here". I've had cars with and without traction control, and on one in particular it was so slow to respond and so vicious when it did that it was more menace than help.

That said, a few weeks ago I put the Volvo sideways on an (unexpectedly) soggy roundabout. The DSTCXYZ (or whatever the acronym is) did clevery things with brakes and such and made a difference. Would I have spun without it? No idea...

Would I have been going slower in a car without all the safety and comfort? Probably....

The price is for a genuine LR part. Fitting takes about 1.5 hours.

I am checking the alternatives - used (probably discounted cos there's no warranty), non-genuine part (I've got the number of an importer of similar units for trucks), flying to another country to buy one :-) (anyone know a good wholesaler). Before I do anything I will have the conclusive test done.

Cheers, Div

I said a very similar thing when I heard.

< snip> that the system stopped working. Quite frankly, I didn't think it worth the

I thought about living without ABS until I spoke to the Driver Training Officer in the LROC Victoria. Without TC it's easier to get hung up once a wheel is off the track. Lift two (diagonally opposite) wheels and you ain't goin' nowhere, baby! Hill starts in the auto are also riskier without TC.

A different alternative we came up with is to fit the after-market diff lock lever. That's a lot cheaper.

Cheers, Div

I used to have an Audi Quattro which had a switch to turn the ABS on and off.

I was able to take this onto a police skid pan, and I have to say that the ABS made a noticeable difference to both stopping distance and the ability to steer and brake.

While in theory it's possible to achieve shorter stopping distances by cadence braking (at least, according to the Bottom Gear crowd), I think this is only possible for exceptionally gifted drivers. The police-trained driving instructor couldn't improve on the ABS!

-- Pete

And even the perfect driver can only control the brake pressure on all four wheels at once - ABS systems do it on each wheel independently. I've done skidpan training and whilst it is possible to get close to ABS performance by threshold and cadence techiques, the real gain is on mixed surfaces. It's impossible to brake hard with one wheel on gravel and the other on tarmac without spinning - ABS keeps you straight rather than pitching you across the road into the oncoming vehicle.

rOn or around Mon, 6 Jun 2005 10:02:19 +0100, Pete Young enlightened us thusly:

it's also dependant on surface, though. dry, loose snow and dry gravel apparently give more braking with locked wheels.

I've heard that as well but the theory is that the loose material builds up as a wedge infront of the wheel. So the snow/gravel has to reasonably deep rather than a handful of peas on the tarmac or the three snowflakes that sends most of the country into a panic.

Even then I'm not convinced about snow. I've ended up in a gentle slide on a couple of inches of snow, winding full lock on and still going the other direction. Realising I'm braking (not hard), lift off the brake and instantly get full traction back and leap across the road due to the full lock...

On or around Tue, 07 Jun 2005 00:16:00 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice" enlightened us thusly:

I've had a car stop impressively quickly in deepish snow, but yes, it does need enough of it. The comments about gravel come form the rallying boys, and should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Well, yes I had the Disco stop rather quickly in snow this winter from a crawl. But on investigation the nearside front had dropped into a drainage gully and snow in front of the truck(*) was up to the flat top of the bumper... Cleared that away an off I went, to pull off some one coming the other way trying to take a "short cut" in an ordinary car but had got stuck on essentially clear road compared to what I had come over...

(*) What is a nice generic shorthand monica for a Land rover sized vehicle? Truck is to "industrial", car to "domestic"...

Thought you might like to know - my ABS is back!

I turned a bit sharpish on the gravel carpark, and the TC light came on. Sudden braking showed the ABS was working. A bit of "scientific" hooning on the gravel confirmed it :-)

Don't ask me why! I haven't done anything but talk about it.

Cheers, Div

Presumably the expensive "flutter valve" has un jammed itself. Bit like my aircon the same day. Did a 20 mile drive switching in and out of "econ" and coming to the conclusion that the compressor wasn't.

Go over a bump 50yds from home and a few seconds later I'm blasted by cold air... Reseated the connection to the compressor, which I assume controls an electricaly operated clutch in the pully just in case but it nows seems to be behaving itself. I don't normally have the compressor on, it's not needed in this country very often.