Thread: Anti Land Rover Mechanics. Lazy? Ignorant? Other?

Here's a few -Landcruiser and Patrol wheel bearing issues; D4D failures; Patrol wheel shimmy; Landcruiser v8 twin turbo oil use. Interestingly though their owners (begrudgingly?) accept this, but I noticed that some Landrover owners won't spend the same on keeping their more sophisticated vehicles in good running order. 2 guys at work come to mind, out of the 4 that own Discoverys.

In relation to the skills and time required to assess and repair. When I was working for a fleet management company we would only pay the dealer for a maximum of 2 hours for electrical problems. Found dealers were spending days chasing electrical faults. If they could not figure it out within 2 hours the dealer carried the cost of further investigation or just told the driver that they could not replicate the fault. Seems harsh however they were monitored and very few vehicles ever came back in for the same issue at a later time. As vehicles become ever more dependent on increasingly complex electrical systems this can only become a bigger issue. Not sure you can blame the mechanic though as their knowledge will become more and more brand specific

Originally Posted by 1nando

This mentality is no different to everytime im on the tracks. I always come across people who make fun of my truck for being a landy. Sometimes i laugh it off, sometimes they push it so far that it drives me insane. Ive actually had a bloke we met out on a 4wd day (who i didnt know mind you) wanting to have a "tug of war" with his 79 series to get a few laughs amongst his mates. He shut up pretty quickly when i replied "lets do it" and i informed him i had 3 locking diffs and wasn't scared to have a crack. Also told him ill happily follow him up any tracks he choose to try. That bloke chabged his tune pretty quick.
Anyway......as for mechanics; its a vicious circle. These guys grow up around toyotas and thats what they're comfortable working on. They use excuses to cover for their inability to be able to work on anything other than their norm and as a result LR's are crap amd thats why they dont....apparently.

Don't offer to follow a 70 series up the serious stuff - unless he doesn't mind you pushing him up with your bullbar. Lead him along a 40deg incline and face the GoPro back

I just faced this in Roma. I had a shot wheel bearing and while I was happy to replace it myself, I was just asking that I could park in a mechanic's yard while I repair it in case I needed help with getting the cups out of hub. Every garage I rang said they were full up with no room.

Luckily the caravan park owner allowed to pull the hub apart under a tree in his yard and had no issues getting the cups out of the hub.

Originally Posted by 86mud

I just faced this in Roma. I had a shot wheel bearing and while I was happy to replace it myself, I was just asking that I could park in a mechanic's yard while I repair it in case I needed help with getting the cups out of hub. Every garage I rang said they were full up with no room.

Luckily the caravan park owner allowed to pull the hub apart under a tree in his yard and had no issues getting the cups out of the hub.

When in Roma do as the Roma'ns do.

I once had a Toyota bloke giving me an earful about why didn't I get a 'proper' 4WD. He got quite stroppy when I said I didn't want to trade down to a Toyota! So I rattled off a list of well-known Toyota problems and he shut up pretty quick.
Then, just to rub it in because I could and he had annoyed me, I mentioned how Land Rovers were on the Snowy Mountains scheme for eight years before the first Toyotas arrived and they didn't even have low range. Then I mentioned how Len Beadell and his Land Rovers opened up the centre. He refused to believe it, so I told him to read some history.

Not just mechanics who are sometimes ignorant. I was in a local Repco inquiring about the engine oil for the Puma, could they get it for me and cost etc. The young bloke was trying hard and asked another for help...."Put any ******* thing in it, it's only a Land Rover"! Thankyou and goodbye.
I've never been back as there's plenty of others flogging oils and other bits.
AlanH.

Some people seem to think being loyal to their chosen brand means they have to crap on everything else. Good luck to them and their blood pressure.

I've never experienced anything more than a bit of a ribbing from other vehicle owners, however a few interactions have been notable:

One of my customers asked why I drive an unreliable LR if it is my work vehicle, I replied I had not had too much trouble and asked if he had had any of the oil consumption issues with his 200 series everyone was talking about, "Oh, yeah, they replaced the engine a while back"

Another time a young bloke was bogged on the side of the road, but refused my offer of being pulled out citing that he wouldn't stoop to that level. I tossed him a water bottle and told him he would need it with that attitude.

We, myself and a Patrol driver, limped a 200 series in our convoy into Kal along the Holland track by playing battery jamboree after the Toyota suffered an alternator failure. We were all sitting in the waiting room of an autosparky's in Kal when someone wandered in and enquired who the "Brave bastard" driving the Land Rover was, the owner of the Toyota turned around and told him to **** off.

Happy motoring

Cheers,