Hi everyone, newbie posting here, bit of a story/rant about my new Disco 2 I bought a few weeks back in the hope anyone else looking for a second hand Disco wont make the same mistake I have.
I had wanted a Land Rover for a long time, but had spent the last few years playing with kit cars. I sold the kit car in the spring and the daily drive, a knackered old Mondeo was coming to the end of its life. So that went too and I persuaded SWIMBO that a Landy would be a good idea, especially having been stuck without use of the car for 2 weeks following the snow last winter. The disco seemed a good compromise for us as an everyday car that I could get my hands dirty with and start to get into some laning and pay'n'play days.
I looked at 11 Discos before finally settling on the one I bought, I read all the guides on here and around the internet, and thought I had took all the information in. I got a 2002 Facelift GS Td5 in Epsom Green, chassis in good nick, body tidy, sunroofs and rear door seal fine, drove fine, no warning lights on, service history etc. Bought it from a dealer about 90 miles away from where I live, and all has been well. Needs a few bits and bobs doing but I wanted something to keep my busy, I would get bored otherwise!
Anyway, had it about 6 weeks now, no problems with it, or so I thought. I was browsing the owners manual, (sad, I know
) and read the bit about how the traction control light should come on when the key is turned in the ignition, then go out after a couple of seconds. I couldn't remember mine doing that, so I went out to the disco and tried it, no TC control light. Following this through, no ABS light or amber HDC light either when the ignition is switched on, all other lights fine. So no I'm thinking hmmmm, I wonder if I have the 3 Amigos and some sneaky ******* has disabled the lights somehow. I checked the HDC, no light of course but 3 bongs to indicate it wasn't working. I have not had chance to see if my ABS or TC are working either, I need to find a gravel car park or something to give them a try.
I had a search on here and couldn't find anything about the 3 amigos not coming on, even though I thought they should be, so set about trying to find out what was going on. I have checked every fuse in both fuse boxes, all were ok. My next thought was maybe someone has taken the bulbs out that are the warning lights for the TC ABS and HDC, but reading RAVE said they were LED's and therefore I thought they would be soldered to the circuit board of the instrument cluster and not replaceable. I decided to take the cluster out anyway. I took the plastic piece of the front and carefully lifted the black back piece up, the piece that has the dials painted on it.
I looked into the hole for one of the other warning lights and sure enough at the bottom of the hole was a little surface mounted LED. Next I looked into the hole for the TC light and found it stuffed full of silver foil to block the light! the ABS and HDC holes were the same! :censored:
Long story short, put it all back together, turned the ignition and the 3 amigos were looking right back at me. At least I know I have the problem now. (Along with corroded wheel nuts that are proving a pain to get off, but that is another story)
If you are a newb buying a Disco like me, make sure you check the warning lights all behave as they should when the vehicle is started!
Sorry if that has been a bit of a long rant, but I have been reading a lot of this site for info since I decided to buy a Landy, and while I'm sure it wont affect most of you, I thought it was worth sharing.
Right, I'm going to decided what to say to the dealer I got it from before I phone them and loose it. But does anyone know anyone in the Sheffield area with a code reader so I can set about looking at solving my 3 amigos. I have searched and read about all the things that can cause them, but I'm hoping a code stored would point me in the right direction of what to look at first. Of course I am going to try and get the dealer to sort it, but even of they do I don't have any confidence they would do it right so a quick diagnostic is probably a good idea anyway.
I had wanted a Land Rover for a long time, but had spent the last few years playing with kit cars. I sold the kit car in the spring and the daily drive, a knackered old Mondeo was coming to the end of its life. So that went too and I persuaded SWIMBO that a Landy would be a good idea, especially having been stuck without use of the car for 2 weeks following the snow last winter. The disco seemed a good compromise for us as an everyday car that I could get my hands dirty with and start to get into some laning and pay'n'play days.
I looked at 11 Discos before finally settling on the one I bought, I read all the guides on here and around the internet, and thought I had took all the information in. I got a 2002 Facelift GS Td5 in Epsom Green, chassis in good nick, body tidy, sunroofs and rear door seal fine, drove fine, no warning lights on, service history etc. Bought it from a dealer about 90 miles away from where I live, and all has been well. Needs a few bits and bobs doing but I wanted something to keep my busy, I would get bored otherwise!
Anyway, had it about 6 weeks now, no problems with it, or so I thought. I was browsing the owners manual, (sad, I know
) and read the bit about how the traction control light should come on when the key is turned in the ignition, then go out after a couple of seconds. I couldn't remember mine doing that, so I went out to the disco and tried it, no TC control light. Following this through, no ABS light or amber HDC light either when the ignition is switched on, all other lights fine. So no I'm thinking hmmmm, I wonder if I have the 3 Amigos and some sneaky ******* has disabled the lights somehow. I checked the HDC, no light of course but 3 bongs to indicate it wasn't working. I have not had chance to see if my ABS or TC are working either, I need to find a gravel car park or something to give them a try.I had a search on here and couldn't find anything about the 3 amigos not coming on, even though I thought they should be, so set about trying to find out what was going on. I have checked every fuse in both fuse boxes, all were ok. My next thought was maybe someone has taken the bulbs out that are the warning lights for the TC ABS and HDC, but reading RAVE said they were LED's and therefore I thought they would be soldered to the circuit board of the instrument cluster and not replaceable. I decided to take the cluster out anyway. I took the plastic piece of the front and carefully lifted the black back piece up, the piece that has the dials painted on it.
I looked into the hole for one of the other warning lights and sure enough at the bottom of the hole was a little surface mounted LED. Next I looked into the hole for the TC light and found it stuffed full of silver foil to block the light! the ABS and HDC holes were the same! :censored:
Long story short, put it all back together, turned the ignition and the 3 amigos were looking right back at me. At least I know I have the problem now. (Along with corroded wheel nuts that are proving a pain to get off, but that is another story)
If you are a newb buying a Disco like me, make sure you check the warning lights all behave as they should when the vehicle is started!
Sorry if that has been a bit of a long rant, but I have been reading a lot of this site for info since I decided to buy a Landy, and while I'm sure it wont affect most of you, I thought it was worth sharing.
Right, I'm going to decided what to say to the dealer I got it from before I phone them and loose it. But does anyone know anyone in the Sheffield area with a code reader so I can set about looking at solving my 3 amigos. I have searched and read about all the things that can cause them, but I'm hoping a code stored would point me in the right direction of what to look at first. Of course I am going to try and get the dealer to sort it, but even of they do I don't have any confidence they would do it right so a quick diagnostic is probably a good idea anyway.
