From small seeds grow great things...

"BJ" (benjamin-bignell) 09/02/2013 at 18:55 • Filed to: offroad, from small ideas come great things, land rover

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I was in an off-road type of mood on Saturday morning, which led me to watching Rovers on YouTube with the kids, commenting to the family about the mudding, the winching, locking differentials, etc etc. We saw one video where a Jeep (without lockers) couldn't climb a small sandy hill but a Rover on street tires walked right up like nobody's business.

My wife looks at me and says, "So what you're saying is that you need a Land Rover? When you're heading up to a cabin in the Rockies with the kids, you'll need a Rover, is that it?"

Fellow opponauts, the seed of an idea has been planted! We're a long way from owning a Rover right now, but keep your eyes open, in 10 years I may just be back here posting about driving home in one of these:

One of these:

Or hell, even one of these:

TLDR: My wife may not be completely against the idea of someday owning a Land Rover.

P.S. She's apparently more open to the idea of a Land Rover than she is to the idea of buying a steering wheel and pedals for the PS3. Go figure!

dieselwagon > BJ 09/02/2013 at 19:13

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I have use of my Dads LR Discovery II when he's not in the country (which is most of the year).

It gets about 5000 miles a year on it, if that. It gets used like a Land Rover should in that time, not hard but it is used off road and for hauling. It's an almost constant source of troubles, random cut outs, random warning lights, errors on the ECU. It's all been overhauled by Land Rover themselves, and half of the time they have no idea how to fix it, and just keep replacing things until errors go away.

This is a TD5 so your experience may differ, but I would be very wary of getting a Discovery I or II and i've heard even worse things about the 3 but have no experience myself.

When it works though, it's brilliant at off road and hauling so I can't fault it for that.

The new Freelanders are really nice inside and out, how they cope off road I don't know. STAY AWAY FROM THE ORIGINALS, THEY SUCK.

Defenders are rough and ready so if you don't want to be especially comfortable and probably pay quite a lot for that, then sure go for it (stay away from TD5 again though).

If you're looking at purchasing this a little way down the road, a Range Rover would probably be your best bet, 2002-on. Obviously if it's within budget, but if a Defender is, then you can probably pick up a Range Rover. In the UK, Defenders basically don't depreciate. They're not that expensive new, but they hold their value better than just about anything.

BJ > dieselwagon 09/02/2013 at 21:04

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I'm a very long way from actually getting one of these, but thanks for the tips. This will help me decide which picture to put on the penny jar!

Maybe I should just get a G class instead... ?

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > dieselwagon 09/03/2013 at 20:14

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Son, believe your dad is being take for a ride by the stealership. My suggestion is get your self a ODBII scanner and head over to landroverforums.com post the codes there and I guarantee you find answers. I own a 04 V8 D2 and I did a 1 week 1200 mile trip with out a hint of an issue. 400 miles of that was heavy off roading.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > BJ 09/03/2013 at 20:16

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What's the purpose of the Land Rover? DD to go camping or weekend toy?

dieselwagon > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 09/03/2013 at 20:22

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I would totally believe that. However, they actually did most of the work on it for free because they were so embarrassed that they couldn't solve it. He only took it to them after our local garage gave up and couldn't figure it out. It's been OK this summer from what he's said, except intermittent ABS warning lights.

Also, everything i've read says the D2 TD5 is not OBDII compliant (but the V8 is) otherwise I would have done this.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > dieselwagon 09/03/2013 at 20:29

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Really? Bugger that sucks, well those ABS warning are the yellow hill decent, TC and ABS? If so those are called "The three Amigo's" persistent little fucks. Here is the fix, about £80 fix and you'll never see them again unless of course one of your hubs goes bad.
http://www.landroverclubvi.com/abs-mod.html

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > dieselwagon 09/03/2013 at 20:35

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Also head over to landroverforums.com I wouldn't be surprised that the combined years Land Rover experience is in the hundreds.

dieselwagon > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 09/03/2013 at 20:44

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Thanks for the info, always useful to know a little more. I don't think it's the "three amigos" but i should have a better idea soon. I'll be back in possession of it in a week or so as the ol' man is only over here for the summer.

One of the major problems was the manufacturing fault of "too short wiring loom" causing the ECU to fill up with oil. That was pretty much the only thing LR charged for, which was lucky because the amount of time it spend there would have cost thousands. Because of this, last year we pulled his old '88 Daihatsu Fourtrak out of retirement, owned since new, never failed mechanically, amazing machine (based on the hilux i believe), even if it is slow and barely has any power these days.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > dieselwagon 09/03/2013 at 20:49

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Think that's a common issue on the Td5's, my dad had series trucks and one still has the original engine from the 60's. Fucking thing is bullet proof.

dieselwagon > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 09/03/2013 at 20:59

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It was a design flaw that got sorted out in the later models, all early td5s have the problem eventually and it can be an expensive loom replacement or the loom and ECU, if it's been destroyed. Cheaper non-OEM looms can be copies of the original which means the original problem will reoccur.

BJ > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 09/04/2013 at 08:59

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It would certainly be a weekend toy. Maybe once a month I'd drive myself to work in it, just because. Especially in the winter - gotta teach those snow drifts who's boss!

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > BJ 09/04/2013 at 09:11

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Okay if it's going to be a toy then get a D2, you can pick them up for pretty cheap but you'll have to budget about $1-2k to get it up and running properly (depending on the condition and make sure that the PO can prove the head gaskets were previously done). There are a ton of off roading accessories for the D2 although I think within the next 2-3 years the D3 will have as many options (right now not so much). I would suggest the Defender if you don't live in the US, but if you do it's just too fucking expensive and you don't even know if it will pass inspection.

BJ > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 09/04/2013 at 09:52

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Thanks for the tips. Does the head gasket problem apply to the diesel and petrol versions equally, or only the diesel?

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > BJ 09/04/2013 at 09:56

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Petrol, the V8 normally needs at least on head gasket in it's life time. The problem is that 1.) They use stretch bolts and 2.) The Drexcool is never changed by PO's and eventually will dissolve the head gasket.

BJ > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 09/04/2013 at 09:58

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Just did a quick check - you can get a decent-looking D2 for $5-6k. Problem is that they are all automatics - every single one... Same thing for the D3/LR3.

Obviously the manual transmission has some advantages, but are the automatics still properly capable off-road?

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > BJ 09/04/2013 at 10:06

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Almost as capable (very close though), when I was in Maine this June the only time I noticed the difference was when I sunk into some mud and couldn't rock myself out. My plan in the next two years is to swap out the auto for a manual . One of the guys in my club is rolling a D2 with lockers and a manual trans, thing is a beast.