G4 Owners Club

Re-enabling a disabled winch

https://forum.g4ownersclub.com/Topic9099.aspx

By Iona Disko - 30 Jun 2008

Dear all,

this is my last resort before taking the front of the vehicle to bits so I hope someone can help...

I've acquired a G4 D3 and want to get the winch up and running. I understand that Land Rover disable the winch before releasing the vehicles for sale.

I have failed to identify the location of the wich isolator switch and assume it has been removed.

I therefore trtacked down the cole-hersey behind the battery and gave it 12V - it can clearly be heard activating and a meter on the leads tells me that there is 12V to the winch.

I didn't get a wander lead so I borrowed one from an earlier Warn winch. But there is no response from the winch. My next assumption would be that something has been disconnected from the solenoid pack but this is fairly difficult to get to. Am I missing something more obvious?

How / where is the isolator switch normally located?

I seem to have mine wired into F7 in the fusebox next to the battery - this is a heated seat - what is that all about? Why isn't there a seperate fuse? I gather this is ignition switched so perhaps just a simple route to getting an ignition live?

Also - where the old 2-way radio was fitted I have located the antenna cable and power.... any ideas where this power comes from? It isn't live at present and I'm wondering if another fuse has been removed - if I could locate this it would make fitting my own two way a lot more simple.

Out of interest.... is there any way of finding out baout your vehicle's history? I'd be interested to know how it got so badly damaged!

Would be great to hear back. Thanks for reading.

By Erasmus - 30 Jun 2008

Hi,



The winches on the D3 are in fact disabled by not supplying the remote! There is a special remote for them that completes the circuit to enable the winch when the ignition is turned on, unfortunately not an easy remote to obtain, Warn won't supply one as it is a Land Rover specific part and most LR dealers will look at you as if you were from a different planet......hmm come to think of it they do that anyway :P



For more info about the history of the car and for lots of technical help you should join the club, clicky here!



Cheers,
By willowkis - 30 Jun 2008

Hello Iona,

Welcome to the forum,

Vehicle history is only given to "paid" members, it's one of the benefits of being a club member.

If you contact our Technical Man "Flying Dutchman", he may be able to advise you on your other problems.

Good Luck

Kim :)

Iona Disko (6/30/2008)

Out of interest.... is there any way of finding out baout your vehicle's history? I'd be interested to know how it got so badly damaged!

Would be great to hear back. Thanks for reading.
By The OC (Augusto) - 30 Jun 2008

Iona

Welcome to the forum and  good luck on the D3 (also got one).

I've sent you a pm

rgrds

By stu_007 - 30 Jun 2008

For a winch controller contact Arbil 4x4 http://www.arbil4x4.co.uk/index.php, they are the main distributor of Warn products in UK. I have just bought a new controller for another winch I have, they no longer make the original one, but the new one is just as good (PS I mentioned the G4OC and got a discount!) You may have a problem with a solenoid due to lack of use, again if this is the problem, Arbil can supply you with one.
By Erasmus - 30 Jun 2008

Not sure that Arbil can supply the correct controller, we had a long discussion with them about this last year and they said Warn won't supply them even though they are the UK distributor and LR get their remotes from Arbil :crazy:



May be worth another try though, you will need to make sure you tell them it is for a G4 Discovery 3 otherwise they will send the wrong controller.



As I said, if you join the club there is lots and lots of info on the "inside" which will help you get everything working. :cool:



Cheers,
By CraigS-L - 30 Jun 2008

To confirm, Arbil will not supply.

Nick, parts Manager at Yeovil Land Rover will supply :D

By Iona Disko - 1 Jul 2008

Thanks for the advice. I've ordered a new wander lead and suspect that will cure the problem. I've chased all the wiring through and my winch is identical to the standard Land Rover winch.

I'm not sure what was fitted to other vehicles but mine seems to be nothing special so the LR wander lead should cure the problem assuming with solenoid pack is still functioning.

Does anyone know where the power for the 2 way radio is fused or relayed from? I'm fitting a 2 way and it would be great to know as I'll not need to rewire.

Thanks again.