Thread: Which engine in Defender 130 for the big trip?

Originally Posted by spudboy

Sounds like an excellent starting base unit for sure. How much do they want for it?

A lot, but then, kitting out any 2003 130 and adding a trayon would cost a lot, in fact i would go as far as saying that kitting out a late model TDI and adding a trayon would cost - a lot - speaking in riddles as I'd like to keep this one to myself for now :-)

Originally Posted by dutchontoast

Dear Brian, and McRover - your passion for this issue is almost causing my mac to overheat… i think i need to install extra water cooling for the cpu…

You know what, you are both right, for different reasons, so let's not quibble about it any more, please?

McRover - yes, it IS about buying the whole car, and there are people that travelled from france to oz with TD5 without problems, and we CAN get any spare part couriered anywhere in the world, and we're in no rush… so things CAN get fixed along the way… we actually don't need reliability of a military degree, although it would be nice...

An earlier poster put me on to a fully kitted out 2003 130, chipped (130kw) with everything one could possibly need, and then some, incl. OME all round, winch, LR tank, lights, hd springs with 2" lift, cruise contol, snorkel, dual battery, front and rear air locks, reversing camera, 16" steel rims + 2nd spare, UHF radio, all this AND a second hand tray-on camper, similar to the one we were going to buy in combination with a 130 in the first place, in other words, pretty much the exact vehicle + kit we'd want for the big trip.

It's just a matter of deciding if we're happy to go for the TD5 engine!

dutchontoast, it's your call in the end and I'd be perfectly happy with that my self but you asked for my opinion and thats all I gave.

As far as Brian goes, I was just reacting to his reaction to my comment reguarding timing belts which was just rubbish when put up against what can happen and does to electronic controlled engines or for that matter Isuzu's.

Good luck on your trip anyway, it sounds like something that will be fantastic and I wish you the best of luck and reliability.

Check out Mulgo's conversion of his 130 to a camper.

mulgo - a land rover enthusiast - Sydney - Australia

http://move.to/vida - benin

Cheers
Simon

Hi Kai
I am an Irish/Kiwi but have been living in the U.K for last 11 yrs. I have been a diesel mech for the last 20 years working on all manner of trucks/plant etc and most of the breakdowns on the electronic control engines were sensors of one type or another, so for your trip I'll join the 300Tdi camp. I have owned 300 Disco for last 6 yrs, have built a 130 CSW with a v8 lpg as an overlander because of the extra space but sold it because of running costs. It also let me down in Germany one year (electronic ign), the only part I didn't replace.You probably have made your purchase by now but its been a great read this thread,very informative. By the way I have bought a 300 defender which I hope to bring to Oz next year house sale permitting.
Have a great trip
Al

Kai

For what its worth:

1. For remote area/third world travel you need an engine that will tolerate, as far as possible, poor quality fuel. A TD5 will not tolerate poor quality fuel and will therefore be much more likely to leave you stranded. The 300 TDi is more tolerant of poor fuel and is much less likely to leave you stranded.
2. I have driven well into the hundreds of thousand of kilometres in 300TDi s and have never been stranded. I have a Defender (ex 300 TDi) to which I fitted an Isuzu 4BD1T because we do a lot of remote area travel. The reasons for fitting the Isuzu were as follows: Simpler more basic fuel injection pump which is very tolerant of poor quality fuel; more capacity which reduces the stress on the engine and gives much more low down torque improving driveability in heavy going; greater reliability - the Isuzu is a truck engine that will do a million kms between overhauls; parts availability - parts are readily available worldwide; robust ancilliaries (the biggest weakness with the TDi is the water pump and the power steering pump (I have had both fail well inside what would be considered normal service limits).

For your trip I would strongly suggest avoiding the TD5, buy the best 300TDi 130 you can find - overhaul the fuel injection system, fit new genuine waterpump and power steering pump and take one of each as spares; overhaul or replace the cylinder head with a good quality new one (I had problems with the cylinder head on the 300 TDi before I replaced it with the Isuzu). Set up properly and left in standard tune the 300 will happily do the job.

My comments are based on extensive experience in the bush, travelling without other vehicles, always fully laden and without ever having had a breakdown.

If you would like to discuss matters further PM me and I will give you my phone number

Christopher

Originally Posted by jimbo110

And also remember the quality of the fuel, I'm sure a TD5 would just love a shandy of diesel, kerosene and god only knows what else! The military never used TD5's for a reason...................GO THE TDI!

The TD5 was tested on Kero and the injectors had no problems running on Kero. During the design phase they wanted to make sure it would run on the worst possible fuels.

I haven't read the 9 preceding pages here though the following are my opinions....

Isuzu: Really good strong engine, but its a long trip to be putting up with the high level of noise and high level of vibration from the motor. At idle you wont stop anything from rattling. It is a very strong motor in terms of durability and its pulling power.


Tdi: A very basic motor and despite what people say they are so grosely underpowered it's not funny. I know some people say that they have all the power that they need, and that may be true but it is nice to be able to overtake, not fall out of the turbos power band and arrive at the days destination sometime that week. With a laden 130 you will need a certain degree of power and flexibility and there is not a lot of it from this motor. I think these motors are also time bombs. The timing belts in them dont have a long life and need to replaced regularly and a friend had his engines internals crunched when this happened well before the expected life of the belt. If you get one of these, then put a new belt in it before you leave.


Td5: More complex that the Tdi and Isuzu and they have more power and drivability. This motor has 2 achillies... one is the ECU. The ECU itself is very resilient and dont seem to fail much, but it is located in a low position. If you're wading then either dont stop in the water or have the ECU relocated up high. If you do drown the ECU the engine will stop. When it drys out again or you clean the mud out of them, then you are right to go. I have seen breathers fitted to these to prevent this problem. The other problem is oil in the injector loom. Fit a new loom before you leave (not expensive) or if you do get oil in the loom, then take a can of spray electrical cleaner to clean out the plug - signs of this problem are a misfire.

There's no shortage of opinions here,timebombs,electric gremlins,overheating,no spares etc.I would like to comment but my home serviced V8 Disco thats full of electrics and my underpowered Tdi with a timing belt that has 406,000 faultless k's thats been all over Australia need thier weekly fluid checks.Sorry I'm being sarcastic,having travelled more than most in outback Oz,in the above underpowered Tdi that overtakes without a problem I can say that it doesn't matter what you choose,99% of the problems are caused by lack of servicing or plain ignorance.Overheating is very,very common over here,so is flogged uni's,cooked auto's the list goes on.I would not hesitate to take my defender were your going but I would spend the money before I left making it right and having the spares to keep it going,too many people worry about proper maintenance after the vehicle has broken down leaving them stranded ''I don't know why it happened,It's never broken down before'',I wish I had a dollar'. Pat

Yep,

There are no guarantees though good regular specialist servicing is the best you can have done.

In reality, all 3 motors will do the trick and more than likely not give problems.