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Wednesday 9 January 2019

Discovery 4 timed climate control

For the last few days my car has been comfortably warm when I have got in to it on some cold and dark mornings.


Last weekend I enabled the timed climate control (park heater) feature which is available on some models of the Discovery 4.


This starts the Fuel Burning Heater (FBH) at a pre-set time each day and runs it for 30 minutes to warm up the coolant. In mine it also starts the blowers to warm up the inside of the car.

Based on posts on Facebook, many people do not get the blowers, just the FBH, when they set the time. I have no idea what triggers the blowers to work as well.


Mine definitely starts the climate control inside the car. The temperature 'Auto' light on the dash is flashing, as seen in the following, short, video clip.





Another option is to install a remote control to start the FBH as required. That sounds like a good idea but the timed solution works for me and is just a software feature to enable.


I used an IIDTool to enable a couple of the built in options. I had previously enabled the 4x4 info display so knew roughly what process to expect.


Oddly, whenever I enable features with the IIDTool, it always finishes with 'failed'. Despite that discouraging message, it has still done whatever I had asked for.


I am very happy with the timed climate control. We'll see how well it works as the weather gets colder.

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Links to instructions:
https://www.gap-diagnostic.com/faq-items/how-to-activate-the-timed-climate-park-heat/
https://www.gap-diagnostic.com/faq-items/how-do-i-enable-the-4x4-screen-discovery-3lr3-range-rover-sport-up-to-2009/

Unrelated, but while you are tinkering in the car:
A video of how to view the hidden screen on a Discovery 4
Programming a key with an IIDTool - shows how odd the tool can be

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3 comments :

Beef said...

Hi,
Are you well? Hope so.
I have been through the same process with my D4 (2011) but to no avail. Set it as only it can be set, but nothing happened.

I know the FBH works as I too have had a Bell Remote fitted (as I did in my D3) and when we tested it, the FBH billowed smoke and heated well.

Do I need to do anything else? Presumably the ignition can be off? Does the climate control need to be left on Auto?

Any suggestions kindly welcomed.

Kind regards, Paul

John C Brown said...

Mine just worked, so I don't have any experience trouble shooting it.
I do leave mine with the climate control on Auto.

John C Brown said...

Yes, the ignition is off.
I can hear the FBH start at 06:30 in the morning.