Originally Posted by
tony66_au
I have a theory on all things Land Rover and reliability.
If you treat it like a Toorak tractor, polish it and get dings and scratches fixed then it will break down and become generally ornery.
I abuse the hell out of mine with laughter and joy and did with the 2a before it and Ive yet to be stranded.
For example, a family friend bought an SII Disco brand new.
Had it kitted with all the ARB guff, Snorkel, Winch and HF talky box with a huge auto antennae.
2 years of gremlin hell with the thing spending yonks in the dealership.
They GAVE it to their future son in law in disgust and we immediately went bush in the thing accidentally launching it off a berm at 60 km on a very narrow track up the back of warby somewhere, the next weekend we slid her sideways into a clay bank on acheron way (I think) and the following day I treated him to Kurth Kiln and surrounds (Because it was close to home at the time).
His future parents were horrified although the damage was not bad but there were brush scratches all over the thing but for the next 5 years the thing never missed a beat and we did all the services ourselves.
Next door neighbour, owned a Land rover county thing and kept it tidy, did some mods etc and insisted on washing the thing once a week.
No end of hassle, gearboxes, fuel systems, interior faults, rattles water leaks and electrical issues.
He began to hate thing thing because of the money it was costing him and started to abuse it, quit washing it and stopped fixing stuff and even (Shock horror) going 4 or 5 thou over on oil changes!
Apparently these early posh wagons prefer filth because he had far less hassle with it after he stopped pampering it.
I believe, firmly that the souls of Solihull are dirty grubby little filth monsters who will play up like a spoilt princess when forced to do things they deem unnatural.
And thus we have cranky Landys and Rangies kiddies!