Voyage of the Discovery-Part 3 (The first breakdown!!)

Okay, so it had to happen, but sooner rather than later?!! Our trip down to Rookesbury Park in Hampshire went smoothly enough (ignoring the queues on the A34 and M3) and we were soon happily set up on site. The Disco returned about 25 mpg towing which I guess isn’t too bad for a big square hulk of towcar, but it certainly towed well!

One evening returning to the ‘van, we hit a small queue of traffic and as I came up to the car in front, I noticed in the reflection on the car’s bumper, that when I braked, the sidelights came on!! Funny or what? Back on site I tried the side lights and hey presto, the brake lights came on!

Next day a quick call to Hunters Landrover in Southampton arranged a lunchtime visit to check out the problem. Initially I thought it was to do with the thirteen pin plug that had recently been installed, as the brake supply pin is next to the sidelights pin. However this was checked and all was OK so they next checked all the lights and found a faulty bulb! The twin filament in the combined brake/sidelight bulb had failed and was shorting across the two filaments! Once fixed I was on my way (£75 to change a lightbulb!!).

Two miles down the road the brakes started coming on by themselves, followed by numerous warning lights, (ABS, HDC etc) and I struggled on to my daughter’s house about 5 miles away. Called up Land Rover Assistance who eventually sent out an AA man, who could not fix it! To cut a long story short, we eventually arranged to have the car repatriated to S.Wales on the Saturday and thanks to Green Flag, they brought the ‘van home from our site on Sunday!

 The following Monday a nice L/R technician arrived at lunchtime and took the car out for a test drive. Fortunately it all went wrong as it did with me, and he got back to the house and produced his lap-top and plugged it in!! About 15 mins later he had isolated the problem, ( a sticking plunger type valve behind the brake pedal which was sticking half down and applying the brakes!). Thanks to modern technology it then triggered all the other warning signs as all the separate ECUs talk to each other! 5 mins later a new part was fitted and hey preso, all is working well again! Just a pity they didn’t send a specialist technician in the first place, and we could have avoided all the hassle!

PS Such is the wonders of modern technology that he was able to tell me the exact mileage when it started playing up, and it was well before I visited Hunters in Soton, so no blame attached there!

PPS Couldn’t bring myself to take photos of Disco on a low loader – sorry!

 Next trip is to Soton again at the end of Sept, so wish me well folks!!