Thread: TDi versus TD5

Originally Posted by PAT303

...You only have to look at the early Tdi's with the timing belt gears or R380's output shaft splines to see that it takes 5 or 6 years of joe public abuse for all the trouble's to happen and fix's made that make any drivetrain reliable. Pat

Early Tdi's (200Tdi), had decent timing belt gears and don't have the timing belt problems the 300Tdi is notorious for. For the 300Tdi, the timing belt gears are pressed (deep drawn) from tin cans, which flex and cause the timing belt problems. Land Rover spent years putting bandaids on and avoided fixing the problem.

The problem with R380 output shaft spline wear, also occurred with the LT77 that the R380 replaced.

Abuse had nothing to do with the timing belt failures or or output shaft spline wear.

You missed the point,no amount of testing will equal real life ownership and every thing that goes wrong with LR's also goes wrong with all other makes so it's not an LR thing,why they all make the same mistakes is beyond me but thats the way it is. Pat

Your right Hendric,people for some reason have this almost mythical hate of modern engines,ask any of them and they will tell you great tales of strandings across the country with no chance of repair but thier old engine soldiered on even thou it's got a million k's on the clock because back in 1970 they made engines to last ZZZZZZZZZ. Pat

I really like my TD5.
This is by far the easiest of any modern engine I have ever worked on.
Direct comparison with Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi twin and single cam multi valve jobs, petrol EFI and carby also the Toyota diesels with mech. injection.

I do 99% of all my own work so I rarely pay for labour, my TD5 has consistently been cheaper or comparable to any other manufacturers vehicle.
The issues re TD5s are really very minor and there is no recurring oil pump bolt failure (if they haver been checked or repaired it does not happen again) or wiring loom oil problems. Anyone who knows of this possible problem and does not get it checked or dealt with has no one to blame but themselves.

The biggest issue with the TD5 seems to be the head gasket on earlier engines (having just done this to mine) yet this is most commonly associated with overheating which is no fault of the engine rather the owner being poorly treated by their service centre or skimping on maintenance with the cooling system. My friends D1 TDi had so many issues he sold it in frustration. But it was due to putting off maintenance by the previous owner and then himself.

Even my son who recently bought his TD5 commented on how much easier it was to work on than his previous VR commodore.

Check out some of the first posts re: TD5 problems and the cost to fix compared with now and what will ultimately reduce in the future, as parts become more readily available and owners become more informed and confident to repair them.
If you could travel in time to when the TDi was new, you would here all the same concerns and stories and see big $ for repairs.

Ultimately you have to feel confident with your level of knowledge and ability to maintain and repair, so if injector pumps make you happy and ECU's cause you to break out in a cold sweat, you have your answers. If you cant do anything yourself, then a TDi or TD5 could destroy your account in equal time if you by unwisely.

My toolkit slowly expands year by year as does my knowledge. When / If I upgrade I'll have to learn a whole new buch of stuff.

Cheers

I've never owned a tdi, but we've had a good experience with our TD5. However with 10k to spend, you are best to look for a good TDI I think as I don't think you'll get a good TD5 with that money.