I have just bought a Faultmate FCR from BBSSpy, (that's his Forum name, AKA Colin from Black Box Solutions - one of the site sponsors) and it's brilliant. Reads fault codes from every control module in the car (and there are loads!) and allows you to reset them. Check out his offerings on their web site - just go to the sponsors page on this forum and click the link.
More expensive than the fleabay offering but more capable I'm sure. If Colin (BBSSpy) picks up on this thread, perhaps he can give you an expert opinion.
The D3's OBD socket is in the drivers footwell, on the right above the accelerator pedal.
BTW, Colin offers a 10% discount on all his products for forum members Now an ex-D3 owner after 7 happy years. Miss the car but not the big bills
29th Jan 2010 8:48 am
JamesG01
Member Since: 30 Apr 2009
Location: Worthing
Posts: 376
Don't know about the suitability, but Data Link Socket is right above the pedals and under the steering wheel. A b er to plug in the first time, but you get used to it.55-Reg Java Black SE, Unlocked SatNav (via Wiggs and Bodsy), Nudge Bar/Driving Lamps/RAI, Front & Rear Lamp Guards, RLD Sump Plate, RLD spare wheel protector
"Every movie-going moron knows that only a mining company could be evil enough to attack Smurfs living in a rainforest." - Doug Casey
29th Jan 2010 8:49 am
JamesG01
Member Since: 30 Apr 2009
Location: Worthing
Posts: 376
yeah, like Albourneboy said, and I have the Faultmate FCR, too. Good piece of kit that I'm happy with.55-Reg Java Black SE, Unlocked SatNav (via Wiggs and Bodsy), Nudge Bar/Driving Lamps/RAI, Front & Rear Lamp Guards, RLD Sump Plate, RLD spare wheel protector
"Every movie-going moron knows that only a mining company could be evil enough to attack Smurfs living in a rainforest." - Doug Casey
29th Jan 2010 8:49 am
BBS SPY Site Sponsor
Member Since: 15 Jun 2007
Location: Sunny Cyprus
Posts: 3054
Oh dear, another mislead wishful thinker
Sorry Dave T, its not your fault.
I hate these guys selling these crappy cheap generic OBD type scan tools that by ommision of the actual facts, mislead and confuse customers who don't know better into thinking that something that costs so little can and will diagnose everything on their particular vehicle. Although in fairnes i do note at the end in vers amall letters he adds "Again I must stress that this unit does not do ABS, SRS or extinguish service lights (completely different system to OBD)."
Would have been nice if he said, only works on the emmisions part of the engine management, but its a start
Let me try and simplify this.
OBD, OBDII, or EOBD is a legislated standard that forces all vehicle manufacturers to make their vehicles Engine management systems reply to questions regarding their emmision related health only and absolutely nothing more. It was introduced to combat pollution only which has nothing to do with any other on board system nor a lot of what else goes on in the engine management like cruise control, immobilisation and so on.
These diagnostic questions have to be put to the cars engine management system by a tool or software using only a specific language and over certain known communication methods of which the cars Engine management must support one, A bit like saying in english only and by phone or fax. CAN bus simply adds "or By E-Mail" to that list of possibilities manufacturers can choose from.
Even though that tool supports CAN, that would be only the legislated CAN bus standard on which sits the engine management, none of the other ECU's can be communicated with, that share that bus and certainly not any of those on the other CAN bus or on the fibre optic MOST bus of the Disco 3, and that would then allow you to read a handful of emmision related data from the Engine management only. As for fault codes, only codes up to P1000 are legislated, above that it is all top secret and unique to each manufacturer stuff
Ie that tool has no idea that P1001 means that there is an immobiliser link problem, and if it did it would have to know that it is reading codes from a siemens TDV6 ECU programmed for a discovery 3, because if its plugged into a Golf, P1001 will mean something totally different.
So if all you want is to read and check the emmision related aspects of the engine management, a generic OBDII scan tool is the way to go as long as it supports CAN bus comminications, but no generic tool can do any more.
What we do and make, here however is just totally different, What we do is not even OBD compliant anyway, 110% absolutely and totally Land Rover by the model dedicated and we can do shed loads of things that nothing or no one else can and we cover all on board systems, even the optional or country specific ones, regardless of which of the Can busses or fibre optic MOST bus its on.
Sadly too many end up coming to us having bought quite a few of these cheap near worthless bits of kit and having spent so much money already, in the long run they would have been so much better off if they had bought one of our kits from the beginning so hopefully you will apreciate my trying to save you that trouble.
As well as our full on Diagnostic system, the Faultmate MSV-2 Extreme, we have recently introduced the Faultmate FCR which the guys here have already pointed you to. (Thanks Chaps)
The FCR costs just under 200 GBP or 180 to members of the board and quite frankly is a simply stupendous bit of kit that reads and clears all fault codes from all the systems in the entire vehicle at lightening fast speed. It is locked to your D3 by VIN, but for a small fee the lock can be moved to another vehicle, which is important because unlike a generic OBDII which you would struggle to flog of at a car boot sale for a tenner, a second hand FCR is highly desirable and so most of the investment in buying one can also later be re couped. So in the long run teh FCR is a much cheaper option than a generic tool and its about 100 times more useful to a D3 owner.
I should warn you though, that this factor does not seem to have been missed and as such, there is already a short waiting list for FCR's as we now cannot produce them fast enough to meet demand, despite my adding 2 more staff into production and now spending several hours a day there myself.
29th Jan 2010 11:20 am
Dave T
Member Since: 03 Jul 2009
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 6902
glad i asked now
will need to save a few pennies first as I have a few repair bills grabbing at the purse strings
29th Jan 2010 11:38 am
Discotres
Member Since: 25 Jan 2010
Location: London
Posts: 8491
Is there a buy it now for the FCR at £180 with free P&P
29th Jan 2010 11:41 am
PaulP
Member Since: 04 May 2007
Location: Barcelona
Posts: 4317
71 posts in less than 4 days and only 2 of them have mentioned your D3
If the discount offered was based upon post count, then I reckon in another 2 weeks, Colin would owe you 180 GBP to take one of his hands
(only joking!! )2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE AutoBuckingham Blue 2007 Golf GT DSG
29th Jan 2010 12:01 pm
BBS SPY Site Sponsor
Member Since: 15 Jun 2007
Location: Sunny Cyprus
Posts: 3054
Happy to help and explain Dave T
Sorry Discotres, no free shipping.
18.5 Post Per Day average, is that a record? i dont even do 1 Post Per Day
Mind you if it was average Words Per post, i might be in with a good chance of holding the record
29th Jan 2010 1:49 pm
Set Me Free
Member Since: 17 Feb 2009
Location: Liege
Posts: 41
BBS SPY wrote:
The FCR costs just under 200 GBP or 180 to members of the board and quite frankly is a simply stupendous bit of kit that reads and clears all fault codes from all the systems in the entire vehicle at lightening fast speed. It is locked to your D3 by VIN, but for a small fee the lock can be moved to another vehicle, which is important because unlike a generic OBDII which you would struggle to flog of at a car boot sale for a tenner, a second hand FCR is highly desirable and so most of the investment in buying one can also later be re couped. So in the long run teh FCR is a much cheaper option than a generic tool and its about 100 times more useful to a D3 owner. I should warn you though, that this factor does not seem to have been missed and as such, there is already a short waiting list for FCR's as we now cannot produce them fast enough to meet demand, despite my adding 2 more staff into production and now spending several hours a day there myself.
Hi everyone and especially BBS Spy,
Is such a kind of tool really usefull for someone driving far from any LR dealer (for example in North Africa) ?
How does it help ? Read and clear faults. What does it mean ?
Could the vehicle be stopped in the middle of nowhere if you don't have and use this ?
If you know there is a fault isn't it enough to stop/start the engine ?
Thank you for for help.
29th Jan 2010 8:46 pm
Discotres
Member Since: 25 Jan 2010
Location: London
Posts: 8491
PaulP wrote:
71 posts in less than 4 days and only 2 of them have mentioned your D3
If the discount offered was based upon post count, then I reckon in another 2 weeks, Colin would owe you 180 GBP to take one of his hands
(only joking!! )
My D3 as you know went into limp mode on Tuesday after just having a new turbo fitted to solve the same problem, it was recovered by LR assistance and returned to the dealers, as yet there is no news and I have a courtesy car. I am not very happy with it at the moment as it has only done a few thousand miles, anyway, if it starts playing silly I will need one of these machines, can any old fool use them or do you need some idea?
BBS, how much delivered to London all in
29th Jan 2010 9:38 pm
BBS SPY Site Sponsor
Member Since: 15 Jun 2007
Location: Sunny Cyprus
Posts: 3054
Hiya Set Me Free
Thanks for the comment of appreciation, i try my best. but do occasionally get into rant mode.
Interesting questions
It really depends upon the nature of the fault.
Get a flat tyre or pop a piston out the side of the block and having the ability to read and clear fault codes at the side of the road is not really much use.
But the Disco 3 really is one sophisticated bit of kit, its really just a big mobile computer network, and there are many occasions where some glitch occurs the car gets its knickers in a twist or some sporadic fault causes an ECU to go into Limp or off line mode where an Ign reset (or stop start the engine as you say) wont help, yet all you need to do is clear the fault codes to restore things to fully operational, if only for a limited time so you can at least get the car to reach civilization.
Considering what people pay again and again every year on car insurance which insures them only against accidents, but offers no protection against electronic faults or mishaps. A tool like the FCR that ultimately will cost anyone no more than 50 to 80 GBP (after resale) for the whole time they own their D3 represents staggeringly good value for money and is an extremely wise investment. Think of it as a Mantec plate but for your electronics.
It's also a great tool for those who want to know and check for themselves whats going on with their own vehicle health wise on a day by day basis and learn about what faults it usually has stored, so they can be in a much better position to note any new and more important ones.
29th Jan 2010 9:43 pm
BBS SPY Site Sponsor
Member Since: 15 Jun 2007
Location: Sunny Cyprus
Posts: 3054
Hiya Discotres
Sounds about right, even if a fault exists, it takes the ECU a few days to count enough fault events before it decides to take such radical action. So although you can't fix the fault with an FCR, you can
A) Read the fault code memory so you know its still the same problem as before
and
B) Clear it and get the car operational again while you arrange to get the problem sorted at a more convenient time to you not the car.
I bet when it went into limp home mode you would have given anything to have had the capability in your hand to change that to be at a more convenient moment for you
The cost of the FCR is 199 GBP with a 10% discount to established members, shipping at between 20 to 30 ish depending on how fast you want it, then 3% surcharge of you elect for the convenience of paying by credit card over a Bank Transfer, finally wrapped up with VAT, but at our 15% rate rather that the UK's 17.5%
Order on line on our web shop in the usual way then PM me the Ref number for assessment and application of the 10% discount on your order, shipping is usually immediate, however as stated demand is currently outstripping supply so there may be a day or two at most additional delay.
29th Jan 2010 10:04 pm
Discotres
Member Since: 25 Jan 2010
Location: London
Posts: 8491
I make that £226 (plus 3% cc charge, if I don't trust you and need cover ) all in if I go for Donkey delivery, mind you I will probably get that before I get the car back! The computer bllamed my actuator on the turbo, when checked a load of other fault codes appeared, cascading I thinkt hey call it, these were re set and car returned, first motorway rip and it is back in limp mode, so recovered by LR assistance Tuesday and still in a queue to be seen. What it has done is severly damage my trust in the car, what if Ihad been towing when it just slows dwn, it was bad enough in lan 3 with big lorries in 2 and 1 when I lost power, managed to get in with hazards on but other people just flashed and got upset.
So in short,if I buy this as a layman will I number 1 understand what the hell the codes are, and number 2, even if i find the codes will I be able to know what to do. See on the second recovery the LR response man saw so many codes he didn't even attempt to do anything and he had the most up to date, new LR loaded software, he just called a low loader. Now that is after it has been on a live link to LR to confirm the turbo, and that has been replaced, only a day later to play up again.
Thans for your time anyway
29th Jan 2010 10:19 pm
Discotres
Member Since: 25 Jan 2010
Location: London
Posts: 8491
Could somebody independent please either let me know here or send me a message to confirm whether, with a car with 2 years manufacturers warranty and assistance left, this gadget would be of any use to me as a layman. I am just concerned that if I about with something while under warranty it could be affected. I can see the benefits after the warranty is expired, in order to make sure you are being told the truth, but just in two minds at the moment. Thanks for your honesty,
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er to plug in the first time, but you get used to it.
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