Discovery 2017

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  • ChaddersP
    Member Since: 15 Sep 2026
    Location: North Scarle
    Posts: 46
    United Kingdom 

    Wade sensing!!

    Folks I don’t have wade sensing which is in some ways disappointing especially as I thought it was standard?! I’ve read somewhere that when wade sensing is engaged. As well as a graphic representation of the water depth on the display, the air vents into the car close off to help prevent water entering the vehicle.
    My question is if this is the case and I don’t have wade sensing, is there a possibility of water entering the vehicle via the air vents? And if so surely this is a design fault because the wading depth is a generic depth across the disco5 range (with air suspension)
    Thanks
  • JonM
    Member Since: 30 Jun 2016
    Location: North Yorkshire
    Posts: 733
    United Kingdom 
    2022 Discovery SDV6 HSE Carpathian Grey

    Wade sensing is the least useful gimmick on a D5. It looks flashy, but doesn't actually do anything useful.

    It doesn't close off any vents, all D5's have the same wading depth regardless. If you go too deep, you'll float away and if water is going to get in, it will.

    All wade sensing does is tell you how far up the side of the vehicle the water has got. You can tell that by looking out of the window.

    What would be useful, but there is no way it can tell you, is how deep the water will get as you drive further in to it, whether there are any large boulders, tree trunks or potholes ahead under the water, or how fast it is flowing. Even quite shallow water can sweep a vehicle downstream if it is flowing.

    My D5 has it, but I don't use it for any decision making about safely driving water crossings.

    MY2026 D5 Metropolitan D350 - finally arrived after the cyber attack.
    MY2022 D5 HSE D300 - sold....MY2019 D5 HSE SD6 - sold
  • ChaddersP
    Member Since: 15 Sep 2026
    Location: North Scarle
    Posts: 46
    United Kingdom 

    Thanks I had heard it was not as useful as it perhaps appears. I just like my gimmicks and toys I guess 😂
  • Wolfpack
    Member Since: 25 May 2019
    Location: Norfolk, UK
    Posts: 591
    United Kingdom 
    2017 Discovery Si6 HSE Corris Grey

    I’ve been through a few fords and unexpected floods in my time,, even stopped halfway across Holy Island causeway as tide was coming in to photograph Eider ducks out of the roof…much to the bewilderment of people sensibly stopped on the shoreline.
    I actually started to feel the car move sideways as the tide lapped the doorsills…and that was the heavy D4…..soon high tailed it to the shore. Not a pleasant or sensible experience in hindsight.

    I stay away from wading these days.

    I am reminded of a retired RAF flight engineer who came to work for my company some years ago. When asked by one of the girls in the office to sponsor her for a tandem parachute jump he remarked….”anyone who jumps from a perfectly serviceable aircraft needs their head examining”.

    I tend to feel that about needlessly taking cars through deep water. Probably getting too old. Laughing
  • ChaddersP
    Member Since: 15 Sep 2026
    Location: North Scarle
    Posts: 46
    United Kingdom 

    Thumbs Up
  • Mole HD
    Member Since: 19 Nov 2024
    Location: Orkney Islands
    Posts: 940
    Scotland 
    2017 Discovery Td6 HSE Fuji White

    Yeah looks flash, watched it once on the centre screen the last time we had severely flooded roads up here... but it serves absolutely no practical purpose as Jon and Wolfie said. Just open the window and look out. Thumbs Up

    A short vid of it in action...not my vid I should stress. Wink


  • Mole HD
    Member Since: 19 Nov 2024
    Location: Orkney Islands
    Posts: 940
    Scotland 
    2017 Discovery Td6 HSE Fuji White

    Wolfpack wrote:
    I am reminded of a retired RAF flight engineer who came to work for my company some years ago. When asked by one of the girls in the office to sponsor her for a tandem parachute jump he remarked….”anyone who jumps from a perfectly serviceable aircraft needs their head examining”.


    I used to do the jumping out bit as part of my day job...strange result of that is that landing whilst being strapped into a plane still terrifies me no end, especially the Britten-Norman Islander flying taxis used to plonk down on the islands up here....the landings tend to be mostly sideways until the last minute then being thrown onto the tarmac. The local pilots up here certainly put their big-boy pants on most days flying into small island runways in all sorts of weather. Shocked

    I've flown hundreds of hours in all sorts of aircraft in operational theatres over the years... but usually by the time the plane had landed, I was already long out of the thing with a couple of hundred pounds of 'carry on luggage' and safely on the ground. Cool

    I took my daughter with me on a tandem rig jump from the back of a Hercules (C-130) many years ago as a surprise for her 12th birthday...we were doing a practise jump for some display thing at Brize Norton with smoke cannisters strapped to our ankles and all that stuff and being a a qualified parachute instructor at the time, I managed to wangle the permission through the army jump school.

    I think she screamed all the way down...then promptly wanted to go back up and do it again once we had landed. Laughing

    As we were wrapping up on the ground, she asked me if I had been frightened on my first jump...before I got a word out, one of my best mates replied to her.

    "Yeah, he was...and I remember that he screamed more like a little girl on the way down." Best mates...there's a reason you can't buy them. Rolling Eyes

    .
  • Darras
    Member Since: 16 May 2020
    Location: Inverness
    Posts: 875
    United Kingdom 

    👍


    Last edited by Darras on 24th Oct 2026 8:23 am. Edited 1 time in total
  • Mole HD
    Member Since: 19 Nov 2024
    Location: Orkney Islands
    Posts: 940
    Scotland 
    2017 Discovery Td6 HSE Fuji White

    Re: Wade sensing!!

    ChaddersP wrote:
    Folks I don’t have wade sensing which is in some ways disappointing especially as I thought it was standard?! I’ve read somewhere that when wade sensing is engaged. As well as a graphic representation of the water depth on the display, the air vents into the car close off to help prevent water entering the vehicle.
    My question is if this is the case and I don’t have wade sensing, is there a possibility of water entering the vehicle via the air vents? And if so surely this is a design fault because the wading depth is a generic depth across the disco5 range (with air suspension)
    Thanks


    It may also be a helpful tip that the D5 doesn't have the traditional Land Rover front wing air vents like practically everything else with a Land Rover badge stuck on it...those 'vent' covers on the D5 are strictly cosmetic badges with no actual air vents behind them, hence why you won't see any pictures of a D5 fitted with a snorkel kit.

    Instead, it draws air from the bonnet and through internal ducting along the bonnet lid and front wings to the airbox(s).



    So, it's always a good rule of thumb to keep the water from sloshing over the bonnet. Laughing


    Last edited by Mole HD on 23rd Oct 2026 9:50 pm. Edited 2 times in total
  • ChaddersP
    Member Since: 15 Sep 2026
    Location: North Scarle
    Posts: 46
    United Kingdom 

    That’s an interesting bit of info where are the air intake vents on the wings and are they lower than those on the bonnet. I wonder if the design by LR was deliberate and that they didn’t want or think a snorkel would look good or even work.
    I knew the side (vents) were cosmetic cos I’m replacing mine with all black ones😊
  • Mole HD
    Member Since: 19 Nov 2024
    Location: Orkney Islands
    Posts: 940
    Scotland 
    2017 Discovery Td6 HSE Fuji White

    Just check on yours where the trunking comes from that goes direct into the back of your air filter box...I think it's fed along inside the bonnet lid...but don't quote me on that, I've never actually looked. Whistle

    Here's what's quoted online...
    Quote:
    The L462 Discovery 5 air vent intakes are located at the crease between the bonnet and both the bumper and headlight, drawing air into a plenum before it passes through a labyrinth in the bonnet to separate moisture.

    ...Just in case you were wondering like me WTF a 'plenum' is...I googled it. Rolling with laughter
    Quote:
    A condition, space, or enclosure in which air or other gas is at a pressure greater than that of the outside atmosphere.

    So, it seems it was a clever and conscious design decision from Land Rover...which seems to work fairly well since I haven't seen any embarrassing online videos of D5's being hydro-locked after charging through village fords. Laughing




    Last edited by Mole HD on 23rd Oct 2026 11:30 pm. Edited 2 times in total
  • JonM
    Member Since: 30 Jun 2016
    Location: North Yorkshire
    Posts: 733
    United Kingdom 
    2022 Discovery SDV6 HSE Carpathian Grey


    MY2026 D5 Metropolitan D350 - finally arrived after the cyber attack.
    MY2022 D5 HSE D300 - sold....MY2019 D5 HSE SD6 - sold
  • Mole HD
    Member Since: 19 Nov 2024
    Location: Orkney Islands
    Posts: 940
    Scotland 
    2017 Discovery Td6 HSE Fuji White

    Love that article, Jon...almost as much as watching amateur video footage from the sadists who hang around all day at those village fords filming the victims. Mr. Green
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