Software problems on a Disco 3

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H

Harpic

Guest
A strange tale

A Friend of mine has a Disco 3,
Over the new year a neighbour told her a tail light was out
She called in at a local car spares shop (usually reliable)
Said something like
That is my Landover, I need a tail light bulb.
He sold her a bulb
When she got home she changed the bulb
Next day, having driven for about 5 miles the engine died, would not restart
Called Landover. they sent someone out, and got the car started.
After a further 2 or three miles the engine stuttered and stopped,
all lights flashed on dashboard.then message DO NOT DRIVE THE VEHICLE
Landover came and towed it in and gave her a Jag/Daimler Sovereign as a
courtesy car (WOW)
[She thought it was much too big, especially too long]
Landover brought the car back after two days.

They asked if she had changed a bulb, she admitted it,
they said it was the wrong type of bulb and was the cause of all the
software problems on the car.

They had replaced the bulb and reset the software. All now seems OK

She went back to the car spares place in Crosspool, Sheffield and told them
of the problem.
They said the bulb was the correct one as listed in their book. and showed
no further interest.
The shop is now off the xmas card list

Does the LR explanation stand up, or are they spinning a line?

If its true then all should beware
If its unlikely then there could still be a gremlin lurking.



TIA

Gerry





 
Harpic <[email protected]> wrote:

> Does the LR explanation stand up, or are they spinning a line?

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


 
>Does the LR explanation stand up, or are they spinning a line?
>
>If its true then all should beware
>If its unlikely then there could still be a gremlin lurking.
>
>
>
>TIA
>
>Gerry



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 !
--
Marc Draper
 
Harpic wrote:

> They asked if she had changed a bulb, she admitted it,
> they said it was the wrong type of bulb and was the cause of all the
> software problems on the car.
>

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"
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>A strange tale
>
>They asked if she had changed a bulb, she admitted it,
>they said it was the wrong type of bulb and was the cause of all the
>software problems on the car.
>
>They had replaced the bulb and reset the software. All now seems OK
>
>She went back to the car spares place in Crosspool, Sheffield and told them
>of the problem.
>They said the bulb was the correct one as listed in their book. and showed
>no further interest.
>The shop is now off the xmas card list

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...

>Does the LR explanation stand up, or are they spinning a line?

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

>If its true then all should beware
>If its unlikely then there could still be a gremlin lurking.

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.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"Festina Lente" (Hasten slowly) Suetonius (c.70-c.140) Augustus, 25
 
>She went back to the car spares place in Crosspool, Sheffield and told
>them of the problem.
>They said the bulb was the correct one as listed in their book. and
>showed no further interest.
>The shop is now off the xmas card list

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.
 
In message <[email protected]>
"Nigel Hewitt" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Harpic <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Does the LR explanation stand up, or are they spinning a line?
>
> 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
>
>

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
--
www.beamends-lrspares.co.uk [email protected]
Running a business in a Microsoft free environment - it can be done
Powered by Risc-OS - you won't get a virus from us!!
Boycott the Yorkshire Dales - No Play, No Pay
 

"Austin Shackles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On or around Wed, 11 Jan 2006 15:57:05 +0000 (UTC), "Harpic"
> <[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:
>
>
>>Does the LR explanation stand up, or are they spinning a line?
>
> it does sound a bit like it. more info required. Try contacting another
> dealer, pref. one with a reputation for no bull****, and say "My mate told
> me... is it true?"
>
>>If its true then all should beware
>>If its unlikely then there could still be a gremlin lurking.
>
> 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.
> --
> Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
> "Festina Lente" (Hasten slowly) Suetonius (c.70-c.140) Augustus, 25

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


 
Harpic wrote:

> They said the bulb was the correct one as listed in their book. and showed
> no further interest. The shop is now off the xmas card list

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

 
<cough>

Apparently it's not a bulb. It's a lamp <grin>

--
Neil


 
On or around Thu, 12 Jan 2006 16:53:50 +0000 (UTC), "Neil Brownlee"
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

><cough>
>
>Apparently it's not a bulb. It's a lamp <grin>

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.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
Blue: The sky is blue for a reason. Blue light is a source of strength
and harmony in the cosmos. Create a blue light in your life by
telephoning the police
from the Little Book of Complete B***ocks by Alistair Beaton.
 
On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 18:14:05 +0000, Austin Shackles
<[email protected]> wrote:

>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.


--
"We have gone from a world of concentrated knowledge and wisdom to one
of distributed ignorance. And we know and understand less while being
increasingly capable." Prof. Peter Cochrane, formerly of BT Labs
In memory of Brian {Hamilton Kelly} who logged off 15th September 2005
 
Austin Shackles wrote:

> 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.

You put that very politely!
 

> Austin Shackles wrote:
>
> > 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.
>
> 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


 
Oily wrote:
>> Austin Shackles wrote:
>>
>>> 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.
>>
>> 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!

--
"He who says it cannot be done is advised not to interrupt her doing
it."

If at first you don't succeed,
maybe skydiving's not for you!


 


>
> 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.

 

"Harpic" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> 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


 
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