Coil Conversion

Hi all, after seeing my disco laying on her arse this morning I took her over to my local 4x4 centre. He specialises in Land Rovers, he hooked it up the the diagnostics and it turned up 13 faults on the suspension . The compressor had over run due to another fault and had burned out. Brand new 14 months ago and now it needs another new one and god knows what else to get it back on its feet. So I have decided to do a coil spring conversion to save anymore problems. Now at the the minute although she is laying on her arse there is no warning lights on the dash. He had said that he had done a 4 spring conversion on a Range Rover a few months ago due to something similar happening. He said that if I was geeting a conversion kit to make sure it had a "wee box" that would fool the ecu into thinking the air suspension was all still intact. Trouble is that all the kits I have seen for the Disco none of them seem to have this box of tricks. Is there such a box needed for the Disco or is this just a Range Rover thing? Has anyone on the forum here done a coil spring conversion? What were the final thoughts on it? Mines a 7 seater 03 truck.

I believe said wee box o' tricks is actually a land rover dealers computer, where you drive to the stealership, get them to plug you in and disable air suspension.

i thought it was just a lead that plugs in to fool the suspension ecu that alls well

Yes, all you need is a Nanocom or Testbook (dealer) to tell the car that it is on coils and not SLS. The coil kit is about £80 and looks pretty easy to fit.

Cheers, Andy

you may need to notify your insurers of the modification as coil springs were not type approved for 7 seater cars under the construction and use regulations ...... many people remove the extra seats to get around this .

This is something that has puzzled me. Is it only Land Rovers that are not type 7 approved on coils? I ask this because all the other manufactures are on coils with their 7 seaters, the likes of Ford, Vauxhall and VW are all coil sprung 7 seaters. The guy I spoke to about the springs has told me that these are for the 7 seat version, they are slightly heavier than the standard 5 seat conversion kit. Land Rover themselves have coloured coded their springs and graded them for use in 5 seaters and 7 seaters.

Could the confusion arise because a seven seater as approved has air springs, and that a conversion to coil springs simply hasn't ever been approved?

Just because it hasn't been approved does it mean it shouldn't be done?

And if it is done when it shouldn't be, how is that policed and what are the penalties?

Just my observations ...

Well thats it, coils fitted in about 1.5 hours. Easiest job I ever done. To be honest it has really stiffened the whole truck up. It has made driving a lot more enjoyable, no more excessive body roll on corners or roundabouts. Would recommend it to anyone. Whole kit was £100, and fitted in no time at all.

Ok have a wee query here, as you know I converted the Disco to coils, all going well until last week. I was driving through a car park when the SLS light came on in the clocks. Drove on and parked, got back in and all was fine. Until the next time I was in slow moving traffic, it came on again. Im not worried about it that much my question is, is everything else working ok when this light is on? I mean the abs which runs through the same ecu? I find the ABS on the truck mighty sensitive at the best of times, coming on even when your braking over a bump.

you need to get it on a testbook and make sure that the bcu gets changed to coil springs