Member Since: 07 May 2015
Location: Amsterdam area
Posts: 15
Went offroading in Portugal this summer
After two summers of Covid and staying in our home country, this summer we went offroading in Portugal. We were with 4 cars and a Portugese guide. We had our Discovery 3 HSE V8 that we drove in with 2 adults, 3 children and all camping gear in the boot. And the rest of the cars were a Jeep Wrangler, a new Defender 110 and two Toyota Landcruiser 100's. They had roof tents.
We've had the Disco 3 for 7 years or so and went to the Alps and Pyrenees before. But this was the first time in Portugal. Every day ended on a new camping with swimming pool, all arranged by the guide.
I was susprised by the enormous possibilities. I have never in 10 days or so seen a sign that we were not allowed to enter, it seemed like every offroad track was possible. it could also be of course that we had very good guides We did some steep climbs and descends, and a lot of very dusty tracks. There was also an afternoon of soft sand driving with sand climbs near Nazaré where we started.
As far as the Discovery goes we did have some trouble, but in the end everything went ok:
- had the airconditioning redone before the trip at a cost of about 2500 euro for a new condensor and new compressor and overhaul, it kept working even though temperatures were around 40 degr celsius all the time and the engine was doing very hard work
- when we drove to Portugal (2000km's) the check brake pads light went on, so we had all brake pads changed in Portugal, that was only 200 euro with very fast service
- on the way home (again 2000km's) the engine started stalling when coming to a standstill, and we had a clonk in the drivetrain when the gearbox shifted to lower gears, it was annoying in traffic and in Paris, but this sorted itself out and now at home everything works fine again, maybe the heat and long drive was getting to it
- now at home again I see a bit of oil leakage under the transferbox, so I'll have that checked
I was amazed at what the Disco could do offroad. It can do anything a new Defender 110 can do and is very capable onroad and offroad. Well that is why we bought it years ago in the first place! To be able to drive a long way to a starting point and offroading from there and drive back onroad again. It is a great machine.
26th Aug 2022 5:17 pm
frankv
Member Since: 07 May 2015
Location: Amsterdam area
Posts: 15
Oh, and one more thing. One brake light was already not working, and the other one also went after a week, so I had only the 3rd brake light left.
Two lamps on each side are the normal rear lights, and only the upper two are used as brake lights. When looking at the lamps I saw that the brake parts of the upper ones were blown, but the normal lights were still working. But I also saw that the bottom light also both had a 'normal' part and a 'braking' part. And these were both still ok. So I just switched the upper ones with the lower ones and voila we had normals lights and brake lights again.
It turned out changing the bulbs was very easy using some youtube guidance. Two screws and a pull each side and they came off.
I don't know if this was intentional from Land Rover to have such a backup, but it was nice to do a field swap.
We are moving to Porto, and so far the prices of LRs seems very high. --
2010 Defender Puma 90 + BAS remap + Alive IC + Slickshift + Ashcroft ATB rear
2015 Range Rover Sport V8 Supercharged
Member Since: 10 Jun 2010
Location: Towcester
Posts: 1002
@frankv - you mention that you had issues with the engine cutting out around Paris and then also talk about issues with the brake lights…
They may well be completely unrelated but issues with brake lights on a D3 can have far-reaching consequences - a faulty brake light will cause all sorts of weirdness, even using cheapy e-bay lights rather than the best you can find can sometimes result in limp-mode etc!
I’d check your lights and make sure they are top notch to avoid the possible risk of something cropping up!D4 Commercial - 65 Plate, 2016MY
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We did some steep climbs and descends, and a lot of very dusty tracks. There was also an afternoon of soft sand driving with sand climbs near Nazaré where we started.
