Thread: 6 years of Puma Ownership

Originally Posted by Quigley

Scallops, how long did your original battery last? I purchased my 110 in June, 2009 and the battery operates today as strongly as day one. Far better longevity than anything else I've ever had.

Hello Quigley - yes, my original Varta cranker is still going strong. I can't even wear out the tyres.

Originally Posted by Scallops

Hello Quigley - yes, my original Varta cranker is still going strong. I can't even wear out the tyres.

That is great you have another good year in, you are 2 ahead of me, my Puma just hit 5yrs, 150k on the clock and it still feels good.

Question about your head light harness, I have LED head lamps, do you thing there would be any benefit fitting the harness? I am not sure if they draw enough power to burn out the switch. Also Varta is still going strong, it appears to have out lived my yellow top which I am really annoyed about but it could be my side winder isolator causing the probblem and it not charging.

Anyway great to hear yours is still going strong, hopefully that means I have 2 more years of trouble free defendering also..

cheers
Pat.

Originally Posted by patclan

That is great you have another good year in, you are 2 ahead of me, my Puma just hit 5yrs, 150k on the clock and it still feels good.

Question about your head light harness, I have LED head lamps, do you thing there would be any benefit fitting the harness? I am not sure if they draw enough power to burn out the switch. Also Varta is still going strong, it appears to have out lived my yellow top which I am really annoyed about but it could be my side winder isolator causing the probblem and it not charging.

Anyway great to hear yours is still going strong, hopefully that means I have 2 more years of trouble free defendering also..

cheers
Pat.

Hello Pat,

I think every Defender benefits from fitting a headlight loom because there is no relay on the original setup and as such the switch will eventually fail - I suspect, even if it's drawing slightly less power.

I also use traxide's SC-40 dual battery setup which I suspect has helped my cranker to last so long, because it effectively makes both batteries 1 larger capacity battery, and in normal operation, reduced votage drop on the cranker.

Apart from all the minor things that we all seemed to cop, my Defy has proved thus far to be very reliable and suprisingly cheap to keep on the road.

I just hope my report when Grover turns 8 is still good news!

this is good peops. My Disco2 V8 had zero issues save for soft front springs at all until 160,000 then it needed a new alternator. ..did a lot of offroading, and towing 2 tonn boat in that time. After that slowly things will need attention on most LR's...although my stuff was very minor to 200000 then new radiator and water pump and since then brake master clutch master and slave at 250000. I did a manual transmission overhaul at 220000 but only because 5th was getting noisy and i am anal. I would be upset if a vehicle had problems before 150000k or so...i was upset with my VT Commodore that had quite a few issues before 110000.

ohh and suspension needs new shocks at about 150000

My 2012 Puma has not missed a beat, I just love this thing!! I've only owned Landrovers for the last 23 years and this one is the first new vehicle I've ever bought and I'm as happy with it as I was the day I drove it home from Southern Landrover, it's just brilliant!!

Wow, this post has been a great read for me in seeing how the Pumas have faired over the years...... but I must admit I am surprised to read about the number of issues /things fixed people had up to the 100,000k mark, mostly under warranty..... Good to know that once the issues are sorted, that the majority of Defenders go on to be fairly trouble free....

Originally Posted by Scallops

I think every Defender benefits from fitting a headlight loom because there is no relay on the original setup and as such the switch will eventually fail - I suspect, even if it's drawing slightly less power.

...I thought the Pumas introduced a relay into the headlight circuit? I did see that you said your switch failed, so clearly something's not up to the ampage ex-factory. But, as I say, while I have read the TD5 and earlier models didn't have a relay, I thought the Pumas did? There is one shown in the workshop manual, in the fuse box under the dash (yeah, a zillion cabling miles from the lights.... )