Ratty43

I bought a new halfshaft for my Disco 3 a few weeks back and spent quite a while finding the cheapest source of a GKN item. Devon 4x4 had the best price so I went with them. I was a bit surprised when it turned up in a Britpart box but had to press on as I need the vehicle for work. They then confirmed that it was not a GKN part, complete with the ominous mis-type of 'this should fail'…! In fairness to them they offered to deliver the correct part and pick up the old on the next day but it was a bit late by then. Still miffed as I could have bought a Britpart one for far less elsewhere. A classic case of being caught out by knowing that Britpart are box shifters so have some decent kit and assuming that would be the reason for the blue sticker.

I am constantly amazed that touchscreens in cars haven't been banned since they rely upon the user looking at the screen rather than the road. The reality, I suppose, is they look 'nice' and cost a fraction of the price of dozens of switches.

I've gone through a few: Triumph Spitfire IV (first car in 2003, put it into the back of a van, rebuilt the front end and overhauled the gearbox on the drive) Volvo 840 estate Volvo 840 estate after the first one disintegrated. Land Rover 110 TD Jaguar XJS Renault Mégane (written off two weeks later while parked thanks to a drunkard) Renault Laguna estate Discovery 1 200tdi Land Rover Series 3 (got the engine out of the rotten Discovery above) Discovery 1 300tdi Mini 1000 Triumph Spitfire IV MG Midget 1500 MGB GT Defender 90 Jaguar XJ40 (only two previous owners and 72k miles, currently hibernating in my garage) Volvo 440 Jaguar X-type estate BMW Z4 Discovery 3 as the current transport. I'm not prone to keeping cars but the current Discovery does everything so well it's unlikely to go for the moment, although I do have the itch for another Jaguar GT.

Oddly enough mine broke in two places in the middle, it was a genuine Jaguar one being original so 1989 vintage. I'm certain it was caused by hitting the cut edge of roadworks in France. The other one snapped within weeks but both were some time after the event.

Personally I would take air over coils any day of the week. My old XJ6 lost a coil without warning whilst parked up and became an ornament right there. Changing the spring was properly worrying as well. Whereas my Disco 3 has a slow leak somewhere at the front and picks itself up each morning while I find where the air is going. On road, empty, the D3 has a really comfortable ride, with half a ton of scrap in it the ride was... exactly the same. I'm not convinced about the arguments against it in the sticks but the majority of buyers won't be there anyway, they will however want a vehicle that can account for load. I don't go in for serious off roading but certainly jacking the Disco shows huge amounts of wheel travel just as my Defender did. As for the brake light switch, I carry a spare in the glove box, genuine item and cost £23 to cover a known weakness so I can't see why the couple mentioned didn't do the same. The same applies to the compressor, if I was reliant on myself and vehicle I would protect it with a plate for a few quid exactly the same as I put a sump guard on my Defender. As for the bags themselves, they really aren't that big that they would stop me carrying a couple of spares against the cost of an overland trip and changing them is easier than a spring. My Defender was great fun, right up until I started to drive decent distances for work and then I wanted something that offered a better compromise.

Just to add to Scotts90's comments I know several farmers that run older D3s and a couple with Freelander 2s. None of them seem to have any issues despite the hard life they give them. I have a D3 with 168,000 on the clock and whilst it isn't perfect it does the one thing my 90 couldn't, long journeys without feeling knackered at the end. I'm sure they are questionable for the sort of use the military need but for most people the vehicles being made recently (relatively) are far ahead of any older models. There are D3s that have undertaken serious overland expeditions such as Kiwis in Africa so they obviously can do it. As an aside I've read that the reliability stats are derived from warranty companies and the cost of individual claims for a model so the higher upnthearket the higher the costs and thus the further down the league a car goes.

I would back the comments that it depends on the patrol driver. I had an awful experience with the RAC where the nearest 'help' was a local garage that tried to tow me in for a flat battery when a jump was just as good. The AA in my experience have been superb. On Wednesday my ignition barrel on the Discovery 3 failed and 20 minutes after I called them I was on my way. Half of that time was the chap explaining how tumblers and immobiliser rings work. Luck of the draw with all of them I suspect but vans on the ground wins every day for me.

To carry on incase it helps someone in the future : Following on from my thread about my Discovery 3 TDV6 taking longer to fire than it should I think I've found the cause. The fuel rail shows a pressure of 130 kpa (1.3 bar) engine off, my understanding is that this should be held by the fuel control valve on the high pressure pump at 100 bar. When cranking the pressure builds until at diagnostics showing about 9000 kpa it fires. This is below the injector trigger pressure but I think this is a delayed figure due to the diagnostics frame rate as once running it is about 22000 at idle. This seems to suggest that the fuel pressure control valve spring has weakened. Is this a replaceable part it is it a new high pressure fuel pump needed? If the latter I'll live with it taking a bit of time to fire I suspect.

Firstly this is on a 2005 Discovery 3 2.7 TDV6 but I thought being a common rail diesel and so sharing characteristics with other models this forum makes more sense for gathering knowledge, mods please move if you wish. I've already posted this on Disco3 but haven't had much by way of replies so hopefully the collective knowledge of LR4x4 will come to the rescue. I've recently bought the Discovery and it's always slow to start, worse cold at about 3 seconds but still slow warm, probably a couple of seconds. The battery is a new Exide one, 900cca, and turns it over fast but the time to fire is exactly the same as the knackered one it replaced. I've read the injector balances and replaced one so all are well within tolerances now but this made no difference. I would have thought glow plugs but there is no smoke worth talking about when it fires and that wouldn't account for the slow hot starting. EGRs have been blanked but the ECU shows there being a fault on one but I don't really see how this could cause issues? Wondering if the fuel pressure regulator could fail to hold pressure in the rail (I believe it should hold 100 bar engine off) so the pressure has to build before the injectors fire? Low pressure pump gives 0.4 bar ignition on which is alright. Other than starting it runs really well and returned 31 mpg over 650 miles of very hilly A roads last week so doesn't seem to be much wrong in general. Thanks in advance!

Not directly helpful I'm afraid but I would have it plugged into a diagnostic computer. I've had similar random messages in my recently acquired Discovery 3 and the faults have all been due to one module losing contact with another so your suggestion of damp in a connector doesn't seem unreasonable. For what it's worth I've bought an iCarsoft LRII code reader, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the more upmarket ones but for £140ish it does enough to show where the problem is. Comes as a nasty shock when the car says something is wrong doesn't it?

I fitted a plastic and ali one in my other half's classic mini a few years ago, the plastic was fine. Unfortunately the aluminium wasn't as a stone put a hole in it. Personally I'd stick with something more robust.

This is a well timed topic for me as I'm heading back to the fold as a two year old forces sale of my Z4. Unusually the two year old is our new rescue dog but she need something I can load her in without escaping. Head says Freelander 2 but heart says D3! In favour of the 3 over the 4 pre March 2006 reduces the road tax by £200. I know this isn't a great deal compared to running costs of fuel and maintenance but it's a lot to throw at the exchequer. I was tempted by another D2 but frankly my last LR was a D2 and it tanks as my worst ever vehicle in terms of electrical issues.

I've also used DX freight for large items so they may be worth a go. The best deal I've ever had was from a local haulage company who fitted an item that wasn't time urgent in an HGV for very little money.

I've used a company in the past that was along the lines of 'same day delivery .com'. I believe it was always TNT that turned up so you may find them to be of use. I moved a Triumph Spitfire bonnet with them for a remarkably cheap price so well worth a bit of searching.

Thanks for the input, I was amazed that the inlet was plastic with a turbo on the other end. It's a fair point as it would be no different to a pin hole in the hoses. I agree that they are great cars, I had a 5.3 X-JS and still have a low mileage XJ40. To be honest I only bought it as I needed something more efficient than the Defender and was surprised at how good it is. The Mondeo based comments are a bit unfair although it's not a patch on older jags for ride quality, uses half the fuel though! I have thought about using the XJ40 for work but I'm a Quantity Surveyor so spend my days on building sites and I don't think 80's steel and cement would mix! As it happens it's gone from pretty constant to not present for the last couple of days. This rather makes me think that it's an electrical fault like a corroded connection but I would have thought this would have shown up on diagnostics.