Thread: Devastating phone call....

Originally Posted by muddymech

standard service price, the rest was warrenty including a few other things that we have not mentioned.
some things minor but irratating (steering wheel, remote) some but more important (engine rattle, air con) but they were fixed, pity it took so much work and stress on our part to fix just one item.

You have to wonder about a dealer who phones you to advise you're up for $10K in repairs due to bad fuel, then decides that everythig is all OK once it comes back to them as a warranty repair. I hope it all stays in good working order and you have no grief down the track.

Good news Ian, very strange though, considering the phone call 3 weeks ago

Did they explain what the problem was, if it wasn't water that caused it.

Baz.

I feel your pain muddymech, have just been blindsided myself.

Mid Jan took my 07 defender up to cooktown from cairns along the inland route for its 1st birthday. Filled up before I left and smooth trip apart from the monsoonal rain. Drove around town up there with the heaviest rain I have been in. The next day went for a drive and it starts stalling before giving up to eventually be backloaded to cairns.

Local LRD diagnose busted fuel pump and order one in from UK. A month of inpatient waiting later and another devastating phone call. Rust all through my fuel system with lots of water present.

I can't get my head around it. Contaminated fuel shouldn't allow me to drive to Cooktown. No-one broke into my fuel tanks. The fuel tank breather issue makes sense considering the monsoonal conditions. LRD have now revoked warranty status and made it an insurance claim.

Have made it quite clear that others in australia (and definitely UK) have had similar issues but the LRD deny all knowledge of problems in australia. After suggesting water flicking up into the breather in heavy rain it was suggested i not drive in those conditions !!!

If nothing obvious found and therefore fixed can i trust it again in the bush. Still in discussions with LR customer service

ben

That makes me furious.
It's not as if there isn't enough freely accessible information from Defender owners across the globe relating to this known problem.

I have been draining my fuel filter/separator every couple of months and photographing the water content to prove to my dealer that this is an ongoing issue, and not (as some have suggested) the result of one bad batch of fuel. Finally, at my last service only a few weeks ago, they capitulated and agreed to shift the breather themselves. Whilst I know there have been many people who have chosen to do this themselves, I refused to as I wanted to be sure that the dealer recognised the problem.

Fortunately I have not had any major problems despite the obvious quantities of water being collected in the filter/separator. After many months of monitoring my own curious engine issue, the dealer was finally able to find the fault. Turns out it is a faulty EGR valve and not water-in-fuel related.

...Thought i would reserect this old thread.

The fuel tank breather in the MY 09 spec fender,that lobbed in the driveway ,returns to the top of the tank......after 60 yrs


Anyway good to see an improvement....

dullbird re last post,I thought you got this sorted under warranty last year ?

no no we got it sorted this year or at least we thought we had still got an issue but could well be unrelated.

It took over 1 year to sort the fuel and water problem and related issues not bad hey

Originally Posted by scarry

...Thought i would reserect this old thread.

The fuel tank breather in the MY 09 spec fender,that lobbed in the driveway ,returns to the top of the tank......after 60 yrs


Anyway good to see an improvement....

Are you sure it actually returns in to the tank and doesn't just tuck up above the tank? My 08MY one did this and I have extended it up into the indicator area.