Hi Guys.

A friend of mine has bought a early 63 plate HSE dynamic which is very nice but he is gutted it doesn't have a fridge fitted !

As i found out when looking HSE specs don't include the fridge as standard anymore!!

How hard is it to fit the fridge in the cubby box on a L494 Sport? I guess the L494 Fridge is different to the earlier L405 ?

Any help would be great thanks.

Tom.

When my my17 was delivered without the fridge the dealer said it could not be retro fitted so because of that and a few other issues had to reorder a new car, they said the wire loom is different.

Hi 360.

Cheers for the reply. Oh that doesn't sound good !!

Surely all you need is a permanent 12v feed to make the fridge work or a ignition feed. I can't see it being a major to fit into position as long as you don't have to change all the centre console about as that would be a expensive part !!

If anybody has done it, it would be great to hear how it went.

Thanks.

Tom.

Is this the fridge in the middle compartment? I thought that thing was crap. Is it any good?

The new MY18 comes with the option of a cooler (£240) or a refrigerator (£480). Is the difference just an ignition live feed or a permanent one?

econ wrote:

Is this the fridge in the middle compartment? I thought that thing was crap. Is it any good?

Hi guys.

Yea mine is good i certainly wouldn't be without it.

All is needed is a ignition live surely.

Trying to remember now if mine comes on with the ignition or only with the engine running !

This is a clip of a post from Mark whose cooler was missed off his SVR back in 2015:

Quote:

The cooler can most definitely be retrofitted though the dealer may baulk at the parts cost. In my case, they stole one from a demo autobiography and for the SVR, a different power cable - which was available from LR parts ex-stock is required. Most important is that since the centre console has to come apart, they put someone on the job who is up to it. Cooler is worth having and I've found it useful in the recent warmer weather.

 

To each their own. I have a mobile fridge I plug in the rear when I am travelling and this works fine. Also holds heaps so I am not limited to just a few items. Mind you the design of the centre console is pretty useless IMO and as a fridge would be very small. M16 SVD8 ,4.4 HSE with a few extras, Sold R50 , Wife SQ5 , BMW R1200GSW.

Cheers for that Philmw.

Sounds like its possible even a landrover stealer can do it, so it can't be hard then !!!

All it needs is a power feed no matter what connection is used, least i know it can be done with the original centre console.

Thanks.

Tom.

The centre console cooler isn't a fridge and isn't intended to be. It's a cooler for a drink or a snack when driving. The cooler only works when the ignition is on. A fridge would be powered all the time, of course.

I use the cooler everyday for my lunchtime sandwiches and a drink. But I am in the vehicle for a few hours a day. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

I had the cooler on my old L320. It was very useful. This new car doesn`t have one and since I only buy secondhand, beggars can`t be choosers. I suppose it does not motivate me enough to bother with a retrofit, but they are good things if you have one.

This is totally doable. I did it recently on my MY16 L494.

The connector was present but had no power so I guess wasn’t connected elsewhere in the harness. So I cut the connector off, isolates it and spliced the tail onto cigarette lighter socket.

Regarding the fitting of the actual coolbox itself, it fits mm perfect just slotting it in but you have to cut the existing cubby to allow for it. It’s a straightforward job using a multi-saw. You need to cut out the section that houses the media interface / accessory socket module. But I left little ears about 8mm each side to support the coolbox bezel for that same module.

Last thing to cut is the floor piece to the cubby as the cop box sit too high otherwise. Again simple but go REALLY easy when cutting through as the rear air ducts sit just beneath this and are VERY easily damaged. I learnt the hard way but easily repaired with duct tape.

Then you just connect it all up and slot it in.

I’ll post pics of when I did mine... '’16 RRS HSE 3.0 SDV6 - Carpathian Grey - 20" stealth alloys - Premium Merdian retrofit - TV and RSE retrofit - NavTool / Firestick

Hers my install...


































 '’16 RRS HSE 3.0 SDV6 - Carpathian Grey - 20" stealth alloys - Premium Merdian retrofit - TV and RSE retrofit - NavTool / Firestick

I just finished doing this. Took me an hour tops. Great instructions above, but will just add some notes from my experience:

1. I only needed to cut as far as pic one in the pics above. Before making the final cut at the bottom, I placed a small metal plate between the ducts and where I was cutting along the line at the bottom. This ensured I didn't cut through the ducts. I didn't need to leave the 'little ears' in the corner for support.

2. Like I said, I didn't cut as far back as pic 4, but cut off the 4 locator pins at the bottom of the cooler box unit. This allowed it to sit down in the correct position. It is firmly in place and has no chance of coming out/moving.

3. The connection for the cooler box was already there and powered the unit straight away. So no need to splice into cig lighter wiring. I would suggest making sure a fuse is present (no. 21 10amp I think) before cutting the wiring for power.

abeachsoul -

What is the cover you have in the last pic? I would like to get one. I only have the one you do in the 2nd from last pic...


Summary - very easy install. Takes less than an hour and is a great upgrade which I'm sure I will use all the time. Just need to remember to turn off when not in use !

Many thanks