Martin 01 wrote:

Bought my Defender with 180,000 on it all ran fine until recently @ 235,000 miles.
Just had new gearbox, transfer box, clutch, flywheel & associated parts.
All seems to be going good again now.
It all depends on how it�s been treated throughout its life I suppose.


Click image to enlarge

Just clocked up another 1500 trouble free miles across to France & back.

Quote:

The first 24,000 miles were completely faultless, other than a cracked windscreen, caused by an airborne stone.

However, just after the 24k service (April 03), the vehicle developed a gearshift problem. Just when cold for the first few miles, it was almost impossible to select 2nd gear, but once warmed-up worked fine. I suggest the garage had serviced the car and put in EP90 rather than MTF94. The garages response was to change the gearbox! I suggest the garage is to blame, rather than a Land Rover fault.

Again another period of total reliability from 24000 miles to 60000 miles.

At its 60,000 mile service (and the last service by a main dealer after this, once the vehicle was out of warranty servicing was done by a local independent LR specialist, and by me), the rubber bushes on the front shock absorbers were replaced under warranty.

Since then, another pile of repair-free miles until 70,000, when the originally Michelin 4x4 tyres (road bias) were replaced with BFG All Terrain. These BFG's lasted till over 150000 miles (i.e. ran them for 80000 miles). Then Grabber AT2 (BFG's were best!).

At about 70,000 miles, I also had the car fully waxoyled underneath at a local garage. The job was OK, but not as good as a professional would do. I topped-up the waxoyl myself at least once a year where required. As a result the chassis was still in great shape with no real rust at 10 years / 187k miles.

Then, all hell broke loose at 94,000 miles. A long list of problems:

injector harness change (the oil ingress problem)
rear nearside ABS sensor failed
upper ACE accelerometer sensor replacement
rear diff oil seal weeping (replaced)
transfer box weeping oil (re-sealed)
All this, then the starter motor failed a week later.

Both front hubs (rumbling noise when when cornering) were also replaced at a cost of £560 inc vat (Disco uses a daft hub assembly).

Also around this time, I experienced a clutch "judder" - turned out I needed a new flywheel, so popped a new clutch in at the same time.

Another period of reliable running ensued.

At 102000 miles, the rear brake pads and disks were replaced for the first (and still the only time) time (I did this myself).

At 107000 miles, the front brake pads & disks were replaced for the first (and still the only) time again I did this myself.

Another 35,000 trouble-free miles...

142000 miles I noticed oil under the front of the car it turned out that the power steering pipe had been hit by something, rusted though and was weeping. Replaced.

144000 miles the fuel pump failed - but the car did get me home (with a top speed of 45mph up hill)!

148000 miles (7 years) - the MOT inspector was concerned about some rust on the rear brake pipes. These were replaced with copper pipes whilst the car was in for a service.

150000 miles - One of the ACE pipes started leaking after an off-road session - I removed the whole ACE system (well I got a garage to do it), now got standard anti-roll bars, and is a lot simpler.

There have been a few other things of interest:

The MPG has averaged 30.92 across many tank fills since new (not checked every time, just random). I can get 34 mpg on a run, and under 30 mpg when towing, commuting or light off-roading.

At 10 years/187k miles it still used hardly any oil, approx. 1 litre between 12,000 mile services - I always use good quality oils.

Overall wear and tear is minimal, a few stone chips on paintwork, and the drivers seat upholstery was looking tired. otherwise still looked and drives as new.

Front hubs were grumbling again at time of sale

All in all it was an excellent experience. In later years, there were a few more niggly problems you should expect of a car this age, such as the fuel pump failing, and odd bits of pipework corrosion. I haven't done the maths yet, but the £ per mile must be exceptionally good with such great brake/tyre wear, the overall cost of ownership will be minimal. A top vehicle glad I bought it. It's probably still working away somewhere I hope...

Look after your TD5, and it'll serve you well!