road trip from hell

[ogdenenterprise]

Not about Haflingers but car related.
We travelled from Cairns to brisbane on the 16/7, its about 2000km to pick up a new caravan with my L/R Discovery 5.
The journey down was non eventfull and we picked up the caravan on the 19/7, and we had planned to take 3 weeks in total to return home
The handover took about 2.5 hours and all the lights etc were checked. We got flagged down about 5 minutets away from our first stop
and told when we had the indicators on, the caravan were flashing alternate sides very fast.
When we arrived at the park I wiggled the trailer plug and all was well, or so I thought, when I reconected the plug to move to our next stop, the same problem occured.
We had to leave the site as someone else was booked in so I drove about 1.5 hours to our next stop where I had time to check it out.
I tried my car on another caravan and their car on my caravan, and both worked ok, but when I connected mine same old problem.
I eventually found out it needed some resistors fitting in the caravan plug harness, so another trip back to Brisbane to get it fixed.
We had a couple of other park stops and set off to Airlie beach on 1/8, on the way I got a warning triangle on the dashboard which said
CRITICAL OIL LEVEL, then it was all over the engine had seized. We were towed back South to Rockhampton which was a 2.5hour journey to the nearest Land Rover dealer
We left the car there and flew back to Cairns the morning after, to pick up my mates Ford F250 to tow the caravan back home.
We were on the road again and stopped at a van park in Airlie beach as we had previously planned, the following day we drove into town to have a look round, and on return the F250 would not run right. Its a V8 7.3 diesel and I found it was not running on the passenger side V. I managed to limp to a motor mechanic who put his scan tool on to trace what the fault was, but he could not pinpoint the problem, this was Friday arvo at 3pm so nothing could be done.
I was speaking to my mate and he was speaking to his usual mechanic as this had happend before.
So Friday at 4pm after limping back to the van park I ended up taking the rocker cover off to find the multi pin plug on the internal of the rocker cover had moved as the clip had broken. I glued it back in place and left it overnight.
I started the engine on Saturday morning and all was good again so we hitched the caravan and headed for home, which took about 9 hours.
The Land Rover is out of warranty and have flatley refused to do anything about a replacement engine, but I have a 3rd party warranty, who say I am covered, but it will take months to repair. So we now have a very large garden ornament parked on our driveway which we are unable to use.
As the subject heading says road trip from hell

Dave

[AustHaflinger]

Dave - I would say you have LEDs in your caravan and landrovers are set up to use incandescent globes in the trailer - these provide the resistance to activate the towing programme in the vehicle. Hence the pulsing in the trailer - as you have indicated you needed a pulse buster - I made my own for my Range Rover Sport. There is also the issue of putting the cars headlights on and the trailer electric brakes activiating - cause is a UK wiring system in the car with individual feeds to each tail light where the aussie system just has one feed for both tail lights - the problem is that one of the UK spec tail light feeds aligns with the Aussie format in the trailer that is the brakes circuit - so switch on the headlights and the trailer brakes come on. Easy fix just pull the relevant circuit in the car and wire the brake controller into this circuit.

I suppose you have the 3.0 TDV6 engine rather than the later Ingenium. I dont know about the Ingenium but if it is the TDV6 then I am sorry to say that the likely problem is a broken crankshaft - unfortunately all too common.

Sorry to hear of your problems.

Try joining the Australian Landrover Forum at www.aulro.com - tell your tale of sorrow and you will get plenty of advice.

Garry

[heinkeljb]

Look on the bright side, Now you have an interesting fire side tale to regail others with at opertune times.

I take it that on long trips like that, you check the oil, water and tyres before setting off each morning? You can always go camping at home by staying the weekend in the caravan rather than the house.

Long trips always prove some "interesting" tales afterwards, even on uneventful ones.

Glad you got home all in one piece.

John

[ogdenenterprise]

Hi Garry
It has the 4 cylinder SD4 diesel ingenium engine, I think I am going to have a battle with my 3rd party insurer and Land rover.
one will say use your 3rd part insurer and the other will say the engine is not fit for purpose with me in the middle.
I dont expect to see it again for a few months till somebodys says they will pay for it.
Im not sure what causes the loss of oil, but I have read of many case on facebook & the internet, it also effects
the SD6 engine aswell. Some of them have broken crankshafts and some just loose oil and seize.
I realy like the vehicle, but I need something to pull the 3.2t caravan, Ive driven lots of utes but want something
that will pull 3.5t and match the discovery GCM of 6.5t with car like features not commercial.

Dave

[AustHaflinger]

The Ingenium engine did have a reputation for fuel dilution of the engine oil. Supposedly fixed. You would have a case for a replacement under the consumer law but the issue is that to enforce the law you need to take LR to court with all the issues and stress that entails.

As far as insurances go - your 3rd party insurance should cover it and it is up to them to recover costs from LR is appropriate.

As I suggested join AULRO and put up you scenario there - there have been plenty of issues that people have been through before so help and advice may be provided.

Garry

[ogdenenterprise]

Update
I have just put a deposit on a new next gen Ford Ranger, we put a deposit on the run out ranger but when I did my sums with the towing weights and the caravan it came out over weight. The new one has uprated towing specs. We take delivery in the next 2/3 weeks.
Then its decision time as to whether we keep the discovery when we eventually get it back.
Im a POM as the Aussies like to call us so Ive got land rover DNA running through my veins.

Dave

[AustHaflinger]

I am not sure I would want a current Ranger as their reliability reputation seems to be worse than a LR.

The new Ranger is a joint venture between what is left of Ford Australia and VW - the next gen Ranger and the next gen VW Amorak are basically the same vehicle but not sure if based on the Amorak or Ranger.

There is a less tactful version of POM that Aussies prefer to use but I wont repeat it here

Garry

[ogdenenterprise]

Another update, Land Rover have finally confirmed that they will pay for the replacement engine.
Im still having problems with the indicators on the caravan with the new ranger. this time the sequential
indicators work, but out of the 12small led lights on each side only 2 light up. Ive searched the internet but I
I cant find an answer to the problem. I have tried it with and without the resisters. Some times they work ok and some time
they dont. I tried yesterday they worked once then stopped working. has anyone come across this problem and has a answer.

Dave

[heinkeljb]

LED's usually have some sort of current controller, it used to be a resistor you had to add the circuit. Newer one have a little controler chip added at manufacture. This it prone to going wrong and then LED's don't work. Have you tried a completely new LED light one the circuit?

Have you tried taking one of the LED lights apart and seeing if there is anything loose in there?

John

[ogdenenterprise]

Update....
We finally had the Discovery returned on Friday with a new engine, so now to get it ready to sell it.
We had the 3 months check done on the caravan which was part of the warranty conditions. the service guy found that all 4 of
the caravan electric brakes are not working and the faults are in the hubs. It goes in to a auto electrical mechanical shop on Thursday
to confirm what the problem is.
I then start the fight with the caravan manufacturer as they require a quote first, before any repairs are done .

Dave

[heinkeljb]

Can't you contact the caravan manufacturer, explain the issues and get them to make a decision over the phone or via email? I assume they will take the word of a reputable repair shop? Is the issue with the brakes due to it standing for months whilst you were waiting for the landrover to get its replacement engine?
Have you been driving the Haflinger around as a daily driver during this time? I could do about 40 trips to work and back before I would have to change the oil in the Haflinger's engine. Then there are all the grease points you need to deal with.

John

[AustHaflinger]

I then start the fight with the caravan manufacturer as they require a quote first, before any repairs are done .

Dave

Of course is totally illegal under Australia's Consumer laws - but are hard to get enforced - easier to do what they ask and get the quote.