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RichardK
Member Since: 18 Jan 2006
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 295
  
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| Canning Stock Route, Western Australia |
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For those who may be interested I have just completed a trip up the Canning Stock Route, quite probably the first D3 to do it.
It is one of the most isolated 4wd trips in the world, some 2000 Kms through 3 deserts taking about 13 days between towns.
I have put a number of pics in my gallery.
Here is a trip report
What a trip!
Started out 3rd August, myself, SWMBO, in the D3, mate and wife in his 80 series Landcruiser.
First campsite was between Sandstone and Wiluna prior to commencing the CSR, what a shock….25 degrees during the day and iced up during the night!
We hit the CSR the next day starting from well 2 and the start of many Ks of corrugations, optimistic that our vehicles would hold together for the long haul.
First Campsite was at Well 4A and we each started to work out a system of unpacking and packing which was to be a daily chore for the next 16 days.
Tea was a choice of fresh meats cryogenically packed, tinned meats for jaffles, spaghetti with sauce, some tinned pie or dehydrated meals that were a first (and last) for us.
Of course suitable quantities of beer, wine and port were included as an important part of the rations.
Our previous trip had not included the first 5 wells so that was new to us and it was a demanding section of winding track crossing numerous dry creek beds with low but steep entry and exit points. We understand why this section of track is closed if wet as it runs through private property and would create many problems for particularly inexperienced drivers let alone the more experienced.
Well 6 at Pierre Springs is a beautiful campsite and has lost nothing in the last 8 years, the bird calls in the morning are an absolute joy to listen to. The only draw back is that the toilet has been abused by non caring travelers and is not in a fit state.
The Landcruiser lost motive power at well 10 but was soon traced back to a broken battery clamp which had shut power to the fuel pumps, a little innovative work soon had that right. Then a few wells further down the track the same thing happened…….this time we had to remove the immobilizer which had failed thus once again cutting out the fuel pumps.
Durba Springs was the next major stop, we stayed 2 nights, just lazed around camp, explored a waterhole in the next set of hills and feasted on roast beef with veges.
Then the sand dunes commenced, the first I still had my tyres up quite hard and took it rather slowly…………and failed, so down went the pressures to 22 and 28 and from then on no problems although the ruts made the D3 sway and bounce alarmingly so we eventually worked out that a bit of momentum sorted that all out.
The sand dunes were fun, have put some video clips in my gallery, were nice to get away from the corrugations for a while.
Georgia bore was another refilling point for our washing and cooking water, the bore was put in by CRA around 1990.
The fuel dump was reached and we loaded 100 litres of the necessary into the 200 litre fuel tank which replace the rear seats. The fuel is transferred by pressurizing the tank with the air compressor.
The first of my problems occurred prior to well 33, going over corrugations,warnings gonged, words flashed onto my message centre……HDC failure, ABS failure, Suspension failure, suspension will be lowered………..Oh Sh t, I was warned!!..........stop the car turn off motor, remove key, lock car, unlock car start engine…………………………..It resets itself!!! But the damage was done, not to my car but to my confidence. Another 15 K’s and the same thing happened just prior to entering the Kunawatjarri (think I spelt that OK) community to take on another 40 litres of fuel and buy some of the most famous stale expensive frozen bread available plus an icecream, this time no reset,  , Ill have to play it as it comes, however it reset a few hundred metre down the track, Phew!!!
Corrugations were good until we left the Kunawatjarri community area, no grading so it was rough going for some time then into more sand dune country, larger dunes this time.
Can’t remember the actual area bet there is a solitary hill with a steep loose shale track leading up to it, challenge! Up we went scrabbling our way to the topin terrain response rock crawl, not a problem………..the cruiser decided not to do it though, beautiful lookout.
Then the cruiser hit it’s third problem, an aftermarket fuel filter had been fitted and unbeknown to us at the time it had worked free and the engine stopped due to air being sucked in, we had that problem a number of times until Duct Tape came to the rescue.
The final 2 days I had my Suspension failure 8 times but each time it reset itself after restarting the motor, I suspect the corrugations affect the sensors and will raise that issue with the dealer, LRA and LR UK to see what the response is.
All in all a very good trip nothing major with either vehicle
Fuel Economy: Up the CSR…16.5 L/100Km
Blacktop back home…14.4 L/100Km
Average speed: CSR… 32.4 Kmh
Home…98.8Kmh
Problems: HDC/ABS/TC/Suspension Etc. 10 times
Handbrake warning light numerous times
Both I suspect due to the corrugations, these faults did not reoccur on the way home via the blacktop
Loud knock from RH front wheel which I suspect is the floating front caliper or may be steering rack.
The majority of vehicles on the CSR were Landcruiser Troopy type traybacks with a variety of campers fitted to the tray and Nissan Patrols, also similar configuration.
Also saw two burnt out wrecks, one a Ford Explorer which happened a year or two ago and the other we think a Prado but there’s not enough to be sure.
Would I do it for a third time?..........................Well the thoughts are out for a trip through the Gregory National Park and connect up with the Tallawana track and down the southern section of the CSR to home…………………………….
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 20th Aug 2006 2:02 pm |
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catweasel
Member Since: 05 May 2006
Location: Bundaleer
Posts: 4805
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nice pics. was that a tour operated trip and whats the red flags for on the fiberglass poles?
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| 20th Aug 2006 4:27 pm |
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Xplore
Member Since: 06 Aug 2006
Location: LISBON
Posts: 22
 
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Great trip. Nice pics.
Thanks for sharing 
A few questions:
By 'corrugations' do you mean the 'ondulated sheet' type of track, like the ones we get in North Africa?
What tires do you use? Looks like BFGs? But they don't make compatible size tire for the D3?
Roof rack LR? How did it behave?
Are the HID lights enough for night dirving or do you need something more?
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| 20th Aug 2006 4:34 pm |
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catoperator
Member Since: 29 Jan 2006
Location: hampshire
Posts: 149
 
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catweasel wrote:nice pics. was that a tour operated trip and whats the red flags for on the fiberglass poles?
i would imagine they are to make your vehicle seen in sand dunes etc ...great pictures would love to do that myself thanks for sharing
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| 20th Aug 2006 5:23 pm |
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LeighW
D3 Decade
Member Since: 31 Jan 2006
Location: Brisbane, AUS
Posts: 916
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Thanks for the info about the CSR.
Every 4WD owner 'wants' to to that and the 'round Australia' trip. Your photos are great and make me all the more look forward to retiring and hitting the road.
The issues you had with electronics ("HDC failure, ABS failure, Suspension failure, suspension will be lowered………..") will need to be addressed by ALL levels of LR management. And quickly.
A car that is so good in so many other ways does need to be able to handle corrugations as so much of Australia's Outback has that type of road surface.
I will be most interested in hearing how the issues will be resolved just so that myself and other users will be able to travel in Australia with confidence.
Thanks again for the info and the pictures.
As an aside, I had a fibreglass aerial on my Holden ute back in the '70s in Townsville and drove into the new multistorey carpark.
The aerial's flexible, so I didn't think it would be a problem, that is until I heard a sound of shattering glass. I looked in the mirror to see shards of fluorescent lights landing in the back of the ute. I was destroying them with the flick after I drove past each concrete beam above me.
On that day I drove in and drove out without stopping. Next time I visited (sans aerial), I noted that they put mesh shields over the lamps.
Leigh LeighW
The old girl is on her third engine...
* first ran a bearing (design failure in original engine)
* second had a failure of the water outlet on top of the engine (pls check yours)
Last edited by LeighW on 21st Aug 2006 1:15 am. Edited 1 time in total
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| 20th Aug 2006 11:18 pm |
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RichardK
Member Since: 18 Jan 2006
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 295
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catweasel wrote:nice pics. was that a tour operated trip and whats the red flags for on the fiberglass poles?
No we planned the trip ourselves, it's my second trip on the CSR.
The poles are for the sand dune country.
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| 21st Aug 2006 1:08 am |
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RichardK
Member Since: 18 Jan 2006
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 295
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Xplore wrote:Great trip. Nice pics.
Thanks for sharing
A few questions:
By 'corrugations' do you mean the 'ondulated sheet' type of track, like the ones we get in North Africa?
What tires do you use? Looks like BFGs? But they don't make compatible size tire for the D3?
Roof rack LR? How did it behave?
Are the HID lights enough for night dirving or do you need something more?
Corrugations in Aussie are small humps in the road perhaps 60 to 80 mm high and 80 to 200 mm apart and can extend for many kilometres.
Tyres are BFG ATR 265 x 70 x 17
The Roof rack is an aluminium rack made in Western Australia, very well built and did not have any problems with it at all.
This type of trip we dont do any night driving, the trip is purely to enjoy the country. We would set camp any where between noon and 4.30 in the afternoon and leave around 8 in the morning.
Other than that I find the lighting very satisfactory and do not contemplate fitting driving lights.
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| 21st Aug 2006 1:18 am |
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RichardK
Member Since: 18 Jan 2006
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 295
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LeighW wrote:Thanks for the info about the CSR.
Every 4WD owner 'wants' to to that and the 'round Australia' trip. Your photos are great and make me all the more look forward to retiring and hitting the road.
The issues you had with electronics ("HDC failure, ABS failure, Suspension failure, suspension will be lowered………..") will need to be addressed by ALL levels of LR management. And quickly.
A car that is so good in so many other ways does need to be able to handle corrugations as so much of Australia's Outback has that type of road surface.
I will be most interested in hearing how the issues will be resolved just so that myself and other users will be able to travel in Australia with confidence.
Thanks again for the info and the pictures.
As an aside, I had a fibreglass aerial on my Holden ute back in the '70s in Townsville and drove into the new multistorey carpark.
The aerial's flexible, so I didn't think it would be a problem, that is until I heard a sound of shattering glass. I looked in the mirror to see shards of fluorescent lights landing in the back of the ute. I was destroying them with the flick after I drove past each concrete beam above me.
On that day I drove in and drove out without stopping. Next time I visited (sans aerial), I noted that they put mesh shields over the lamps.
Leigh
I will be taking the issue up with LR some how, not in an agressive manner but as something they need to be aware of to make a very goog vehicle leave the driver with the utmost confidence in its reliability.
Problem I have is that LR UK do not have any email contact details on their website.
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| 21st Aug 2006 1:24 am |
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LeighW
D3 Decade
Member Since: 31 Jan 2006
Location: Brisbane, AUS
Posts: 916
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To be effective, do it through the right channels.
Start with your dealer and a copy of discussions to LRA.
I expect you dealer will then talk with LRA as the issue would need to be resolved and the dealer can't just make modifications to your height sensors, etc. without engineering input. LRA will more than likely need to correspond with LR Engineering in England to ensure that if it is a repeatable occurence, then it needs to be resolved.
All the same, I would have thought that corrugations (particularly in view of Australian road conditions before seasonal road grading is done) would have been part of the in-depth testing that LR would have carried out.
As before, I am very interested in the outcome, both short term and long term. I bought my D3 for the long term.
Leigh LeighW
The old girl is on her third engine...
* first ran a bearing (design failure in original engine)
* second had a failure of the water outlet on top of the engine (pls check yours)
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| 21st Aug 2006 1:53 am |
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Jamo
Member Since: 18 Jan 2006
Location: Esperance, Western Australia
Posts: 1170
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Great pics Richard!
I heard somewhere that a fault can be sent though if the suspension is checking itself right when a wheel hits a corrugation. Pain in the proverbial!
What was the greatest distance between fuel stops??
I've got the aux tank fitted, taking my fuel load to 192 litres; but I want to know how much extra to carry for the CSR.
Thanks Have a nice day!
2010 Cayenne Diesel with PASM & Off Road Pkg
2005 HSE D3 (Sold)
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| 21st Aug 2006 6:54 am |
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RichardK
Member Since: 18 Jan 2006
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 295
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Jamo wrote:Great pics Richard!
I heard somewhere that a fault can be sent though if the suspension is checking itself right when a wheel hits a corrugation. Pain in the proverbial!
What was the greatest distance between fuel stops??
I've got the aux tank fitted, taking my fuel load to 192 litres; but I want to know how much extra to carry for the CSR.
Thanks
Hi Jamo,
Now days it's quite easy, the first section is around 800 K's to the fuel dump and there is an Aboriginal community (Kunawatjarri) at well 33, about 250 k's further on but they only sell deisel. The next fuel is at Billiluna about 900K's up the track.
192 litres will be quite sufficient.
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| 21st Aug 2006 11:10 am |
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Jamo
Member Since: 18 Jan 2006
Location: Esperance, Western Australia
Posts: 1170
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Thanks Richard.  Have a nice day!
2010 Cayenne Diesel with PASM & Off Road Pkg
2005 HSE D3 (Sold)
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| 21st Aug 2006 11:25 am |
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10forcash
Member Since: 09 Jun 2005
Location: Ubique
Posts: 16534
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| Re: Canning Stock Route, Western Australia |
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RichardK wrote:The first of my problems occurred prior to well 33, going over corrugations,warnings gonged, words flashed onto my message centre……HDC failure, ABS failure, Suspension failure, suspension will be lowered………..The final 2 days I had my Suspension failure 8 times but each time it reset itself after restarting the motor, I suspect the corrugations affect the sensors
Problems: HDC/ABS/TC/Suspension Etc. 10 times
Handbrake warning light numerous times
Both I suspect due to the corrugations, these faults did not reoccur on the way home via the blacktop
Richard, the sequence and the message about the suspension being lowered (as opposed to suspension error / fault) would indicate that the systems are operating correctly - i.e. fail safe, due to a wheel speed sensor problem. It sounds like a poor connection around one of the multiplugs in the left rear wheelarch although WDS / IDS will need to diagnose which wheel rotation sensor signal is being lost. As you can see, there is very tight system integration. Loss of, or an implausible signal to one system can cascade through the other, seemingly unrelated systems, quite often, the originating system doesn't go into fault as it recognises the missing signal and works from fallback or default values.
The handbrake warning light may also be related to the same connector or could be due to the CANbus shutting down as a result of the other fault, did the EPB malfunction or just gove an amber or red warning indication?
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| 21st Aug 2006 11:28 am |
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catweasel
Member Since: 05 May 2006
Location: Bundaleer
Posts: 4805
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LeighW wrote:All the same, I would have thought that corrugations (particularly in view of Australian road conditions before seasonal road grading is done) would have been part of the in-depth testing that LR would have carried out.
they did, they tested extensively in the Northern Territory but I can't find the pdf I had with all the info. 
they also put it on their shaker but the pdf is over 20 Mb
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| 21st Aug 2006 1:15 pm |
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IanD
Member Since: 11 Mar 2006
Location: (Too) close to Paris
Posts: 516
 
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Catweasel, where did the testing information come from? Do you have a link for the big pdf? It would make interesting reading.
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| 22nd Aug 2006 9:51 am |
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