Thread: PUMA's and Rust - what to look for?

I read this thread with interest, as I have some rust and corrosion issues with my now just over three year-old Puma. The two faux hinge covers have bubbling paint and the rear crossmember has a pretty nasty coat of surface rust. The spare wheel (steel HD) also has a bit of surface rust.

I reported these issues to the dealer before the warranty expired, along with a weeping main seal, leaking rear pinion seal, worrisome drivetrain clunk (probably flogged out drive flanges) and a worn patch on the steering damper tube. I've now been kept waiting a few months, because according to the dealer, a Land Rover Australia rep will be visiting the dealership in the near future and will inspect the car to determine if these issues are covered under warranty.

Anyway, the latest thing I have to worry about is that there appears to be surface corrosion starting on the rest of the chassis. The car does live outdoors, but it only has 26,000km on the clock and, at the risk of getting ragged on, has never been more offroad than trundling up a gravel driveway in first or second gear. It was always my intention to get the car undersealed, but due to a number of factors, I've just never managed to get it done. I've deliberately tried to keep the underside of the car clean for this reason (hence no offroading), although it would now need a steam clean to remove the film of road dirt (and diff oil). I've attached a photo of the crossmember for refernce and a couple of photos of the right hand side of the chassis rails. Should I be worried about this?

I had the floor mats out at the weekend to install waterproof noise insulation and noticed the bolts which connect the floor to the firewall in the corners were quite rusty, so I drowned them in rust converter to stop it spreading. Might be worth checking.

DryTheRain, I'd be fuming by now, if they had delayed like that when my faux hinges bubbled. JLR replaced without a quibble. They also replaced the roof due to cracking between the 2 parts plus a spot weld flogging out (12mths driving corrugations). The dealer said the roof is $15k to replace!

Now waiting on their response to the bonnet hinges rusting.

Other than that it's the rear cross member and some surface rust on outside of drivers side footwell where it seems to have caught some gravel. I spray under the car after any off road to try to keep the clinging dirt away.

Originally Posted by Simon

DryTheRain, I'd be fuming by now

I thought I'd post an update, because now I am rather hacked off.

I should probably watch what I say, because you never know who's reading, but it turned out that the now ex-dealer service manager was spinning me a line and was making absolutely no effort to resolve my issues. I found this out after I went to LRA for assistance. They spoke to the dealer and discovered that the service manager had since departed, then referred me back to the dealer to start the process from scratch (with the car now outside the mechanical warranty period).

The dealer had the car in a little over a week ago and documented at least some of the issues, although I was told that they couldn't replicate the indicator self-cancelling, couldn't hear the clunking from the rear end and would need more time to chase down leaks (now around both A-pillars with associated bulkhead rust on the passenger side). Anyway, I called for an update on Monday to be told that they're working with LRA to try to have my issues addressed, but that they're actually giving up the LR franchise! I was then told that it was likely I'd have to go through a metro dealer to have any work undertaken.

Today I decided to call LRA again and discovered that the dealer has not yet lodged any claims and that I'm likely going to have to go to a metro dealer and start from scratch yet again. They will be putting me in touch with an appropriate service department and outlining my issues, but now I'm faced with the inconvenience of a 1000km round trip (or trips), associated costs, no certainty of repairs under warranty and an entirely unknown timeline. On top of that, I will now have no local dealer support for our two late model pumas and we aren't aware of any indies locally who are familiar with the cars.

Happy days, hey?