ASPW about 'catastrophic breakdowns' ...

[DCPU]

The diode is probably mounted on a printed circuit board....There may be other components on the board, the diode being there to "suppress" voltage spikes from operation of the relay and solenoid. Most of the relays probably have diodes in them anyway for the same purpose.

It may not be the kit offered in the Grenadier but this is what Eaton ship as part of the general fitting kit

The central display screen showing whether or not the diff locks are engaged

I'm wondering how many indicators of when the diffs are locked we will get ~ maybe three?

Eaton talk of illuminated on switches, but that may be because in aftermarket kits there is no other option offered. Anyone asked the question whether these, or any other of the switches are illuminated?

Then there's the central screen in the offroad menu.

And finally, there's the screen/panel immediately in front of the driver.

 

[Tazzieman]

Getting back to whether the new Defender would survive etc.... on the www.aulro.com website there was a story about 10yrs ago where a chap from Perth took his near new RR for a trip to the Gibb River rd. He was a long time LR owner and quite experienced in said travels. If I recall correctly, a combined "electronic" airspring/strut/ shock absorber failed spectacularly on the corrugations. What to do? Well he contacted JLR presumably by satphone hoping JLR would live up to their promise that if the vehicle broke down while under warranty they would recover it!!! JLR in turn sent a light aircraft (C-172? ) to collect the chap and his wife. They also despatched a tray-lift to recover the vehicle and took it back to either Perth or Geraldton (whatever, it was a VERY long way)... The part replacement unit cost was in excess of at least AUD$2k....

Imagine the cost nowadays, if it was out of warranty...
Almost all my electronic devices have either failed or lost function over the past 15 years.
But all these vehicle "improvements" enable employment and profits. After all , planned obsolescence was actually invented in 1924.

 

[DenisM]

Imagine the cost nowadays, if it was out of warranty...
Almost all my electronic devices have either failed or lost function over the past 15 years.
But all these vehicle "improvements" enable employment and profits. After all , planned obsolescence was actually invented in 1924.

The P38 Range Rover Body-Engine Control Module (BECM) has two high current MOSFET transistors at its heart. They control (almost) "everything". If the BECM fails the vehicle is "bricked". To the best of my knowledge, the specific transistors have not been manufactured for several years. A genius overseas bought a sizeable supply of surplus stock. They are now unobtainable.... I expect this is going to be familiar story with many vehicles in the future...

 

[Tazzieman]

The P38 Range Rover Body-Engine Control Module (BECM) has two high current MOSFET transistors at its heart. They control (almost) "everything". If the BECM fails the vehicle is "bricked". To the best of my knowledge, the specific transistors have not been manufactured for several years. A genius overseas bought a sizeable supply of surplus stock. They are now unobtainable.... I expect this is going to be familiar story with many vehicles in the future...

The wise person is wise to source a spare ECUs from wrecked cars. Especially as the wiser are buying up the stock and thus helping to line their superannuation nests.

 

[emax]

The idea is good. But in practice, when you collect such devices from car wrecks, you are likely to encounter incompatibilities - be it in hardware or software versions. It's a misery. And I think that's something that manufacturers like to have. You are supposed to to buy new cars, not fixing old ones.

 

[Tazzieman]

The idea is good. But in practice, when you collect such devices from car wrecks, you are likely to encounter incompatibilities - be it in hardware or software versions. It's a misery. And I think that's something that manufacturers like to have. You are supposed to to buy new cars, not fixing old ones.

I keep 8 old cars on the road. I'm the last of dying breed!

 

[emax]

You're not the last one. But we are at least two of a dying breed.

 

[Jeremy996]

A 300Tdi or earlier is relatively easy to keep on the road; my Morgan 4/4 is brilliant, the most complicated bit of electronics is the alternator!

More modern vehicles like my 2000 Mx5 NB can be bricked by failure of the engine ECU, (which bizarrely is in the passenger footwell); if it cannot be resurrected by an ECU specialist, then a re-engineer using an aftermarket, usually motorsport related ECU like Emerald or Megasquirt is possible.

What is possible depends on the size of the community and the detailed knowledge of the electronic systems and pin-outs; the JDM modifiers seem to be good at this - the number of seriously re-engineered Subarus is always impressive.

 

[emax]

> Megasquirt

That's a damn strange name for an ECU ...

 

[Greg]

I built a Megasquirt for my e30 BMW many years ago