What did you do on your Defender today ? (well, this week anyway)

**Tote** · 10th August 2025, 05:43 PM

I picked it up form Melbourne on Thursday. A shout out to Transit Auto who replaced the engine and a pile of ancillaries and were thoroughly professional and did a great job. Now for the sad story.. Just after easter we went to Bendigo to pick up a cultivator that we had bought armed with a car trailer, on the way home there was a whoosh and a loss of power on the way home and a ride on a tilt tray to an unnamed repairer resulted. That repairer replaced the intercooler and injectors, assured us all was good and it made it about two kilometers before it ran away and had to be stalled in top gear to stop it. A further tilt tray ride ensued and it was shipped to Transit Auto who specialise in Puma motors and also seem to know their way around a Defender as well.
The post mortem was that either an injector went and hydro locked the motor at 100KM/H or possibly the turbo seal achieved the same result with engine oil. The runaway also cooked $2600 worth of new injectors to the point where the tips were blued so I got to buy them twice. I picked it up Thursday and stayed at Seymour and then drove it home on Friday to Yass. All went well and I got a bit less than 12l/100KM on the way home.
Anyway, destroying modern diesel engines is a very expensive game indeed. It had 175,000 on the clock when it checked out. If you've got a 2.2 Puma give consideration to spending the dough and doing your injectors. The engine is noticably quieter at idle and one of the signs of failing injectors is them being noisy.

Regards,
Tote

**101RRS** · 10th August 2025, 07:15 PM

Not good, after the D3 I thought you would have learnt your lesson with LR products - I think I would be treating the RRS with kid gloves.

Garry

**jwb** · 11th August 2025, 01:47 PM

Started service - engine oil and filter, air filter, fuel filter, both diffs. Gearbox and transfer case next weekend.

**cuppabillytea** · 16th August 2025, 09:02 AM

At 200,000 Ks+, My 2.2 is on it's third set of injectors. You'd think something that was so expensive would be a tad more durable. I wish I could sell excrement for $2,000/Kg.

**JDNSW** · 16th August 2025, 10:17 AM

Sorry to point this out - my County is on its original set of injectors. I had them overhauled at about 200,000, and was told I had wasted my money. The Isuzu engine has now done 716,000km, with no indication it needs anything done to the injectors. Down a bit on power, probably because of compression loss due to wear in the sleeves and rings.

I thought the newer engines in Defenders were supposed to be an improvement?

**DazzaTD5** · 16th August 2025, 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by JDNSW

I thought the newer engines in Defenders were supposed to be an improvement?

The Ford engine is an improvement over the previous Land Rover engines.

just not a Jap engine from the 80's with a cast iron head, cast iron block. A fare comparison would be to compare the Isuzu engine with a Toyota 1HZ engine.

**cuppabillytea** · 16th August 2025, 05:34 PM

Wise old men were made to rub salt into the wounds of younger, more impetuous fellas. Probably to make the lessons sink in.

**cuppabillytea** · 16th August 2025, 05:50 PM

I just stood and looked at mine today. Yesterday, the transponder for keyless entry, finally carried out its promise to expire. I've been researching ways to resolve this problem without going to the soup kitchen. I knew it would happen sooner rather than later but didn't bother doing anything about it. I haven't even bothered to get my EKA code which could have saved time and money. Feel free to point out that these issues don't exist for County owners John. I'll just be in the corner, self flagellating.

**JDNSW** · 16th August 2025, 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by DazzaTD5

The Ford engine is an improvement over the previous Land Rover engines.

just not a Jap engine from the 80's with a cast iron head, cast iron block. A fare comparison would be to compare the Isuzu engine with a Toyota 1HZ engine.

I disagree. Remembering that this vehicle was designed as a utility vehicle, it seems to me that reliability and longevity should be among the top priorities. And the fair comparison is with the previous engines for the same vehicle. Of course, the end of Australian production was also a major factor.

(I am fully aware that the change was partly dictated by the need for an emissions compliant engine, and preferably one with a lot more power. And I a also aware that the key reason for the Isuzu's merits is that it was designed as a truck engine, not a car or light commercial engine.)

**Captain_Rightfoot** · 17th August 2025, 08:10 AM

Well I'm heading off to the desert again for a coupla laps. So the defender has been getting LOTS of maintenance and love.

Some of the items recently done.. Lithium second battery and new cranking battery, Towpro (not for the desert), new ARB brushless compressor, new NPC clutch and solid flywheel (as it was spinning up the valeo one), new everything moving mounts, discs and calipers (ouch). Other improvements in the last couple of years were remapped ecu, new exhaust, Ashcroft ATB, TD5 Spy, Koni RAID.

Service wise all the usual stuff just recently (replaced all the oils). Some notables are ravenol MT2 gearbox oil which has improved the change markedly, and a change to 5w-40 which I think was a good move. Oil sampling was just what you want.. unremarkable.

Took it out to Mt Mee state forrest yesterday for a little drive around to check everything before the trip. I can confidently say that in so many ways this car is comfortably the best car it's ever been. Which is kinda odd for a 20yo car.

Next years project is soundproofing.

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