Thread: Help Buying a Defender

Hi Mulga

I use to have a '95 130 300Tdi which had been abused in a previous life with NSW State Forests. It was a great vehicle, especially for extended trips.

I am nervous about the R380 and mine eventually had its mainshaft replaced after about 140,000km. It was not cheap, but from memory it was more than $2,000 a few years back. The rear axle is also a problem, but common to all Defenders, seemingly of any vintage.

I think they solved the problem from about '97 onwards but if you have any backlash or clunking when changing gears, I would be wary. Other than the obligatory timing belt replacement on the 300Tdi, I found it to be a great engine, although hauling a fully loaded 130 around sometimes made it struggle.

The last of the 300Tdi's would be my pick ('98-'99), although they might still be fetching more than $20,000.

Hope this is some help.

back lash is prevelent on all rovers from new, compared to other makes and it can be simply the crap axles/drive flanges. with regards to the gearbox, make sure it changes back from 5th to 4th, try a few times to be sure. the timing belt shouldn't be a problem at this amount of km's as it should have been replaced twice and had the"kit" installed if needed. mines a 98 model and has done 165 000km with no trouble. (this doesn't include electrics as they don't count. Lucas prince of darkness)if it hasn't been used offroad make sure low range ingages and the difflock works.
goodluck

cheers, serg

I've heard the same about the R380 boxes, mine's as clunky as hell but seems to go ok. I was told to watch that it doesn't jump out of gear when
decelerating too hard.

Mine's a 200Tdi Ute and goes pretty good - I am very happy with it.

It does have that terrible clunk though and even careful gearchanging causes problems. Happens on rapid acceleration from low revs too, so I'm not sure exactly where the problem may lie. Any takers ?

My only suggestion would be main output shaft, they're supposed to be notorious for it, mine does that too, maybe they're just a little clunky naturally.

Hi Mulga, I just bought a disco and am extremely happy with it, I to did heaps of research. A good guide that i found was published by 4WD Monthly magazine a few months ago called Used 4wd buyers guide or soemthing like that, if your local news agent doesnt have any left get on the 4wd monthly magazine website and request a back issue, its worth it, it has a whole section on buying a used disco with all the traps and problems to look out for. If you have any questions just ask its all fresh in my mind. Matt