Thread: Has your defender ever let you down

Hi, thanks for the responses so far.

To clarify I am looking at the new defender which I have test driven and absolutely loved but my problem is that I am time poor so don't necessarily have time to be spending a lot of time chasing up repairs on a car.

SWMBO has also driven the Defender and the biggest problem I may have is kicking her out the drivers seat cos she reckons its a car built for short ****s. She's 5ft and I'm 6ft and she absolutely loved it. I didn't have any probs with the drivers position and found it very comfortable.

My first car was a 1958 Wolseley 1500 which I bought in 1990 so I am familiar with British engineering and I spent a lot of time restoring this car.

I have been following this forum for about 4 months now and if I buy am looking at the middle of the year to make the purchase, so I have plenty of time.

Nothing significant,. Have had it now 6 years.
Had a master cylinder go just after we bought it, fixed under warranty.
The only other real thing was oil in harness but did not cause any great dramas.
Slightly high fuel consumption is the only other issue. Replaced Maf.
Did find some metal in the oil but on investigation appeared to be from cam replacement earlier due to soft cams.

Has your Defender ever let you down



No.

As far as the Puma model goes, I can't give you a comprehensive answer as I've only owned my current 90 for 7 months, but so far no problems at all.
In general terms though, over the last 24 years I have owned.....seven 90's. I have only specifically been let down once & that was a gearbox which needed replacing, however I bought this one second hand so can't really say how it was treated before I got it. There have been other problems but with all of them I was able to get to the dealer for fixing (ie not left stranded at the side of the road).
From my experience, reading other replies & hearing other people generally it seems that dealers do vary in their abilities to fix problems first time but I don't think this is confined to Land Rovers.
If you are used to Japanese / European cars or 4WD's which never need the oil checking & never go wrong & never need much TLC then you may want to think twice. However if you are a "car guy" & enjoy tinkering & fixing minor problems as you go & enjoy your vehicle ownership then go for it!
Good luck.

I'm on my 3rd 110, and had plenty of problems over the year, none of them have been real show stoppers and I always have been able to drive home under my own steam. Some of the problems were self inflicted after driving the vehicles beyond what they have been designed for and some of the failures have just been due to crap design or quality.

If you buy a defender you will always have niggling little problems, that is just the way they are, they are still built by hand and do not have the same standards as some other vehicles. If you are someone who doesn't like to tinker and sort out some little problems yourself steer clear, if you accept they have some small issues from time to time you will thoroughly enjoy owning a defender. I get more drivers satisfaction from driving a defender than any other vehicle I have owned, but to have that privilage they have given me some **** along the way.

When you look at Nuggets list there are only a couple of real issues, the others such as breathers are just typical defender issues. Personally I am happy to live with these sort of problems others are not. Sometimes the other issues can wear thin though.

Think long and hard before you part with your cash as they are a great vehicle to own but they can come with baggage. If you can put up with a bit of baggage you wont look back.

I've never been let down by a Defender either. I've damaged and broken them on occasion, but I can honestly say that the abuse they had to suffer up to the point that happened would have destroyed any other vehicle.

I'm a civil engineer and I've built roads all over Central Africa for the past 18 years and I've always driven Defender 90's. Sometimes there is no other option but to carry on, even when there is obviously something very wrong with the car and they've always gotten me home.

I drove into an eroded ditch once (hidden in Savannah grass - Northern Zambia) and ended with front wheels pointing 45 degrees outward (mangled track-rod). I limped into the next town 22km further where we removed the track rod, bashed it as straight as possible with a sledge and replaced it. 600km later I replaced it with a genuine part and the car still did 200 000km after the event. Can't say the outcome would have been the same in any other brand vehicle.

The big issue is the dealers, and that goes for all over the world. One out of every 5 seem to take interest in their customers and the vehicles that are the backbone of Landrover loyalty. Here in Perth we have two main dealers, each with maybe one decent sales person, but neither seems to have a service manager or a parts counter able to instill confidence that they know anything about Defenders.

My 96 TDi just keeps chuggin along...........except when somethin dies.............

dropped the front propshaft shortly after I bought the thing about 3 years back ..uni joints stuffed .......looked like they'd never been greased !!

The 120 litre long range tank leaked around the sender unit.........got onto the previous owner and he said blithely "oh I don't know anything about that, I never filled it more than half full..........." so I ended up screwing the sender further into its mount and solved the problem.........

Brake pedal was always 'hard' as in 'very hard !!' took it to the dealer who replaced the vacuum pump..........still no joy.......took it back.....apparently the new unit was 'faulty'..they replaced that at no charge.....worked ok for a a coupla days, then went 'hard' again..........@ which point I 'gave up' and decided to live with it....... 6 months down the track, the 'pedal feel' softened right up and now I can lock the wheels up and she slows down properly and safely.............Who knows what it was ??? probably just one of those "Landrover idiosyncratic behavioural" things

replaced both rear axles last year @ around 380,000k mark after lhs 'died' (to be expected..........'fair wear & tear' and a major source of 'clunk in the rear end' ...still clunks if I'm sloppy with the clutch, but a vast improvement!)

had 'issues' with gearchanges when first bought.....very 'notchy' and hard to engage most gears.........prev. owner said........"always been like that....." kept it simple, changed the gear oil.....still no difference.......some months later happened to be reading a Brit LR mag and it had an article about someone in Pommiestan having the same 'issues'....Expert suggested could well be the 'wrong oil'?? Checked the Manual, sure nuff....380 boxes run on ATF........not 90w gear oil !! Dropped the 90W, filled with Dexron ATF and now runs like a charm.

Replaced the power steering pump a year back (worn out) , complete indicator stalk ass.......(expensive, LR replacement $600) .... headlight switch replaced with Super Cheap HD unit (dirt cheap but 'works')

the other 'expenses' have just been 'regular running costs'... tyres, oil, filters etc........had the timing belt replaced a while back (should be done every 100,000 ks) and tappets adjusted etc.

Change the oil & filters every 5000 ks and it just keeps chuggin along.

ps/ you can download Service Manuals off the Net.......well worth reading when you've got a spare hour or two !!

from the series to the 06 deefer Ive never in 20+ years of rovering ever been left stopped.