Thread: Buying a Defender- what to look for?

Originally Posted by Green Monster

Hello everyone.

I,m new to the forum but have had a Disco 2 for 3 years and need to change my vehicle. I am looking at the Defenders as I do like the Land Rovers and they have all of the features I want.

Does anyone out there have any tips for buying a used Defender between 89 and 2000? I see that they have a few problems but anything specific would be appreciated. Thanks all.

Green Monster> the Best off road bar none

mmmm that they have wheels and drive

Service history, or obsessive home maintenance, or lots of money spent on it.

One that's been own by a city cowboy or girl from new who never took it off road.

Start from there and then lower your expectations.



Cheers
Simon

Originally Posted by abaddonxi

Service history, or obsessive home maintenance, or lots of money spent on it.

One that's been own by a city cowboy or girl from new who never took it off road.

Start from there and then lower your expectations.



Cheers
Simon

Yep have to agree. You want to buy it from a Landy fan who has done all the work. If buying from a yard be careful and you want to see the service history or have it inspected by a pro.

The early ones the big issues are with the head.
They had plastic locating dowels which melt when overheating.
Is it running the correct coolant and oils.
A lot of yards wont know the issues and if they have put the wrong stuff in then they can do a lot of damage.
On the plus side yards not used to them will find it hard to sell so you could get a bargain.

is their a fix/replacements for the plastic locating dowels? Or is it simply a matter of avoiding overheating in the first place through religious maintenance of cooling systems and engine oil?

Originally Posted by abaddonxi

Service history, or obsessive home maintenance, or lots of money spent on it.

One that's been own by a city cowboy or girl from new who never took it off road.

Start from there and then lower your expectations.



Cheers
Simon

You might not have to.
That is a pretty good description of mine.
A 1998 with 112,000km on the clock when I bought it almost 12 months ago works out at only 14,000/year or less than the average 6 year old vehicle. Hadn't been offroad either.
One thought which might be a valid point or might be just me trying to convince myself I have done the right thing. Since it took LR about 4 years to work out why there were gearbox and timing belt problems with the 300 Tdi, there may be advantages in buying near the end of a model run rather than the start. That is 1998 rather than 1994 for a 300 Tdi. Unless of course there is evidence that the modifications have been done to eliminate the faults/features.
It seems LR continues to use us owners as unpaid test drivers to locate faults in their vehicles.
It's a bit like not buying version I of computer software. Wait till they get the bugs out.

Avoid cooking it. You want to fit one of the coolant alarms. There are a few versions out there. I went with the little black box so also have a temp sensor on the back of the block. Once the head needs replacing you replace the plastic dowels with the metal ones. Down side of that is the $$$. Parts for doing the head gasket will be $800 odd. There are lots of the early TD5's that havn't had a problem so looking after them will help.

Mechanical Pre-Purchase Inspections:

These are a good idea, but don't let reported 'faults' spook you. For example, when I bought my RRC I took it to Fred Smith for an inspection. I got 2 pages of faults in his report. Faults included such things as a minor weep in the transfer case intermediate shaft seal, and that the beake discs had been machined to their limit, so next time, I'd be up for new discs too (and that's what happened 150,000km later). The major fault was wear in the output shaft of the gearbox (pre-mod) and he advised not doing any long & remote trips before attending to it. I got another 200,000km out of the gearbox before a rebuild. Basically it was a good car, but the report could have scared someone off buying it.

On the up side of reports, I've heard of RACV replacing engines for people after they told them they were good on a pre-purchase inspection, but having them fail soon after purchase.

I figure if you paid $120 per report and had 8 cars tested before you bought one, you've stilled saved yourself thousands of dollars in potential repairs.

Clunks

All Land Rovers have transmission clunks. If you imagine all the spline tolerences from the front hubs, though the diff, driveshafts, gearbox & transfercase and rear diff and hubs - well as soon as they wear in, there are going to be all these tiny gaps that will accumulate to create a clunk. Personally, I'm not worried by it, and on the up side for a buyer, it's something that might scare off less informed buyers.

Maintenace History

As already stated by others, either look for a car with a regular dealership of workshop maintenance or an owner who seems well informed. I bought my '97 Defender 12 months ago with 112,000km from the 2nd owner. He was up front, telling me when he bought it at just over 80,000km the 1st owner had told him the timing belt had been done. It let go at 106,000km and he had receipts for all the repairs. Otherwise he'd done all the servicing himself, including suspension bushes etc, which all seemed new.

The guy was a bit hard core with his off roading, so there were a few scratches on the Defender. This hard core off roading was more a bonus than a drawback, as I got the following with the car :

• front & rear ARB lockers
• compressor & tyre inflation hose
• 2" OME Spring and shocker upgrade
• 2 spare tyres
• roof rack (1/2 rack) with ladder
• 150 litre longe range tank
• bull bar
• towbar
  
• snorkel
• WARN highmount winch with extra long cable
• recovery gear including highlift jack with adaptol to suit OE jacking points, sntach block, tree trunk protector, snatch strap, bow shackles, winch extension strap.
• 2 Volume workshop manuals
• Kaymar rear wheel carrier with extension light
• spare bonnet with spare wheel carrier
• turbo timer
• tacho
• cargo barrier
• overhead console
• window tinting
  
• UHF Radio
• 4 x IPF spot lightsadaptor for gearbox oil plug
• chequerplate wing tops (new - I fitted them)
• and some other stuff

basically I paid for the accessories and got the car and fitting costs for free

My point being, that if you're scared of non-workshop servicing, or off-road use, you could very well miss out on a bargain. Assess the car and look at the history in context.

Another Defender I'd looked at (1998) had no accessories, not even A/C, was filthy on the inside, and had every panel dented, not through off road use, but through careless maneuvering. It still drove well though, but I knew that if I bought it, I'd be spending the next decade looking for stuff to put on it, or fix it.

Mine doesn't have any leaks, runs well, doesn't overheat no matter what the weather or the load. In the last 12 months, apart from regular service items, I've replaced a fuel pump ($70) and the 2nd battery.

Originally Posted by Michael2

Mechanical Pre-Purchase Inspections:

For example, when I bought my RRC I took it to Fred Smith for an inspection. I got 2 pages of faults in his report. Faults included such things as a minor weep in the transfer case intermediate shaft seal, and that the beake discs had been machined to their limit, so next time, I'd be up for new discs too

Methinks you could take a new vehicle there and Fred would come up with a similar list. As long as you are aware of this trait, his pre inspection is a must.