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GUM97

Member Since: 05 Feb 2012
Location: Cheshire
Posts: 3555

1997 Defender 90 300 Tdi HT Stornoway Grey

Why do things let you down, just when you need them?

Why is it that things work perfectly well, until just when you need them the most? For example, your phone battery dies when you need to make an urgent call.. (or similar situation).

I bring this up because recently, the Disco 3 has let us down, magnificently!
SInce we've had it, there has never been a single problem, not one. So, on Thursday we packed it up ready to drive down to Dover, get on the ferry to Calais, then drive through Belgium into Holland (where I am now). Easy peasy! Or so it should have been!

Drove onto the P&O ferry late Thursday afternoon, pressed the lock button, and "BEEP" went the horn to signal a mis-lock. Embarrassment came in! (Mind you, I felt very sorry for the man in the Audi in front of us! He was bending down into his boot when the horn blew, and he had such a fright he smacked his head on his boot lid!

)
After many attempts to lock, it wasn't having it at all. (Drivers door wasn't shut apparently, but it was). In the end we left unlocked, as we were the last ones to leave the car deck before they shut the doors and sealed it off for the journey.

Got off the ferry and to the hotel in Calais and after about half an hour got it to lock. Now though, it takes a lot of fiddling and jiggling of wires to lock properly. Hopefully it wont get any worse during the holiday!

The bit that really got me was this. It couldn't have happened in the UK could it? Where we speak the language, know the dealers etc. If it had been in the UK it wouldn't have been too much of a problem! But no, it happens in a foreign speaking country where I don't know the dealers.

Oh don't you just love technology

[Rant over!] An engine to TDi for!
"Land Rover- Proudly turning drivers into mechanics since 1948"

5th Aug 2013 6:21pm

GREENI

Member Since: 22 Aug 2010
Location: staffs
Posts: 10381

Have you solved the problem, or is it still a niggle?

5th Aug 2013 7:41pm

GUM97

Member Since: 05 Feb 2012
Location: Cheshire
Posts: 3555

Unfortunately still a niggle! It's intermittent though, so every time you lock it, you're just waiting for the horn to go off! If it does then it's a case of on hands and knees and play with the wiring

An engine to TDi for!
"Land Rover- Proudly turning drivers into mechanics since 1948"

5th Aug 2013 7:44pm

excossack

Member Since: 22 Feb 2012
Location: North West
Posts: 5843

1999 Defender 110 Td5 SW Caledonian Blue

Maybe a bad door switch. Maybe once you get it locked, would it be worth trying each door in turn and see if the issue goes away and then move to the next door ? 1999 Defender TD5 110

Regards
John M0VAZ
Econet Station 48 no clock

5th Aug 2013 8:36pm

keith

Member Since: 15 Aug 2012
Location: Edinburgh
Posts: 2212

My Wife let me down , she told me the accnt was empty just when i needed a new set of tyres

5th Aug 2013 8:49pm

GREENI

Member Since: 22 Aug 2010
Location: staffs
Posts: 10381

Look at the connectors for corrosion, I think you'll find one a bit 'green'.

Pinch a nail file of the missus/daughter and clean it up.

5th Aug 2013 8:50pm

GUM97

Member Since: 05 Feb 2012
Location: Cheshire
Posts: 3555

Unfortunately, the sensor on the D3 doors is hidden somewhere inside the door lock mechanism! So I can't do anything to fiddle with that really! Touch wood, it's been okay today! Popped into a Land Rover dealer this afternoon though, so maybe it though it better behave!

An engine to TDi for!
"Land Rover- Proudly turning drivers into mechanics since 1948"

6th Aug 2013 7:47pm

tookaphotoof

Member Since: 18 Mar 2013
Location: dordrecht
Posts: 1279

2013 Defender 130 Puma 2.2 HCPU Santorini Black

I don't know how long you are staying in Holland and where, but it's no problem to give you some addresses of main dealers near you.

6th Aug 2013 8:44pm

GUM97

Member Since: 05 Feb 2012
Location: Cheshire
Posts: 3555

^^Thanks very much for the offer, but I popped into the local dealer yesterday! (Spoke perfect english!)
He did tell me about prices for new vehicles... How on earth can you afford one?

An engine to TDi for!
"Land Rover- Proudly turning drivers into mechanics since 1948"

7th Aug 2013 7:21am

ericvv

Member Since: 02 Jun 2011
Location: Near the Jet d'Eau
Posts: 5816

2009 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 SVX Station Wagon Santorini Black

GUM97 wrote:
^^Thanks very much for the offer, but I popped into the local dealer yesterday! (Spoke perfect english!)
He did tell me about prices for new vehicles... How on earth can you afford one?

Astonishing the tax the Dutch slam onto new Defenders, no? When you browse LR Netherlands website, and then click their Defender e-brochure and e-pricelist, you will see that all Defender versions are "commercial" versions without second (and 3rd) row seats, with blackened windows, and if I remember well, also with a 2cm heightened roof (to make it a commercial van). Even for those so called commercial versions the total on the road price is virtually prohibitive, but the most interesting thing is that the price list does not even mention the prices for outright straight forward people carrier station wagon versions. The brochure and price list mentions that those 90/110 passenger car versions are available, but you have to contact the dealer for price info......

Think they are too

to put those numbers in print.

You never actually own a Defender. You merely look after it for the next generation.
http://youtu.be/yVRlSsJwD0o
https://youtu.be/vmPr3oTHndg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GtzTT9Pdl0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABqKPz28e6A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLZ49Jce_n0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvAsz_ilQYU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8tMHiX9lSw
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dxwjPuHIV7I
https://vimeo.com/201482507
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSixqL0iyHw

7th Aug 2013 8:11am

tookaphotoof

Member Since: 18 Mar 2013
Location: dordrecht
Posts: 1279

Glad you found a local dealer. It's hard to find someone in Holland that doesn't speak English, I guess.

I drive a 130 as a commercial vehicle to keep costs down. It can be a struggle from time to time, finding parking space in cities like Amsterdam.
If money is no option, you can still get the 110 X-Tech as a non commercial vehicle. For only 110k-120k in euros you can happily take your family with you. Almost three times the price of mine...

7th Aug 2013 9:04am

GUM97

Member Since: 05 Feb 2012
Location: Cheshire
Posts: 3555

The prices are ridiculous!
Just started a thread about the Holland prices...
http://defender2.net/forum/topic22276.html

An engine to TDi for!
"Land Rover- Proudly turning drivers into mechanics since 1948"

7th Aug 2013 3:21pm

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