Software problems on a Disco 3

That a bulb causes software problems? Yeah We can buy that. Lot's of us have had worse problems.

That they actually worked out what a software problem was in only two days? Your pulling my leg now aren't you?

nigelH

If you think about it is a pretty strange thing for LR to guess at " have you changed a bulb?". So they should be telling the truth.

But at the end of the day it is under warranty !

It might well be true, its appalling software design, but its the sort of thing that's happening now they have all sorts of auto-diagnostics. The "wrong" bulb might have the wrong cold resistance or something, so when the car checks the bulbs are OK, it freaks out.

Steve

On or around Wed, 11 Jan 2006 15:57:05 +0000 (UTC), "Harpic" enlightened us thusly:

chances are that if there *is* a special bulb, the shop's list won't list it correctly. Shop lists are like that and the disco 3 is almost certainly too new to be in the lists...

having said that...

it does sound a bit like it. more info required. Try contacting another dealer, pref. one with a reputation for no bullshit, and say "My mate told me... is it true?"

Did the car tell you that a light was out? In other words, is there a bulb-outage sensing function?

If there is, it's possible that it needs the "right" bulb.

Is there anything unusual in that??? How many times have I bought belts / bulbs / windscreen wiper from Halfords / local motor spares shop only to find that it is the wrong one. I had to take one belt back twice to one place until I finally got the correct one from them, and the only reason I then got the right one was because I guessed at the right size given the two wrong ones they had already supplied (even though their computer system said the first one was correct)

I always take the offending part into wherever I am buying the replacement from now-a-days if possible.

Matt.

It's quite possible - the fly-by-wire Jag I worked on relied on the impedence of the bulb to detect a failure. It is also possible that the failure of both brake lights etc may be deemed by some as reason to tell the driver to stop. One of the results of such a strategey is that minor faults that would not normaly be noticed can cause chaos - exactly what you don't need off-road, or in remote areas. It's just the sort of thing that stretches LR's off-road credability to the limit.

Richard

As far as I can tell she had no auto warning of a bulb failure,

I will ask the question next time I see her

Gerry

It's a 50p bulb they sold her, not the car. If she took in the bulb she'd have a much better chance of getting a replacement that was correct. As it was they probably gave her the bulb which their data told them was correct. It's a new vehicle, she shouldn't expect small motor factors to have data sheets all that up to date because that just doesn't happen! You can't beat having the part there for comparison.

If she fitted it, then the blame should lie with her unless the bulb looked identical to the one that came out. Has she confirmed whether the bulb looked the same and had the same markings?

Pretty poor show though that it disabled the vehicle. Could have some rather worrying security consequences as well! Get her to put the bulb back in and see if it does it again would be one way of double checking to see if LR are talking rubbish!

Regards

William MacLeod

Apparently it's not a bulb. It's a lamp

On or around Thu, 12 Jan 2006 16:53:50 +0000 (UTC), "Neil Brownlee" enlightened us thusly:

says who?

lamp is a bulb plus holder, in my book. bulb is shorthand for lamp-bulb, i.e. a bulb to fit in a lamp.

and if LR are talking the truth about it being essential to fit the right spec bulb or else the vehicle comes to a halt, then that's a seriously crap design.

Prolly why Land Rover has had its day as a serious expedition vehicle. No point going out of reach of a main dealer with computer diagnostics.

You put that very politely!

I've known lots of people to fit a single centre contact bulb such as an indicator bulb in a rear lamp which should have a stop/tail twin contact bulb with the result that it shorts the stop lamp supply to the tail lights, quite easy to diagnose on a Series Land Rover but got knows what it will do to the electronics on a Disco 3. I can't see how someone could be stupid enough to do that in the first place, the difference in the bulb is so obvious, she should be billed for wasting their time as it's not a warranty job. No dealer worth his salt would charge a good customer for something like that though if he'd any sense (customer relations etc.)

Martin

The bayonet connects on the two bulbs are of course different so that one shouldn't fit t'other without some desperaste measures!

Yebbut they usually just ram 'em in anyway, I've seen it quite a lot over the years. But they do sell stop/tail bulbs in straight pin form ( I forget the number ) as well as offset pins.

Martin

Just got an update on the Offending bulb.

It would appear that the bulb, she and her husband fitted was a single pin type, instead of a double pin type. She assures me they checked all the lights and they were all working OK, at the time the bulb was changed. Problems occurred 6 miles later.

I suppose this now means a "hats off" to the LandRover dealer for curing the problem under warranty.

As I said in previous post, wrong type of bulb, but sometimes a devil to find with the problems it causes. Just took them some time, nice of them to sort it under warranty though they didn't have to. Glad you got it sorted, we all make mistakes.

Martin