How old is too old?

[kawaden]

Hi All I'm looking at buying a Defender and have come across a 95 tdi300 but it has 465000km's on the clock. It has had a lot of items rebuilt, replaced or upgraded. Is this a lot of km's for a Defender? My main concern would be chassis fatigue or do these things just last?


Thanks, Dajen

[PAT303]

Mines done more K's than that and it's going as strong as ever. Pat

[steane]

Kms wear out mechanical parts. Chassis will be fine if it hasn't been crashed and isn't rusty.

If it's been well maintained (like Pats) it will likely just require ongoing maintenance. If it's been abused for most of its life like mine was it might need lots done. Having said that, the engine in mine has done 350k kms and is going strong.

[steveG]

Assuming you're talking about a 110 Defender, then I agree with steane about the chassis - just rust and accident damage. If you're talking about a 130 they are known to have some issues.

Steve

[kawaden]

Yes it's a 110 2 door. Where else do they rust?

[rick130]

Yes it's a 110 2 door. Where else do they rust?


Bulkhead/firewall if it's lived near the coast.
A mate just bought a good second hand one to replace his badly rusted one as the car has lived most of it's life near the beach.

Door frames in the corners, the welds don't appear to be well treated, the drains can block and you can get a reaction between the aluminium skin and the steel frame.