Sorry for the long delay.
Lucky8's Project Discovery 3 Update : Testing 1,2,3…..4
After having all the issues in the sugar snow, I was thankful that SCARR in Texas was the next event on the docket.
SCARR is a fantastic event held by Texas Rovers at Barnwell Mountain. Barnwell has over 1800 acres of trails and we thought this would be a perfect venue to challenge our Disco 3. In fact we were so excited that we hit the trails as soon as we arrived.
To make things more interesting, we arranged to have a D1, D2 and D4 tackle the trails along side the L8 Disco 3. The goal was to see what truck was best if any at all.
To make sure nobody cheated, we enlisted the services of Staff sargent Army Rover.
After doing a little bit of reading courtesy of Nathan Woods, I was armed with button-pressing knowledge and ready to prove that the D3 was the best of the Discos.
The conditions in Texas were mostly dry, hard-packed clay with some rocks thrown in for good measure. In my opinion this is some of the most ideal conditions for the Disco 3 and thankfully the farthest thing from snow.
The Disco 3 danced around every obstacle it encountered. For the first time I was truly happy with the truck.
I think the Disco felt my content and decided to seek revenge for all the bad things I had said in the past. First, there was a little starter issue. It was my turn to tackle one of the obstacles so I turned the key to fire up the truck and………… nothing. I hit the key a few more times and luckily the starter jumped to life. Not wanting to test fate I pledged to never shut the truck off again.
The Disco 3 is a smart truck, maybe a little too smart. I think the computer did not like the off-road abuse it was getting so it shut the starter off. Since that did not work the next most logical step was to kill the alternator.
We were in big trouble now. Thank god we had a Gap Diagnostics tool and could monitor the voltage.
In the interest of science we continued to push the truck to see were it would die. Around 10.8v is where we started to lose systems. Unfortunately, traction control was one of the first to go.
By 9v the truck was on life support. I'm guessing only the engine ECU was getting the remaining power from the battery.
At 8.8v the Smell R Three had given up the ghost.
On the bright side, here is a quick "How-to" on swapping the starter in a field.
You will need to get under the truck. I used an open deck trailer but in theory you could find a little ravine to work in. What ever you do, make sure it is safe.
Just for reference this is what the starter looks like. You can guess the old vs. new
Step 1: Disconnect the battery.
Step 2: From under the truck, undo the easier of the 2 starter bolts just so you can feel good about yourself. Unfortunately that good feeling will be over soon.
Step 3: Remove the passengers side front tire and pull off the heat shield by removing these little nuts.
Oh yeah, don't forget this extra bolt on the side.
Step 4: With the heat shield out of the way, think of every bad word you have used in your life. You"re going to need all of them. Stick a box wrench in between the control arm and slowly undo the top starter bolt. Without removing the arm there is no room to do any thing fast. You get a 1/64th of a turn on the bolt at a time. If you're lucky, when the bolt is loose, you can undo it with your fingers. Good luck and I'll talk to you in 2 hrs.
Step 5: With the starter free, undo the solenoid input wire quick disconnect.
Step 6: Undo the main starter wire.
Step 7: Reinstall and smile.
And finally, the poser pic that cost us the starter and alternator.
or other times it is setting up a de facto workshop in the driving rain to replace 3rd members on a teammates Dii during VOT. It matters not, he's there leading, lending tools, providing parts and helping. 
