Member Since: 03 May 2015
Location: Ruffec
Posts: 28
Any ideas - engine failure / gearbox failure???
Evening all.
Was going about my business on Thursday night towing a stack of trailers from the UK to my sales yard just north of Bordeaux in France, when at 70mph on the A16 motorway, the car made a slight 'boom' and lost all power. I allowed the car to coast for about 0.5 miles until I saw a breakdown phone.
I turned the car off by the Stop / Start button and the gear-shifter disappeared and returned to Park. On trying to start the engine again the selector didn't move and the started didn't crank the engine but the headlights and dash lights all dimmed.
My car is a 2016MY, registered Nov 2015, with 13500 miles (22000kms) on it.
I had noticed going through Passport control (where noise was reflected by the booth) that the car was making a ticking noise at idle and under very low throttle input but this cleared with more throttle.
The car and trailers were recovered off the motorway, and the car has been taken to Land Rover Amiens. I have paid a fortune to get the trailers home, and Land Rover Assistance have put me in a Citroen C4 Picasso (as if!!!) for the duration of the repairs.
Please can I ask if anyone else out there has experienced a total failure on such a new vehicle, and if anybody has any more ideas of what could have failed...?
I am guessing even if the cambelt had snapped the starter would have engaged and turned 'a bag of nails', am wondering if anybody has had a total engine failure or a ZF 8 Speed auto-box failure?
Many thanks for your comments!
Had enough of pickups: noisy BT-50, unreliable Navara, thirsty Amarok. Now's Disco time!
1st May 2016 10:26 pm
galwaygreen
Member Since: 30 Oct 2011
Location: plymouth
Posts: 6525
warranty then....still a lot of hassle
1st May 2016 11:14 pm
will247
Member Since: 05 Jan 2013
Location: York
Posts: 709
jeeeeze! You could have always left the trailers with me... forever 26 and on the 4th LR..
Series 2a 1963 88'' 2.25 Derv as original with Galv chassis
Disco 1 1996 V8 on LPG (sold now)
Disco 3 2005 TDV6 S (sold now)
Disco 4 MY15 XS Commercial
2nd May 2016 8:59 am
j_d_rudd
Member Since: 03 May 2015
Location: Ruffec
Posts: 28
Will, I'll know for next time!!! The stack of trailers are worth about what the Discovery is worth now
Galway, deffo Warranty, but massive pain in the whatsit and how long am I going to be without
Have three trips to the UK planned in the next 6 weeks to collect stock, and a C4 Picasso just doesn't cut the mustard.Had enough of pickups: noisy BT-50, unreliable Navara, thirsty Amarok. Now's Disco time!
2nd May 2016 12:46 pm
VVS210
Member Since: 05 Aug 2015
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 506
Push for a D4 from LRA, I've had one each time mine has gone in for warranty work, the last one had 12 miles in the clock when I was given the keys! It also had a tow bar & electrics fitted & I was given a number plate to put on the horse trailer I was towing over the weekend. D4 - Stornoway Grey
D2 V8 - Zambesi Silver (rust free JDM import 😎)
FL2 - Sd4 HSE
110 Td5 DCPU - Bonatti Grey - sold
FL2 Td4 - Zambesi Silver - sold
D2 Td5 - Epsom Green - sold
F1 Td4 - Giverney Green - sold
90 300 Tdi - White – sold BIG mistake should have kept it!
F1 Td4 - written off by a taxi!
D1 300 Tdi - written off by a Fiesta...
D1 200 Tdi - sold
90 Turbo Diesel - sold
Ser 2a SWB - sold and glad I 'got rid'
Ser 2 SWB - sold but wish I still had it!
2nd May 2016 2:00 pm
j_d_rudd
Member Since: 03 May 2015
Location: Ruffec
Posts: 28
A sad update...after 8 weeks.
Got news a couple of weeks ago that it was the engines crankshaft that had 'broken', and that the garage was awaiting new parts. I questioned this, as with little technical knowhow, would have assumed the pistons and seating bearings would have taken a lot of force as the crankshaft 'broke'. The garage quickly changed their statement to we're awaiting a new engine...
LRA in France are nothing but a sub-contracted company who hire cars from Avis, Hertz or Europcar. I have been running about in a 2 wheel drive X-Trail for the last month, and before that had on occasions a mini-bus, the only vehicle with a towbar.
Shockingly disappointed that such an expensive car could have such an expensive failure, but it could have happened to any car. More disappointed that I have owned the car 32 weeks, and it has been away for 8.
At my wits end now...LRA can do nothing more...I cannot sell the car whilst it is not working...I cannot reject the car as I would have done in the UK (French finance)...and I have no idea when it will come back to me.
I sent a recorded letter to the Director of Land Rover France today politely detailing all the I have had in terms of the buying process, the lies I was sold, the false promises, the delay in receiving the car...and asking him to get the car repaired in a fortnight or to replace it or to refund me.
We'll see what happens next, but I'm not holding my breath!!! Would any of you have accepted to wait this long??? France is a law into itself!!!Had enough of pickups: noisy BT-50, unreliable Navara, thirsty Amarok. Now's Disco time!
22nd Jun 2016 6:35 pm
VVS210
Member Since: 05 Aug 2015
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 506
Very sorry to hear the troubles you are having with LR France, hope your letter gets things moving.
Shocked to hear that the crank has snapped at such low mileage but by coincidence I was chatting with my brother who is a mechanical/design engineer at the weekend and we were discussing how much torque these engines produce and how you can use command shift to get the revs right down and use that torque to pull loads. He wondered whether this may be a contributory factor to snapped crank shafts and I can understand this on the basis that unless LR have modified the crank, i.e. made it bigger diameter, then the known issue of snapped cranks in 2.7 engines is only likely to get worse now they're 3.0 and have more torque.D4 - Stornoway Grey
D2 V8 - Zambesi Silver (rust free JDM import 😎)
FL2 - Sd4 HSE
110 Td5 DCPU - Bonatti Grey - sold
FL2 Td4 - Zambesi Silver - sold
D2 Td5 - Epsom Green - sold
F1 Td4 - Giverney Green - sold
90 300 Tdi - White – sold BIG mistake should have kept it!
F1 Td4 - written off by a taxi!
D1 300 Tdi - written off by a Fiesta...
D1 200 Tdi - sold
90 Turbo Diesel - sold
Ser 2a SWB - sold and glad I 'got rid'
Ser 2 SWB - sold but wish I still had it!
23rd Jun 2016 11:23 am
CFB
Member Since: 02 Dec 2005
Location: Bradford, West Yorkshire
Posts: 6100
Not good on such a new D4, I wouldn't accept that kind of delay unless they put me in an equal vehicle, would not want to be paying the finance for 2-3 months on a car I could not use.
Am sure in the UK you could reject via the finance company but sounds as though with French law you will just have to sit it out 2020 BMW X1 18d XDrive X-Line Auto
23rd Jun 2016 11:28 am
j_d_rudd
Member Since: 03 May 2015
Location: Ruffec
Posts: 28
Thanks for your comments VVS210. Indeed I am wondering if the CommandShift is good to use. With stacks of trailers behind the Disco at motorway speeds (70mph) the car tended to sit in 6th or 7th gear. To aid fuel consumption I tended to force it into 8th especially on downhill and flat sections. This may have put extra 'pressure' on the crankshaft.
Fuel consumption has been hopeless with this car (OK I work it), compared to other postings saying 29mpg is realistic. The best I have seen (using Fuel Log) is 10.16 l/100km (27.8mpg) and the worst towing at motorway speeds is 21.85 l/100km (12.94mpg).
CFB, I will have paid 2380 Euros in finance payments next week whilst not having use of the car. I am sure LRA have paid way more than this in renting me a box, taxis, hotels...etc. Not good though, they could have replaced the engine without having to first diagnose it was broken, or have swapped me into another vehicle more quickly and with less hassle.
My recorded delivery letter should be received today and I'll keep you updated...Had enough of pickups: noisy BT-50, unreliable Navara, thirsty Amarok. Now's Disco time!
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I have had in terms of the buying process, the lies I was sold, the false promises, the delay in receiving the car...and asking him to get the car repaired in a fortnight or to replace it or to refund me.
