Update on Trailer Receiver replacement

The saga of the trailer hitch continues. Something in the universe appears to really not want me to have a trailer hitch.

The replacement receiver was shipped last week, and UPS says it was delivered to and signed for by "Lal". Problem is, there is no Lal at my mailbox receiving place, and there is no box and no trace of said box.

We wait for UPS to investigate. At least the retailer I've been getting parts from haven't told me to pound sand, yet.

Other than that, Rover's running great. We've put only 850 or so miles on it, so we'll have plenty of warranty-miles to use over the summer.

Update: The mailbox receiving place lost it somewhere internally, and found it several days later. The hitch works perfectly, and the hitch-mounted bike rack fits fabulously.

Broken parts and run-around

Well, this is my first really unhappy experience with Land Rover so far. I bought a Land Rover part from a non-Land Rover affiliated parts dealer, and was very happy with the transaction. Good service, good price, general happiness.

However, one piece, the trailer hitch receiver, didn't work out so well. On the LR3, the hitch receiver is removable, and it uses a little handle and key to remove/install from the vehicle.

Late last week, I was going to buy a hitch-mounted bike rack for the car, so I tried to put the hitch on the car. The handle wouldn't turn, so I thought it might be locked already. I turned the key, and while the key handle turned, the lock didn't appear to. I tried to pull the key out, and the key broke in half. Bummer.

Land Rover parts are warranted for 12 months, and it was less than a month ago that I received the part, so there should be no problems. I called my local dealer, affiliated with the dealer that I bought the vehicle from. They said no problem, bring in the broken part and the receipt and although it would be a few days before they could get the replacement part in, they would handle it. Great!

Brought in the broken part today and the person in parts (after waiting in line for 10 minutes holding a 20-pound hitch) refused to take back the part. Apparently, you must return it to the dealer where you purchased it from.

That's sort of like saying that if your toaster breaks 6 months after purchase, you should bring it back to Best Buy to get it replaced.

So, knowing that the national customer service number for Land Rover is known for being extremely helpful, I give the folks there a call.

They have never heard of someone trying to contact the company for a parts warranty return.

At this point, I'm forced to contact the place where I purchased it from and likely ship it back to them. They will likely ship it back to Land Rover. Why not handle things direct?

More to come.

Update: The third-party parts supplier where I got the hitch receiver from agreed to take it back. So, I'm just out shipping for it, and the few weeks while this one goes back and the replacement gets delivered. That's not too bad.

Two small issues; High engine compression, and suspension status.

Not sure if these are idiosyncrasies or actual problems, but I've noticed a few things about the LR3 so far. About 250 miles on it.

1. When you have the cruise control on, and are going down hill, it seems as if the car is trying to slow down with engine compression. It also slows down quite a bit when you are off the accelerator -- I tried this by going 30 mph on a flat surface, and within about 10 seconds I was under 5mph. These could be related.

2. This morning, when the car was in access height, the height display on the console showed that the car was both in access and off-road height. Pulling the lever up brought it to cruise height -- could this have been my first suspension sensor fault? Bummer.

Other than that, love the car. The light sensor for headlights and the NAV sensor is a little sensitive -- it gets dark and light quick if the sun is on your right and you pass streetlamps (the shade from them.)

AUX Port Volume

Like many others, my LR3 seems to have the same 'problem' with the AUX port volume. Specifically, it is much too quiet. My MP3 player (iRiver H340) has to be turned up to the maximum volume (40) for it to put much of anything out of the LR3's speakers -- and the LR3 volume control has to be turned up to 15-20. At that volume, the navigation system screams at you.

I'll likely have to either not use the MP3 player when driving and navigating (annoying), or come up with a small amplifier for the mp3 player, which seems less than ideal.

One-hundred miles and counting.

One-hundred miles and four days, and the car is still ticking. No faults, problems, and we're only down to 3/4 gas tank remaining.

We opted for the factory extended warranty -- I honestly didn't expect to, but they offered one that was 84 months, 85,000 miles, exclusionary, and about the same price (< $2700, remember to negotiate these things!) as a third-party inclusive warranty. We plan on keeping the car, but we know these Rovers can be tricky. A $200 deductable.

Today we'll figure out the insurance and sign the loan paperwork. Credit unions are great for getting excellent financing; the Rover financing was promotional at 5.9%, which was good, but a credit union offered us 5.0%. That is better.

One of these could be mine.

One of these could be my Rover. Looks like a truck just dropped off a batch of new ones.

Link to Flickr PDI gallery.



Update: One of those was mine, am picking it up tonight if everything is right.

Sources of Useful Rover Knowledge

Here are some links I've used for Random Useful Rover Knowledge (RURK):

• Land Rover owner's manuals (official)
  
• Land Rover Forums
• Land Rover World

Specific to the LR3:

• Edmunds.com LR3 Town Hall
• Disco3.co.uk
  

Any others I should be looking at?

Reconsidering having a dealer install driving lamps.

Perhaps I should have a dealer install the driving lamps, although one dealer I asked wants $1,100 to put them in.

Reading through this post at the UK Disco 3 (UK term for LR3) forum indicates it may be more involved than I want do handle -- where more involved involves drilling anything where people can see.

[Offtopic: If I were to install my own, I would likely not mount the switch on the dash, it would go someplace a little less noticeable. I cannot fathom drilling the bumper though -- I am not that skilled at measuring. I tried to build a table once, and after getting all the pieces together, I stood it on its legs, and it promptly fell apart.]