Thread: buying a td5, pitfalls

I think the Td5 only came out in 2000? Maybe a few in 1999 but not many...

At least that was the timing in the Defender anyway..

You may have to look for something newer or else settle on a 300tdi or 3.9V8i if you're looking in that age bracket.

you are more than likely right, screw up on my part. The ones I am looking at are the 96 - 99 models and diesel.
cheers
blaze

Well I expect it'll be a 300tdi then. In which case there are a few things to look out for, most important of which is the timing belt. Needs to be done every 80'000 km's, if there is any doubt then get it done.

The coolant bottle should be white, not black. The black ones can burst apparently, the fix was a replacement white one.

The ZF auto should still be powering along nicely and is a good match to the diesels (200tdi / 300tdi / td5) as it hides any turbo lag and keeps you in the torque band all the time.

If it's the R380 manual then I doubt there'll be an issue with that era. There was an early issue with main shaft wear in the gearbox but I believe they released a fix by '96.

Always look for a good logbook of course... and as for milage, I would guess around 160'000km's => 200'000km's. My '94 has just ticked over 200'000km's to give you an idea.

EDIT: Going from a v8 to a diesel can be a bit of a shock. It's a double-edged sword. Yes your wallet will love you, but you lose out on the sweet sound of the V8 and it's a different style of driving as you need to take the turbo and it's spin up into consideration.

I would imagine you would hard pressed trying to get a TD5 Disco anyway for 15000 there more like around the 18000 with a fair few k's from my experence my budget was 14k so a V8 was the only way to go D2 anyway

the v8 is what I would be trying to get away from, Love the drive in the v8 rangie but dont like the economy that much. In saying that, the old saying "the devil you know is better than the one you dont Know" and I can buy a lot of fuel for $15k
cheers
blaze

Originally Posted by Grizzly_Adams

Well I expect it'll be a 300tdi then. In which case there are a few things to look out for, most important of which is the timing belt. Needs to be done every 80'000 km's, if there is any doubt then get it done.

The coolant bottle should be white, not black. The black ones can burst apparently, the fix was a replacement white one.

The ZF auto should still be powering along nicely and is a good match to the diesels (200tdi / 300tdi / td5) as it hides any turbo lag and keeps you in the torque band all the time.

If it's the LT380 manual then I doubt there'll be an issue with that era. There was an early issue with main shaft wear in the gearbox but I believe they released a fix by '96.

Always look for a good logbook of course... and as for milage, I would guess around 160'000km's => 200'000km's. My '94 has just ticked over 200'000km's to give you an idea.

EDIT: Going from a v8 to a diesel can be a bit of a shock. It's a double-edged sword. Yes your wallet will love you, but you lose out on the sweet sound of the V8 and it's a different style of driving as you need to take the turbo and it's spin up into consideration.

he ment R380 gear box and LT230 trans case

cheers phil

Originally Posted by discowhite

he ment R380 gear box and LT230 trans case

cheers phil

D'oh, corrected

You should be able to get a pretty good 98 model tdi for that sort of money. The engine seems to pretty reliable if a bit slow (mines done 245000km). They do like to leave a little calling card with a little oil drip though. Only real annoyance mines had is with drivers door lock servo unit playing up and the window regulators playing up. Dayco belt tensioners need replacing every now and then, radiator is smaller than v8 so it needs to cleaned and flushed more often i'd say. Timing belt schedule is crucial and it must have upgraded pulley kit done if it hasn't allready.(technocrats can probably explain this one better). Also on cooling make sure that the you change the plastic plugs on top of the thermostat housing and radiator to brass ones. The plastic ones have a nasty habit of going at the most awkard times i.e like when 500km from the nearest spare parts dealer.