I understand the problem. You really have two choices, to become your own fix it expert on the D3 which is quite difficult actually as not only do you have to know a lot about mechanics, you also have to be an electronic controls expert.
Here is Canada, that is near impossible - yes, here in Edmonton I do have a good Land Rover dealer who is able to keep my 3 running but north of me, the nearest people who can even spell Land Rover are in either Iceland or Greenland. You have it even worse, other than perhaps the palace guard, there is just no one other than you - guess that it why it is called a Presidents Car.
If you can believe the Australian forums, these days Toyota Prado;s and the like are not the solution. The new ones seem to be having more serious diesel engine problems than the new D4's.
Whatever you purchase, it has to be something with minimal electronics. That means at least a five year old and preferable, a ten year old vehicle.
You are best to purchase something that is common in your area as that means there are people about who know at least something about fixing them.
In the next couple of days, I will find some links re replacing that plastic housing. It is easier to replace the the whole housing than it is to separately replace a thermostat. Yes, there are more bolts and hoses to undo, but it all goes back together rather easy like. When replacing the thermostat, it is easy to put stuff in upside down or leave pieces out or crack the plastic.
Actually the hard part with either replacing the housing or thermostat is getting the coolant back into the system.
Filling is near impossible, or more correctly, getting the air out as all those hoses air lock. I will find some links with regards to refilling the system with coolant - it is tedious and very time consuming.
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2005 LR3 HSE 4.4L V8 petrol; 18" x 10 spoke wheels; Traxide dual battery kit; Rear Cargo area LED lighting; PIAA 2500K H11 Yellow Ion fog light bulbs; Patch cellular antenna to underside of interior of glass roof; Air Suspension ECU Fuse 35P disconnect switch; CounterAct LT-2 capacitive corrosion control system; LLumar AIR80 Blue Low E clear Infra Red heat reducing side window tint; Manual upper rear door cable release; Schrader valve "air in" mod to OEM air tank; Akebono ceramic pads on OEM solid vented rotors.
I agree with you to change the whole housing.... but how to do ?
Mmmmmhhh It seems I have a lot of things before to be able to remove the housing... some screws seems very hidded... Have you made a pdf to help us ?
Or do you know someone who has made that ?
Anyway, I have time before I receive it !!!!
If nobody has done that, maybe I will do it myself as a contribution for the site...
After that I think I will sell the car... I'm a little afraid that plenty other things will happen.
What do you think, a Land Rover Defender CSW from 2003 diesel will be less sensitive ?
Do you know if there is anything to care about a Defender diesel ?
I'm also thinking about a Toyota FJ.... oh sorry sorry I know we are in a Land Rover forum... but anyway I need a reliable car....
Maybe I have to do a new thread... but I don't know under what title....
Thank you so so much in advance.... and I wish you a very good day !!!!
Here are some other links but none relate specifically to complete replacement of all the thermostat housing plastic. I guess that is because it is a relatively new idea.
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2005 LR3 HSE 4.4L V8 petrol; 18" x 10 spoke wheels; Traxide dual battery kit; Rear Cargo area LED lighting; PIAA 2500K H11 Yellow Ion fog light bulbs; Patch cellular antenna to underside of interior of glass roof; Air Suspension ECU Fuse 35P disconnect switch; CounterAct LT-2 capacitive corrosion control system; LLumar AIR80 Blue Low E clear Infra Red heat reducing side window tint; Manual upper rear door cable release; Schrader valve "air in" mod to OEM air tank; Akebono ceramic pads on OEM solid vented rotors.
Thank you so much for your support, and sorry for my silence... electricity... here.... not easy...
I have just a problem, the link related to the landroverforums.com I can't go on it... Maybe my internet is too slow... please can you just tell me quickly what was said about the thermostat removal ? Because I think I will remove it, here not cold temperature !!!!
I heard that this can also create some problems...
Thank you for your advice !!!!
Would you like also tell me what do you think about a Defender from 2003 2.5TD5 second generation ? Good car ? Some things to think about? What about maintenance ?
Below was the one post that was good in the thread so I copied it as below. I do not know what the consequences of complete removal of the thermostat would be. With engines in the fifties, it did not matter much, but now a days, with pressurized cooling systems, I just do not know. I guess you could try it but I would not regard removal as the solution even if all seems OK.
This is the post from the thread.
It took me about 25 minutes to change my thermostat. I ended up disconnecting all three hoses and brought the housing into my house. I don't have a garage and the weather is 6 degrees, not factoring wind chill. I live in the northeast, good old Rhode Island.
Removal was pretty easy, but you do have to push down pretty hard and
than twist to release the thermostat from the housing. I used a rag to cover thermostat than twisted, and release.
When putting in the new thermostat, DON'T FORGET TO PUT BACK IN THE LITTLE THIMBLE LOOKING THING ON THE END OF YOUR OLD THERMOSTAT!!!!It lifts up with the old unit.
Other than that just reverse everything when placing back into your truck.
Bleeding was real easy. I guess on the V8 4.4, you just run your truck to normal operating temp with all vents and heat cranked. I ran the truck for about 15 minutes got out while still running and than went and unscrewed the bleed screw slowly on the reservoir bottle, and waited until coolant came out, tightened and my truck warmed right up. I have a ultraguage which shows actual engine temps, I Highly recommend getting one of these!!!
Regarding a TD5 being OK, about the only experience I have was with the 2 door short wheel base pickups in about 2003/4 in North Africa. The TD5 seemed reliable and were regarded as less likely to tip over than the Land Cruisers we also had. The Land Cruiser was probably more comfortable, that is rode better until it tipped over, hence it depended upon the driver as to which was better. You were more likely to knock your teeth out in the TD5 but at least you did not get run over by your own vehicle.
As I recall, the diesel engine had some sort of modern electronics related to the diesel injection but for the most part, did not seem to cause problems. Either that or the mechanics know how to fix the problems, hence if there is no one locally with experience on the TD5, you will be in the same fix as with the LR3.
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2005 LR3 HSE 4.4L V8 petrol; 18" x 10 spoke wheels; Traxide dual battery kit; Rear Cargo area LED lighting; PIAA 2500K H11 Yellow Ion fog light bulbs; Patch cellular antenna to underside of interior of glass roof; Air Suspension ECU Fuse 35P disconnect switch; CounterAct LT-2 capacitive corrosion control system; LLumar AIR80 Blue Low E clear Infra Red heat reducing side window tint; Manual upper rear door cable release; Schrader valve "air in" mod to OEM air tank; Akebono ceramic pads on OEM solid vented rotors.
I was happy on the beginning but I'm no more....
Hopefully I'm not a depressed person... because with this car....
Also the sensor is not the right one... I will attach a picture of the one I have.
But anyway that's not a big problem...
I'm more worried because I let the old one in his place to avoid wasting coolant but I plug the new one to the wire and exactly the same problem happen:
The Temperature Gauge is going up to the red and it's two weeks now that I didn't start the engine and the four flashers are on and impossible to turn on the engine...
I check the wires, no problem any animal eat it...
Someone knows what can be the cause of this problem ?
Me I have really no idea....
It will take me a day or so, but I am going to see if I can find out what faults cause the flashers to go on. I will surf some of the other forums for hints.
In the meantime, try to get the battery fully charged. What I do know is that the vehicle can be perfect and if the battery is low, all sorts of faults display, (but the flashers to do not go for a low battery.)
Also start thinking about how happy you will be when you do get your "presidents car" working. What I am certain of is that the problem is something simple; the problem is that finding the fault is not.
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2005 LR3 HSE 4.4L V8 petrol; 18" x 10 spoke wheels; Traxide dual battery kit; Rear Cargo area LED lighting; PIAA 2500K H11 Yellow Ion fog light bulbs; Patch cellular antenna to underside of interior of glass roof; Air Suspension ECU Fuse 35P disconnect switch; CounterAct LT-2 capacitive corrosion control system; LLumar AIR80 Blue Low E clear Infra Red heat reducing side window tint; Manual upper rear door cable release; Schrader valve "air in" mod to OEM air tank; Akebono ceramic pads on OEM solid vented rotors.
You really would like I keep my car !!! You are so encouraging for me thank you so much!!!! You are probably right, the problem is small, the problem is to find it and I'm almost the only one in Liberia with this car and it's on me that this problem is not solved by the bulbs, the Brake light switch, the temperature sensor, the brakes sensor and the battery... I tell you... why me ??????
My life is short but always and always problem....
Bbyer I'm really so grateful to you, you are keeping in touch with me and you are really trying to help me !!! I'm sure you already spend many hours for me, THANK YOU !!!!!
I'm so grateful to you !!!
Now internet is faster, we have a 15kb/sec I'm also surfing on some forums and I have seen someone with the same problem but he didn't write back to tell how he was solving the problem
He has the hame Cochranx3 and you even reply to him... but he had exactly the same problem than me... Unfortunately I don't know how to contact him...
My flashers are on only when the water temperature gauge is up, I'm sure that is the reason why the flashers are on, to warn me that the car is in danger because the engine is too hot even if it's not true.
I will try to spent some time to check again some connections... I have there are some under the passenger carpet... there I didn't check yet...
At the same time, can you tell me the location you know for the ground wires ? I know many of them, but probably not all of them... if you can provide me a list it sould be great !!!
Don't worry about time, these next four days I'm too busy here... please take your time, I don't want eat too much time from you !!!
I am looking about the various forums and cannot find much about things that set off the 4 way flashers.
I did find one thread that says there are a batch of defective 4 way flasher switches out there. What happens is that when you turn on the 4 way flashers, you cannot turn them off. That does not seem to be your problem. If it was, one installs a new four way flasher switch.
Others have had problems that were solved by just unplugging electrical connectors and then plugging them back in. Sometimes they would spray the connectors with some sort of contact cleaner or WD40 and on occasion, a recurring fault would just go away.
About the only easy connectors I could think of were the ones that sit behind the starting battery and feed the transmission module / engine computer.
The jpg's show the three. Also note that my pictures show some black electrical tape wrapped around the top of the two rubber "boots". This is to reduce the probability of water getting into the wiring. The setup is supposed to be dampness resistant but is not even that, let alone rain or car wash water resistant.
Also there is that separate connector that shows just below the black case cover that could be unplugged and replugged back in. Sometimes just unplugging and replugging cleans up the contacts.
That is about the only ideas I have for now - I will keep looking.
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2005 LR3 HSE 4.4L V8 petrol; 18" x 10 spoke wheels; Traxide dual battery kit; Rear Cargo area LED lighting; PIAA 2500K H11 Yellow Ion fog light bulbs; Patch cellular antenna to underside of interior of glass roof; Air Suspension ECU Fuse 35P disconnect switch; CounterAct LT-2 capacitive corrosion control system; LLumar AIR80 Blue Low E clear Infra Red heat reducing side window tint; Manual upper rear door cable release; Schrader valve "air in" mod to OEM air tank; Akebono ceramic pads on OEM solid vented rotors.
The link below relates to cleaning and or replacement of something called the Mass Air Flow sensor. It is something that does commonly to wrong on all vehicles and generally tells the computers to shut the engine down.
The reason I mention it is that I got to looking at the wiring diagrams for the coolant temperature sensor. One wire, (blue yellow), goes back to one of the computers, the other wire, (black green), goes to the mass air flow senor and then back to the computer.
As such, a failure of the mass air flow sensor could send odd signals to the coolant temperature gauge and certainly the engine computer. The Mass Air Flow Sensor is easy to get at per the link and not too hard to attempt to clean. I do not think that you would do any damage by trying.
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2005 LR3 HSE 4.4L V8 petrol; 18" x 10 spoke wheels; Traxide dual battery kit; Rear Cargo area LED lighting; PIAA 2500K H11 Yellow Ion fog light bulbs; Patch cellular antenna to underside of interior of glass roof; Air Suspension ECU Fuse 35P disconnect switch; CounterAct LT-2 capacitive corrosion control system; LLumar AIR80 Blue Low E clear Infra Red heat reducing side window tint; Manual upper rear door cable release; Schrader valve "air in" mod to OEM air tank; Akebono ceramic pads on OEM solid vented rotors.
Connectors there are ok, I spray a little WD40 but still same...
I clean the throttle, just for maintenance.... I start to know this car now...
My question is, how to clean the Mass Air Flow sensor ?
I don't have the specific product to clean it and I don't think I can find it here...
What do you recommand me to clean it ? About what things have I to care
Today I will try another things, the CCm plug... I have seen that for someone that was the problem.
What you do not use is brake cleaner, carburetor cleaner, throttle body cleaner or any of the harsh chemicals that are supposed to solve all vehicle problems.
The Mass Air Flow Sensor is some sort of heated electrical wire that can feel the air as the intake air flows past the wire. As such, something like electrical contact cleaner or just plain medical alcohol will work OK.
It sounds like you have looked at the wires that go to the MAF sensor and they appear to be OK. I know the problem is something simple. Once you have discovered it, you will be the one and only local LR3 expert as you will know pretty much everything there is to know about the 3.
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2005 LR3 HSE 4.4L V8 petrol; 18" x 10 spoke wheels; Traxide dual battery kit; Rear Cargo area LED lighting; PIAA 2500K H11 Yellow Ion fog light bulbs; Patch cellular antenna to underside of interior of glass roof; Air Suspension ECU Fuse 35P disconnect switch; CounterAct LT-2 capacitive corrosion control system; LLumar AIR80 Blue Low E clear Infra Red heat reducing side window tint; Manual upper rear door cable release; Schrader valve "air in" mod to OEM air tank; Akebono ceramic pads on OEM solid vented rotors.
I will open my garage soon here ;-) the only problem, only me will be the client, I'm the only one here to have the LR3...
I will explain you my way of working to solve the problem, tell me what do you think.
I disconnected all the wires linked to the AC, radio and the screen... I turn on the key and still my gauge is way up.
May I suppose that the problem is not there ?
Because when I disconnect the temperature sensor my gauge is still going up in the red... it is not surprising ?
For me, if the problem was the sensor, when I disconnect it, a yellow light has to be on the dashboard to tell me that I have a problem, but the gauge doesn't have to go way up... My thinking is correct ?
Also now I'm trying one by one to disconnest the sensors and I turn on the key and check where is gauge...
Until now I haven't found it...
I disconnect all the sensors in the engine (MAF, water temperature and many others that I don't know) but everytime the gauge was way up.
Tomorrow I will try with the one near the gear transmission, I mean, the Parking brake, transmission, HDC and special program, if it is not so..... I will start to look with a sorcerer to see if my car is not possessed....
Again, thank you so much for encouragement and I will clean the MAF sensor with alcohol...
Your technique is good. Per below, keep disconnecting bits.
It is starting to sound like the problem may be between the gauge and the computer board where the gauge gets it signal, the Engine Control Module, (ECM), per below. If so, that would be not good.
However as below, perhaps the temperature gauge is not just coolant, but also oil, and the oil temperature sensor is defective.
It seems that if a sensor is disconnected, the computers guess a value from some other sensor, the idea being to keep the engine running.
In the case of the coolant temperature, if disconnected, then it gets a number from the oil temperature sensor. The oil temperature sensor is located next to the oil pressure sensor at the front of the engine and located on the oil filter bracket. Just perhaps there is a defective oil temperature sensor and it is feeding bad numbers to the coolant temp gauge.
As such, if you can find the oil temperature sensor, disconnect it. It seems to me that if you disconnect the oil pressure sensor, you should at least get a red oil pressure light. As for high oil temperature, I do not know what happens - maybe the coolant temp gauge red lines and the engine shuts down.
Also I think both the oil pressure and oil temperature sensors look about the same and are near each other so you will not know which you are disconnecting so disconnect both but one at a time.
Below is from some LR technical literature.
Engine Coolant Temperature Gauge
The engine coolant temperature gauge displays the engine coolant temperature to the driver. When the ignition is off the pointer needle returns to the cold position.
The engine coolant temperature sensor is connected to the ECM which monitors the sensor signals and converts the signals into a value for the engine coolant temperature. This information is transmitted on the high speed CAN for use by the instrument cluster and other systems.
The engine coolant temperature gauge is the same on all pack variants. The gauge has a blue segment for low temperatures and a red segment for excessively high temperatures. For normal operating temperatures the gauge needle pointer is positioned centrally in the gauge display zone.
ENGINE COOLANT TEMPERATURE SENSOR (ECT)
The sensor is located at the front of the engine in the water pipe below the throttle body. The ECT sensor is a thermistor used to monitor the engine coolant temperature. The engine coolant temperature sensor is vital to the correct running of the engine as a richer mixture is required at lower block temperatures for good quality starts and smooth running, leaning off as the temperature rises to maintain emissions and performance.
The sensor has an operating temperature range of -30 Degrees Celsius to 125 Degrees Celsius. When a defective coolant sensor is detected, the ECM uses the oil temperature sensor value.
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2005 LR3 HSE 4.4L V8 petrol; 18" x 10 spoke wheels; Traxide dual battery kit; Rear Cargo area LED lighting; PIAA 2500K H11 Yellow Ion fog light bulbs; Patch cellular antenna to underside of interior of glass roof; Air Suspension ECU Fuse 35P disconnect switch; CounterAct LT-2 capacitive corrosion control system; LLumar AIR80 Blue Low E clear Infra Red heat reducing side window tint; Manual upper rear door cable release; Schrader valve "air in" mod to OEM air tank; Akebono ceramic pads on OEM solid vented rotors.
Last edited by bbyer; 03-05-2013 at 08:54 PM.
Reason: heading change
I have a small problem, I can't see the oil temperature sensor...
You say near the oil filter ?
the problem is that the car suspension is down... I have anything to maintain the car up like an axle stand.... I know I know, that are really things we need... sorry...
Also I don't have plenty space there...
The other problem is that I have a protection plate in front of the car and I can't remove it because my ratchtet is broken now... and I don't have the correct spanner...
Also to go to the oil filter is quit like a yoga exercise... but I think I will be able anyway.
At least I have seen the oil filter but no wire around there... I will try again...
But if at the time you can tell me accurately where it is I would appreciate it so much !!!
I can't wait to receive the tools I have order it.... I really need that to work on cars...
Thank you again for your help.
Today I have continued to spray the different connection with WD40... even if I haven't seen any corrosion, we never know....
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