ACE - Bin or Repair?

Guys

My 2002 153k miles Disco (owned from new by me) has succumbed to a ACE failure. The pipes exiting the valve assembly (under the drivers door) have corroded through, and leaking. The Dealer suggests that there's more pipes heavily corroded and I should change all affected ones at the same time.

Alternatively...I have spoken to another dealer who suggests removing the whole system, and at the same time adding the correct (non-ACE) roll/sway bars and disabling the ACE item in the ECU (thus making it an "S" model, rather than a GS model).

Full disabling is a LOT cheaper, and I'm also a fan of de-cluttering the vehicle to make it easier for future maintenance...

Anyone had similar experience (I did read some threads here, but none conclusive).

I can't take on much of this work myself as I'm in the middle of a house refurb project, and don't have the time! It'll be done by a local independant dealer...

I'm keen to gather your opinion please...?

go to the breakers and get second hand ones cut them if you need to and join them with 10mm hydraulic fittings i bet you could get all of them for £50-£100 and the hydraulic fittings for £3-£4 each
i would try and keep the ace system going

ACE is one more thing to go wrong. If you need the better on-road handling (and it IS a lot better) then fix it. If you don't throw it around much/drive like a maniac/need to sell it soon then I'd take it out. I appreciate the better handling but it cost me when it went wrong (and it was miles away and got towed to a Dealer so I didn't have much choice)

PASTMASTER said:

ACE is one more thing to go wrong. If you need the better on-road handling (and it IS a lot better) then fix it. If you don't throw it around much/drive like a maniac/need to sell it soon then I'd take it out. I appreciate the better handling but it cost me when it went wrong (and it was miles away and got towed to a Dealer so I didn't have much choice)

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Pastmaster - what went wrong with yours?

I guess if I understood the common problems, then that would help me decide wether to keep or bin the ACE. I would hate to spend a fortune repairing it for another problem (accelerometer, pump or switchgear) to happen in no time at all... Then I would wish I had binned it!

The ACE idea sounds good in principle (that's one of the reasons I bought a 5-seat GS at the time)...However at 7 years old, with 153k on the clock, I don't want anything draining my wallet, or being unreliable.

Need to make the decision this weekend - so I know where to get the Disco recovered to...

MartinK said:

Pastmaster - what went wrong with yours?


Need to make the decision this weekend - so I know where to get the Disco recovered to...

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Sorry but I wasn't driving it so I don't know exactly. From what I can gather it was being driven quite hard on a twisty road when the ACE lights came on red - I suspect a pipe burst. Instead of calling recovery, the driver then drove it until evrything seized and engine wouldn't start - probably the pump seized and engine not turning over because of belt. The dealer fitted a new ACE block and ACE/Power Steering unit (and did it so badly a drive pulley fell off the following week). My suspicion is that repairs don't have to be too expensive so long as you don't drive it with the red lights on. If you have it disconnected the ride will be much more of a wallow on corners.

Update.

Finally decided to bin the ACE.

Got the job done by an independant 4x4 man in Inverness.

Collected the car yesterday - wish I had done it ages ago. In most conditions you can't tell the ACE has gone - just when charging down a bendy lane or fast on a roundabout. In normal driving it's made no change at all. Now driven over 200 miles, with and without my trailer.

Cost was £380. Includes new anti-roll bars, removal of old ACE stuff, new aux drive belt and idler pulley, and reprogramming the brain.

For anyone with the same problems, I would suggest amputation!

Sounds like a job well done! And one thing less to go wrong.

The anti-roll bars and the links are different on the standard chassis, we picked some up recently as a bit of insurance against failure.

Looking at our own chassis, the pipes could do with a better quality material and more protection. If I wanted to keep it going, I'd be inclined to go stainless piping all round, as it seems to be the piping that causes the most failures, you rarely hear about sensors going south.

Peter

listerdiesel said:

The anti-roll bars and the links are different on the standard chassis, we picked some up recently as a bit of insurance against failure.

Looking at our own chassis, the pipes could do with a better quality material and more protection. If I wanted to keep it going, I'd be inclined to go stainless piping all round, as it seems to be the piping that causes the most failures, you rarely hear about sensors going south.

Peter

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thats some thing i would be very intrested in doing the only thing i can see being a problem is fitting the new pipes into the valve block i am guessing that they have some sort of flare on the end is there any way of geting this done????

It will be a standard SAE flare, or it will be like the power steering pipe ends which have an upset end and a small O-ring. I don't think that the oil pressure is super-high, probably 200-300psi, I'll have a look at the RAVE CD and see if any info is in there.

I'd take my old pipes to a Hose & Tube place and get them bent to the pattern of the old one.

Picture below of the pipe ends, they are the same as the PS ones in terms of end sealing.

Peter

thats a big help thanks

Just a further comment...

My td5 has spring suspension. If you have SLS (airbags!), then I don't believe the cornering is as good without ACE. I did drive a non-ACE airsprung Disco, and it wasn't as stable in corners as a non-ACE coil-sprung model...

MartinK said:

Update.

Finally decided to bin the ACE.

Got the job done by an independant 4x4 man in Inverness.

Collected the car yesterday - wish I had done it ages ago. In most conditions you can't tell the ACE has gone - just when charging down a bendy lane or fast on a roundabout. In normal driving it's made no change at all. Now driven over 200 miles, with and without my trailer.

Cost was £380. Includes new anti-roll bars, removal of old ACE stuff, new aux drive belt and idler pulley, and reprogramming the brain.

For anyone with the same problems, I would suggest amputation!

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Hi MartinK

I read your old post about Ace removal and if you might still have the part number of belt and idler pulley as I am about to remove Ace from my one.

Thanks Hog

These pipes on the ACE system look like something off of apre 50,s Landrover , the upset ends must have been done cold or its the wrong grade of pipe not malleable ,the upset end fractures almost perfectly ,it looks like its been cut . This thread would be quite use full if some one could give us the part numbers to re place it to just a standard anti roll system.Do you need a casting to fit the idler pulley to ?

Just for general info, the pressure within the ACE when operating is upwards of 200 BAR !!!!!

I dont know the part numbers but I have found this place that has both the front and rear non-ace ARB's in stock for £50 each (2nd hand).

Discovery 2 Td5 FRONT anti-roll bar without ACE - Landy Spare Parts

Discovery 2 Td5 Rear anti-roll bar without ACE - Landy Spare Parts

Just had new ace pipes fitted-very expensive!- please dont ask how much. what i want to know is, what can i use to protect the pipes fron future corrosion, will a good squirt of WD 40 a couple of times a year do the job or is there a special, made for purpose solution?
Cheers folks,
Tony

in area's not liable to ignite-waxoil best for protection

tonymall39 said:

Just had new ace pipes fitted-very expensive!- please don't ask how much. what i want to know is, what can i use to protect the pipes from future corrosion, will a good squirt of WD 40 a couple of times a year do the job or is there a special, made for purpose solution?
Cheers folks,
Tony

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Hi Tony, I use general purpose grease on mine, so you can overcoat it easily, regularly and quickly.