buying a defender...advice wanted

[fender]

hey guys,
been lurking around this forum for a while and i must say there is alot of info here. today i inspected a 1997 110 wagon and it seemed ok. im looking for my first car and i'm not particularly mechanically minded nor is anyone in my family.

i cant afford to buy a dud...so i would like to have it inspected buy someone who knows there way around them. if you guys could recommend someone in melbourne who could travel to a car dealer in Thomastown, that would be great.

car seemed to be in good nic however there was some rust in the bottom of the doors, and the door hinges but the only holes were in the tailgate. engine started well but there was a small squeeking that sounded like it was coming from one of the belts.

had a service log book which at a glance seemed to be well completed.

any help identifing other potential problem areas would be greatly appreciated

im also curious to know what issues come with this sort of rust...the car will be my daily drive.

thanks in advance, any advice will be appreciated

oh heres a link to the car on trading post


LAND ROVER DEFENDER 110 (4x4) - Thomastown - VIC - $ 10,999.00

[LSD_AUTOMOTIVE]

I'm not mechanically trained so I'll not go into that area but from a sales perspective they're listing standard equipment and it's done standard km's. Personally I'd be wanting it closer to 7-8k.

Do you remember the books mentioning any major work done? Eg. the head?

The squeak could be something, could be nothing - if our 110 is anything to go by noises are common and just add to the character of the vehicle A more mechanically minded individual might help with that

In the pics she looks fairly tidy Good luck!

[LSD_AUTOMOTIVE]

Not sure if this will be helpful

Redbook

[eddiec]

I can't see where they mention the mileage.. Do they?

I agree not to pay that much.... We paid $8k for ours and it was a '96 with quite a few additional bits (bullbar, rear drawer, diff guards) and had already had a replacement engine and a new coat of paint.

And how close are you to your budget? I'd be wanting to keep a few thousand on the side for any possible fixes required, unless you get someone who really knows his stuff to give it a good look-over and assure you it's in top notch nick. And even then, who knows... After we bought ours we had to spend another $8k on it - new gearbox, tyres, etc. Fortunately we were prepared for that.

Rust in doors and stuff is not a huge problem - but check the firewall for sure. That's much more of an issue (not impossible, but a bigger problem). And definitely take it for a drive. Gearboxes can be a huge expense!

I'm sure there'll be someone here happy to come and have a look with you.

[fender]

thanks for the replys so far, the mileage is about 220,000 forgot to mention that before

[LSD_AUTOMOTIVE]

ha, I believe I saw the 2495cc and read it as 249k...don't mind me

[fender]

ah well guys this one got away...already! thanks for the help and im back to searching