Its been awhile but looking to get back into Disco 3/4 or RR Sport

[westaussiefan]

Hi Guys

I used to have a 1999 Disco 2 V8 as my builders hack in Tasmania when I lived there which I loved but not without issues. Me and the ex had a new 2011 Disco HSE diesel but I was out of the picture when that took out a kangaroo...all the airbags deployed and then some scumbags trashed the interior (about 9 months to get repaired) I have had multiple Landcruiser's 80,100 and 200 series but they still want drug money for 100 series and having owned multiple BMW's and currently driving a 740li, I would like something with a bit more refinement than a 100 series. I found the petrol V8 200 series to be the best and I have no problem with buying Disco 3/4 or RR Sport in V8 guise but I am curious if any of you have lived with these long term over a period of years and done a bit of towing and off-roading. I am 59 and my days of wasting money changing cars every year or two are behind me and want to get away for a week or two from the farm but wont every being doing the big lap. I travel with a good scan tool which has solved a few random issues with my Beemer's over the years and as any Aussies would know that petrol 4x4's are about as popular as a fart in an elevator. I have a mate who is a Toyota fan boy and also uses an Amarok as a daily driver which he absolutely hates and I have never seen so many recall stickers on a car. He was having a whinge about a couple out on the Gibb River Rd in their Disco 4 and said they shouldn't be driving a Euro anything out there....I reminded him of his 8 new injectors and a dusted turbo on the 200 series which was around $10k+ and also pointed out that Toyota had recalled tens of thousands of the V6 Twin Turbo engines in the US Tundra due to catastrophic engine failure. We just drank more red wine and didn't discuss cars again that night. Sorry for rambling on but it goes with old age. As they say opinions are like assholes we all have one but usually the most vocal detractors have never owned whatever they are slagging off.
[biggrin]

[haydent]

Been thinking about this for a few days now. If i dont write this now i may not... But where to start.

I currently have a 2010 RRS 3.6 TDV8, 2x D2 td5 and a D1 v8. Id most likely have a D4 instead of the RRS except for wanting the TDV8 to avoid possible crank issues. How much of a problem this is with the 2.7 or 3.0 engines is hard to know, but it does seem to happen. And I dont think there would have been any fix possible if the core problem is making the crank too thin (look up photos of tdv8 vs tdv6 crank to compare), some gave speculated maybe foundry issue which could have been fixed, or many other possibilities. Ive even seen tdv8's be put in a disco !

Im even considering throwing caution to the wind, living with any extra risk and going to a 3.0 D4 to get the 7 seater option that has a higher rear axle weight limit compared to the 5 Seat cars. There is however a 7 seat option in the 4.4 TDV8 RRS in the next series after mine. This rear axle limit is something i just read about and tested with weighing and that im easily over with my current van when loaded up and this is the first limit most people will go over when towing due to ball weight amplification/leverage x1.5

But this brings another issue, the factory listed tare weights are often just for the base model, there is not specs for different engines or trim packs. And the V8 is most likely a heavier engine and also many other components are specific for the v8 to beef them up and likely heavier, so i you get less payload than listing with a bigger engine or extra seats, sunroofs etc.

The landcruisers are one of the few (if any please tell me of others) sedan 4x4 that has 1900kg+ rear axle limit (apart from 7 seater LRs, but im not sure how they compare with usable payload)

Modern LR's are more complicated and generally will have extra systems than others, which means statistically its more things to potentially go wrong, this might give impression that they are less reliable, which i think is not accurate. Mind you I love air suspension and ACE/ARC (which is not available in discos, only RR/S). Though I noticed the latest LC300 GR series has electrically adjustable sway bars !

Parts are generally harder to come by, I find particularly for RRS TDV8 compared with D4, I guess due to numbers. I always order online/ebay and do all the work on them myself. And have several times had to order parts from UK or China, but im just glad you can them outside dealers.

I also think used LR's are cheap and bargains, they initially depreciate 'firmly' like most lux euro cars, so you get a lot of features, comfort & style for your money.

Back to the TDV8 though, its an amazing engine, that sounds soooo much better than the TDV6 and even the LC300 v6, theres just something about the sound of a v8, that I was very surprised you still get in diesel ! Its suuuuper high torque numbers and a lot of fun to drive and feel.

RR/S I always used to shun and think looked weird, like Disco was the true LR, but since getting one I love the compact design, there's not as much room in RRS as Disco, and accessories arent as common, but it feel a lot like normal car, just beefy and capable offroad. (Disco and RRS basically have same chassis and share a lot of parts,its mostly just the cabin they change) So a D4 bullbar can fit a RRS, (but theres comment about ADR etc.)

Oh and get a IDD tool, its a mandatory part of ownership, saved me sooo many time. I could go on, but those are the things on my mind now. I think you have to be a bit brave to own a LR and I tend to tell people when they ask me about mine that I wouldnt recommend buying one unless you can work on them yourself and source your own parts. This doesnt have to be the case though If you have the money and preference to just take it to a trusted mechanic, but I live 40 km from a town, and about 100km to nearest LR dealer, and work part time from home so that suits.

[westaussiefan]

Agreed I love the sound of a V8 and it seems like the crank issue in the V6 engine is a roll of the dice. You would be well aware that Australia has a love affair with LC200/300 but in the end they are just as complicated electronically as everything else, and a dead ECU on the Gibb River Road doesn't care what car its in plus most people have no understanding of weight limits, although it is being pushed more and more online with the likes of John Cadogan and Auto Expert along many other informative unbiased channels. Something about the RRS that pushes my buttons my buttons and I think that and XLifter suspension controller and some smaller rims/higher profile tyres would improve things. The limited choices of rim sizes being an issue though. Unfortunately the roll of the dice usually comes back to bite me on the ass and as one learned friend said on one particularly unlucky day "if it was raining fannies I would get hit in the head with an asshole"
There is particularly nice 2011 1 owner 134k km maintained regardless of expense (his third RR) with $19k spent on last two workshop visits @ $34K but a crank failure could take the gloss of very quickly. If they tend to fail at 250-300k km then might not feel so bad I guess but it sure sounds like a $10-15K repair based on the huge hourly rates charged in the state of mining millionaires ( I am not one of them ) any way so more research is required I think

[haydent]

i was about to write about the rims, a few times but didnt, rrs can take 19" factory or 18" tuffant, i have seen a pre facelift rrs with factory 18" (something i still want to try and see if possible on my facelift). It ****s me that they make these amazing offroad machines yet stuck with 20" rims in the case of the newer RRS. Fitting 18" is mainly dependent on front disc size, and not having the larger brembo brakes. I have a mate that fit tuffant 18" to his tdv8 and had to just grind off a little bit on his calliper. I was looking at it, but it seems a lot of money (2.5k+) to spend for 1/2" (12.5mm) of extra sidewall compared with the factory 19" D4 rims i have fitted on my rrs and got for a few hundred for a set of 5 (so i dont have the speed limited spare now) and a slightly oversize tyre wall 255/55/19

I believe its even the same 3.0 td/sdv6 right up to 2022 L494 RRS and Disco L462, the 2.7 was used in the territory and can be swapped so that is cheap and common enough, but i think the 3.0 would be quite a bit more $$$, I would likely hope it could be rebuilt and do it myself.

For suspension controller you can use the GAP IID tool to permanently/on demand adjust the suspension, mush simpler than wiring in another controller.

[haydent]

TDV6 3.0 crank (2x Piston Big Ends Per Main Bearing Pair (IMO CRAZY). and Very thin Webs between each bearing)
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TDV8 "Normal" 1 Piston Big End Per Main Bearing Pair and much thicker Webs

190642

Also re towing Im still hopeful I can manage my rear axle limit enough by reducing the towball weight down to about 7% which LR says is ok in later owners manuals and common in EU, compared with OTT 10% currently, another good idea ive seen someone here post is to put the cars spare on a holder on the back of the van :)

[westaussiefan]

Its obvious the difference when you view the crank....why the hell would they do they and continue to do it? I imagine that increasing output (tuning) and load would make the issue even worse and I have watched a channel "Different Car Review" as he also gets into LR and BMW and he did a video on the TDV8 which was also interesting especially with regard to valve covers leaking....no simple gasket fix on that one. With all the BMW's I have owned I have never had engine issues of any kind but the latest 7 has cost me a trans rebuild at 135k km. I have to admit the V8 petrol is starting to sound more attractive. I have been offered a trade with 2005 LR3 V8 270k km with those rims you mentioned and its looks much more off road friendly (as far a tough steel rim) but agreed its a lot of money when you consider what a set of Sunraysia steelies can be bought for

[haydent]

I believe originally they did it to make a shorter engine that fit laterally better in smaller cars, but why they stuck with the desing for so long i have no idea, ive had my valve cover leak, and replaced both seals and it fixed it, its a bit of a different design too, as the valve cover is also the intake manifold, and also the injectors mount through it as well, and the bolts are only spec to 10nm which seems too low, but they are only thin bolts into alloy so dont want to push it much more, i did a few problematic ones up to 14 nm as they were coming loose, if it keeps happening i might need loctite.

you certainly do need to consider that petrol version, depending on the math, as are generally cheaper to buy used and less costly components to repair, (and you dont have to deal with the diesel hand smell everytime you fill up...)