HFM66 wrote:

The only way to clear it is to fit a replacement handbrake unit @ circa £500 + £300 labour!

Am I missing somethng?

A second opinion?

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the fault reporting system on these cars is very temperamental, and something that is simple and cheap to fix can appear to be some catastrophic failure.

A IID diagnostic tool, coupled with advice from people on this forum could save you a lot of money in the long run.

So, it's sounding very much like an XY sensor issue rather than an EPB issue.

It's an easy mistake to make; The amber EPB light comes on and "Park Brake Fault" displays in the Information Centre on mine, leading you to think it is actually a "Park Brake Fault".

I've probably seen this 5 or 6 times in the last 9 years on my own D3.

The XY sensor is the little black box that sits on top of the gearbox to tell the car which gear it's in. It also controls whether or not your reverse lights come on. Do your reverse lights come on when you select reverse and the fault is showing? I guess your Base 7 Seater doesn't have rear parking sensors? If it does, you've possibly noticed that your rear parking sensors also don't work?

You can try to recalibrate the XY sensor but it sounds as though it's a slightly bigger problem if it keeps reoccurring. Have a read at this thread:

http://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/topic46472.html

Quite a few other members describe their symptoms here and there's a quick and easy fix for recalibrating the XY Sensor also listed. I've included it here if you can't be bothered to read the thread:

Stevie B wrote:

1) Find a long straight and quiet section of road.
2) Select LOW Ratio.
3) Reverse for about 200 yards or until you get the beep and the R on the dash gear number indicator. And then a tiny bit more for good luck. Stop, then...
4) Go forwards in 1st until number appears. Clutch pedal must be fully raised each time.
5) Then up through the Gears waiting for each of the numbers to appear. Do not skip any gears!
6) Stop at 6th, back into neutral, switch off engine.
7) After a brief rest, I took a couple of minutes just to make sure all the bad ju ju was gone and to have a quick wee as it was just all too exciting.
8) Restart and select High Ratio and you're on your way..

In the 9 years I've owned a manual D3, I've noticed a few things can trigger this fault to appear:

1) Going over speed bumps/significant bumps in the road
2) Accidentally slipping the clutch at (motorway) speed
3) Clutch slipping due to excessive wear

It's possible that you have a fault with your XY sensor itself (which will need replacing) or your clutch is worn to the point where it needs replacing.

Let us know how you get on anyway.


Steve