Weird Sound in HDC Mode.. and why not many LR3s/LR4s in Canada?

[Tictaktoe]

Hi Everyone,

I recently took a road trip from NJ - Montreal - Ottawa - Montreal - Mt Washington, NH - NJ. While the plan was not to go to Mt Washington in NH but since I had heard a lot of scary stories driving ~7 miles up the highest peak in NE region, how scary the road is, numerous cars with "this car climbed Mt. Washington" sticker, I decided to include in the trip. By the way, it was a cakewalk!

There are few things I want to ask/comments upon so here they are:

1. First thing first. I thought I would use my LR3's HDC mode while coming down. So instead of using Low Gear, I used HDC just in normal gear but as soon as the car started moving, it started making some weird noise (as if breaking vigorously). This was the second time I was trying HDC and the first time too (but in LOW gear), it had the same issue - a very aggressive noise of braking which just didn't sound normal. So I just switched it off and drove down on low gear without any issues. Any idea what is that sound?

2. While going to Montreal - Ottawa - Montreal - NH, I didn't see one LR3 or LR4. There were some Range Rovers in Montreal (McGill graduation) but that was it. Aint Canadian big fans of the British cars?

3. Comment - I was surprised by the mpg. Mine is more or less stock other than the slider but those sliders are heavy. We were 3 of us (including a kid) and this was the mpg I got -

a. NJ - Montreal - 18.4
b. Montreal - Ottawa - Montreal - 21
c. Montreal - NH (including going up and down on Mt Washington) - NJ - 19.4

This took me by surprise because I had never even touched 19+ after installing those sliders, and the best I had (pre-sliders) was driving to Maine and that was around 20.2. I must say I drove in 65-75 mph throughout this time.

Also, while I am here, here's a pic on Mt Washington...

 

[Houm_WA]

You have sliders, so I have to figure you do some mild off-roading at least...and you haven't used HDC enough to know that what you observed was completely normal??? I find that more weird than not seeing any LR3s or LR4s on your road trip!

HDC pulses the ABS 40x per second, and in so doing, makes kind of a "crunching" noise that you can hear and feel. That's just how it works, and it's cool. If it was too aggressive and not to your liking, you could have adjusted the speed with your cruise control buttons but it's possible you'd have to be in 4-Lo to do that.

Gas mileage: When was the last time you reset your calculator?

 

[Tictaktoe]

Thanks for the reply. There aren't many steep hills around here in NJ to actually use HDC, and my offroading has been usually limited to a few friends place on the beach or in and around VT (vs. rock crawling) with nothing that a low range can't handle on its own. In fact, I was thinking of removing the slider at some point but then I realized that my height challenged better half wouldn't like that and then just got used to ..Glad to know that the noise is normal. Let's see when I'd get to use that again.

I saw few LR3/LR4 once I was back in the country but really surprised that didn't see any AT ALL in this trip in Canada.

On mpg, I didn't even know that one can reset the calculator!? How do you do that? I usually long press the left lever to reset and start recording stats at the start of any long trip but that's all I do..there is more to it?

 

[catman]

Maybe Canada uses less ethanol in their fuel, that would bump the MPG's slightly....

 

[Houm_WA]

When you say "long press the left lever" is that the lever on the steering column where one cycles the info on the display? Or do you mean the lever on the left of the odometer?

Did you add the sliders with the thought that you were going to off-road more? I'm just curious why you went that route instead of a more conventional running board....

 

[Tictaktoe]

The former, the one on the steering wheel...

Conventional LR running board? I never liked the look of those from the first time I saw, and to me, it always looked too sophisticated for an LR3/4. And now when I see the new Discovery/LR5, it looks to me that LR decided to design the entire vehicle just around those running board than the other way round.

Yes, I thought I'd be offroading more (like rocks, thick bushes, etc as we were planning to move West) so added these with the dual purpose to also help get into the car. As I noted, that kind of offroading (stayed in NE) didn't happen much so decided to keep the car as much stock as possible.

 

[Houm_WA]

Ahhhh....I see. Anyway, the switch you use IS the one I was referring to. I guess your mileage is just that good. Honestly when I mind my speed I get 21-22 between Seattle and Portland...and I also have rock sliders.

 

[Tictaktoe]

Ahhhh....I see. Anyway, the switch you use IS the one I was referring to. I guess your mileage is just that good. Honestly when I mind my speed I get 21-22 between Seattle and Portland...and I also have rock sliders.

Small joys of this machine!

 

[Tictaktoe]

Maybe Canada uses less ethanol in their fuel, that would bump the MPG's slightly....

I saw the same message on Canadian's gas stations (up to 10% ethanol) but may be...