Looking at an '08 LR3 - questions

[1920SF]

I'm still intimidated by the electrical and mechanical complexity of the post-2003 trucks. Part of me wants to stick with the devil I know (D1), part of me is drawn to the challenge of learning to work on a more complicated vehicle. The decider is my bank account.

I have found that my 20 year old D1 is refreshingly simple but my 10 year old LR3 is easy to work on-if a bit more complicated to troubleshoot (and the symptoms can be maddening given the propensity for sympathetic failure of stuff like when a brake switch goes, so does everything else).

Tough to beat the LR3 for putting miles down on the highway and utility-but I'll never trust it for extended wheeling the way I do my D1.

 

[jymmiejamz]

Tough to beat the LR3 for putting miles down on the highway and utility-but I'll never trust it for extended wheeling the way I do my D1.

While I mostly agree with you, which do you think is more likely to leave you stranded in the first place? I would say D1.

 

[jymmiejamz]

I see your point but that whole canbus thing just always scared me. Like Bill Cosby wants to have a drink with you scary.

Going back to this... The vast majority of 2005+ Land Rover owners will never experience CAN bus problems, it just really sucks when you are the person that does.

 

[1920SF]

While I mostly agree with you, which do you think is more likely to leave you stranded in the first place? I would say D1.

On the balance I think it's a toss up, but that's bc I know that specific D1 well enough that, for the most part, I can anticipate/mitigate issues.
Truth be told I think neither is very likely to leave me totally stranded, but do fear the complexity of the 3 would be its undoing if you were beating on it day in/day out in an austere environment. But that's not its intended application nor employment. It will be interesting to see how they age in another ten years.

 

[kcabpilot]

Well I've had a week to think it over now and my mind has settled a bit, maybe not complete satori or nirvana but much clearer. I also spent a couple of intimate days under the Disco R&R'ing the driveshafts. (see my diff lock light thread in the D2 section)

I'm going to agree that the LR3 and 4 are incredible vehicles that continue the Land Rover legend. I feel it was a mistake to drop the Discovery name but that's just my personal opinion because they certainly do take the basic Disco styling into a new generation.

But for me it doesn't make sense. The overwhelming aspect is that the LR3 is so much bigger and heavier than the Disco. I wasn't ready for that, I didn't realize how much bigger it was. It's almost like a Ford Bronco/Ford Expedition comparison. After driving the LR3 my Disco seemed so much smaller and simpler. My personal situation, and I don't want to get too deep into it but all of the kids are grown up and gone and my wife passed away a year ago come March. Maybe I was trying to capture something from the past because the LR3 was the same color, the same price, the same mileage, the same age and being sold at a German car dealership exactly like the Disco was when we bought it back in 2008. I mean it was just down right weird.

Well that's pretty much it in a nutshell. The Disco is still in pretty good shape, doesn't leak a drop of oil and has two new driveshafts. It's a keeper.

 

[jymmiejamz]

I'm going to agree that the LR3 and 4 are incredible vehicles that continue the Land Rover legend. I feel it was a mistake to drop the Discovery name but that's just my personal opinion because they certainly do take the basic Disco styling into a new generation.

Its still called the Discovery everywhere else in the world. They only changed the name for North America.

 

[discostew]

I have found that my 20 year old D1 is refreshingly simple but my 10 year old LR3 is easy to work on-if a bit more complicated to troubleshoot (and the symptoms can be maddening given the propensity for sympathetic failure of stuff like when a brake switch goes, so does everything else).

Tough to beat the LR3 for putting miles down on the highway and utility-but I'll never trust it for extended wheeling the way I do my D1.

You bring up two very good points. First being the grief caused by a brake light switch, or even a brake light bulb. I always tell guys they need a scan tool that will read codes from all the systems on the truck. I'm sure Jymmie will agree that first you get the long list of faults out of the vehicle and then you sit down with that list and try to put together what happened or is currently happening. Some codes will be totally unrelated and in most vehicles you check. Other codes will point to a battery going dead one time. With the Land Rover system you will have a timeline and also know if it's a hard fault or one that is intermittent.Also will know what code is requesting the light and what code is just in there. It's kind of a whole vehicle scan, and I wouldn't try to fix one of these without that. It would be like pushing water uphill.
The other point about off roading an LR3 is valid to a point. If I was going into an area with a lot of sticks and debri on the ground that could come up and do damage or hook a wire or sensor, I would prefer a Disco1. But if the terrain was just mud and dirt and rocks, I would take an LR3 and not really be concerned about getting out with the truck
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As far as the Can network goes, You guys are going to need to embrace it, it's not going anyplace till someone finds a better way. Think of it as a big party line phone system. Every module in the truck is on it and can see every message that goes thru. All the messages have an identifier that tells where it was generated and a priority code that gives it the ability to go first because it's more important than say your washer fluid is low. Every module is programmed to only look at messages it needs, if its got the wrong ID it don't answer the phone. The benefits from using a can network far outweigh the potential problems you run into. For one thing if we ran a hard wire between every module that needed to communicate with each other the truck would easily weigh an extra 1500 lbs. And all that extra harness would need someplace to be, so the truck would have to be bigger.

 

[kcabpilot]

Its still called the Discovery everywhere else in the world. They only changed the name for North America.

Yea I know. In fact when I was thinking about buying the LR3 I already checked into getting a Discovery 3 badge for the rear door. It was the first 'mod' I had planned for the truck LoL

 

[Devildog01]

#canbuss = #buttfucked.

 

[1920SF]

You bring up two very good points. First being the grief caused by a brake light switch, or even a brake light bulb. I always tell guys they need a scan tool that will read codes from all the systems on the truck. I'm sure Jymmie will agree that first you get the long list of faults out of the vehicle and then you sit down with that list and try to put together what happened or is currently happening. Some codes will be totally unrelated and in most vehicles you check. Other codes will point to a battery going dead one time. With the Land Rover system you will have a timeline and also know if it's a hard fault or one that is intermittent.Also will know what code is requesting the light and what code is just in there. It's kind of a whole vehicle scan, and I wouldn't try to fix one of these without that. It would be like pushing water uphill.

Concur from my layperson seat; I've found the IID tool to be somewhat useful (but likely nowhere near as comprehensive as what you can do with a more robust tool. I have also found that having a brake switch & bulbs in the spares bin is a must-and that the truck hates low battery situations, i.e. if you don't have a strong battery or do something to let the starting battery wear down it will be pissy as all get out when it first starts up.

To the OP, I do find the truck to be a lot heavier than the D1 in terms of feel but as far as size goes I don't honestly feel like it is all that much bigger when trying to maneuver it. Perhaps that is because it has an excellent turning radius (esp compared to my D1 on 255's) and such, but for as heavy as the damn thing is it is rather nimble.
r-
Ray