Thread: So I purchased a cheapie

When my last D2 decided to eat its own engine I decided to get rid of it and get another. We found a cheap, really cheap, auto which seemed to be in good condition cosmetically and mechanically so we got it. The only real annoyance is that the previous owner had got rid of SLS. ALL of it, compressor, height sensors, valve block, hoses, the lot. HE did this because SLS was unreliable - four leaking bags in about 300,000 km's....??? The other annoyance was the wiring that the PO had done for the aux battery, driving lights, brake controller, Anderson plug, etc. I use the term wiring quite loosely - it was a rats nest adn is now nice and neat.

At the start it was all good but pretty soon the gearbox started to play up - intermittent torque converter lockup. A few other niggles were "driver demand" faults, "crank speed" faults, "overboost" faults, plenum panel in many pieces, A pillar trims cracked and broken, etc.

I rebuilt the gearbox and added an Ashcroft TC and replaced the TPS and CPS as well as the turbo solenoid and its hoses over a period of about four months and have had a great run for a while now.

Until today. Pulled out of the driveway and off we went SLOWLY up the hill until about 2,500RPM when It took off like a rocket ship. MAF thinks I. Broke out the nanocom and the MAF has gone belly up - idle at about 40 and never gets more than about 300 when measuring airflow. Disconnect the MAF and all is well-ish again so I'm now hunting for a known good, genuine and reasonably priced MAF.

Life is never boring with a Land Rover but even with what I've spent on it it still works out a cheap D2...

I'm a bit reluctant to go with a cheap Chinese MAF and would rather go with the real thing I think. A new Chinese knock sensore for my wife's Subaru only lasted about a week so I've been bitten once.

A local (ish) person has a known good used one for about the same price as a cheapie but I've lucked out with a shed search. In the crate that has my collection of "Good Stuff" - you know, such things as a good front prop shaft, turbo hoses, coolant hoses, a new-ish fuel pump and a good alternator that just needs to be put back together there was a MAF that seems OK after a clean. I have some doubts about it as it came from my old 10p engined D2 when it was playing funny buggers (EGR valve stuck open faults which a new MAF fixed) but I can use it until I get a better one.