I’ve got a USA spec L322 5.0 SC. Bought with 155000miles. Love the car. Most comfortable vehicle I’ve ever owned. Just changed the tensioners and guides, they were due. Just an FYI, there is a timing chain guide/tension replacement procedure without taking the top end of the engine apart. You can use zip ties to keep everything locked in place. There is a video on UA-cam. Much faster and easier that taking everything apart. Again, this is just to change the guides and tensioners ONLY. Those are the typical wear components.
Yeah, I have seen that guide replacement procedure, but I’m always mindful of changing the chains when the tensioners have worn due to potential stretch. Glad you’re loving your new rangy! Good luck with it, and thanks for sliding by the channel! ☺️
Once again, greetings from southern Ontario. Although it's been decades since I had a LR product they will always hold a soft spot in my heart. Your auction RR purchase appears to be ideal for you and your interests. Just try to find a 12 year old LR product in the salt/rust belt that does not have all kinds of salt related issues. Truly hope your personal health issues get the same attention you give your RR!
Hi Richard! Good to hear from you again! I’m hoping things are well with you all and all the best for the Christmas period to you and yours! Thanks for your concerns about my health. Sadly I am currently unemployed, which means I have no benefits, which means that I can’t resolve (via physio, which is prohibitively expensive) the back or shoulder issue! The heart condition was diagnosed, but no-one seems to want to advance it to the ‘getting fixed’ stage, so who knows how that’ll pan out! I think that you have a similar situation to that in the UK, where rust and associated issues are problematic for these older Land Rovers. As you point out (and as you can see from the clip of the control arms) we don’t have much in the way of those issues here! What we do have is a sort of Western idleitis which comes from too many years of driving pickup trucks! The vehicles out here rarely get serviced and they’re usually really beaten up inside - this one was a bit of an exception in terms of the interior condition. When I last looked to buy my 2011, I looked at probably 40 Range Rovers - all of which looked like they’d been used to store chickens and raccoons in! Finding this in as good a condition as it was from an auction was quite surprising (especially given how long it’d been there)!
I'm in Southern Ont as well, near Grand bend, I just bought a 05 HSE and it runs awesome but won't move in any gear, it needs pads, shoes, rotors, lines, the parking brake doesn't work but not stuck, it has a bit of surface rust on the rear quarter panels but not much, its the BMW 4 or 4.4, I'm not complaining though I bought it for 500$ I'll make a vid and upload it
I liked your video and mostly your dog! I hope you are able to get ahead of your health issues. I have a 2011 HSE RR with the 5.0 gas motor non-super charged. Curious if the timing chain guides have been replaced on yours. My LR Specialist says I need to plan on changing those out at 100,000 miles. That is about 25,000 miles from now. Glad I found your channel.
Hi Jerry! Welcome to the channel! Hahah! Yeah, Jyp is much more of a star than I am - he’s sort of the channel mascot, to be honest (and moral compass). The chain guides do wear and can cause issues along the way. It’s a fairly invasive surgery, and there’s much to pull off and put on again (it a little easier with a naturally aspirated engine). The early chain guides were plastic and permitted excessive wear of the chain, sprockets, and so on. When this happens the failure could be quite quick, though a rattling is generally heard before damage occurs. I have heard of engines with over 500,000 miles be trouble free of chain issues, and I know of low mileage vehicles whose chains have failed at 75,000 miles too. Mine are original and I’ve measured the deflection (you can do that from opening up the oil filler and sticking something inside to check the slack - ENGINE OFF, of course!). The result is not a completely accurate measurement, but if they’re super tight then you know there is very little wear. There was a material issue with the guides and chains in a certain production run that generated a lot of issues. This affected the AJV6 as well as the AJV8 - (though I have also heard of chain failures on the AJV6 - despite the AJV6 having the new material guides and chains). It’s pretty much the luck of the draw to be honest. I have not changed mine yet, but my higher mileage 2011’s were done. I have less than 1mm of wear on mine and I’ve 100,000 miles on it now. I must say that long oil servicing is massively contributory to early chain and guide wear and failure. It’s very important to change your oil and filter every 5,000 miles. While it won’t prohibit chain failure, high frequency services are correlated with reduced engine wear and decreasing incidence of chain and guide failure. That is to say that repeated frequent services can reduce the risk of chain failure, and in some vehicles, eliminate it completely (at least to 500,000 miles)! When servicing, do buy the JLR filter and oil - at a pinch, you can use the high-end Mobile 1 I show on my channel or the Fuchs available in Blighty; you can even use the 0W-20s in the Castrol Edge (instead of the professional) - the key is to drop the oils frequently. Dropping the oils - all of them - before the recommended service interval is paramount. I usually knock a third of the recommended interval and go from there. I’d do your transmission now if it’s not been done before, and do the diffs and transfer box as well. Fluids are relatively inexpensive; gearboxes aren’t! Lol
Great videos. I have no idea how they aren’t more popular. Your content is excellent and you have a lot of experience and knowledge. How are running costs? I’m 24 Ireland looking at buying a cheap LR. Which one would you recommend? What engine etc? I’m not employed currently so cash is tight but I am thinking of selling my current car to pay for it. I watched all your defender l663 videos and considering you happily went from that to this gets me thinking maybe an old RR would be better than getting a new defender even if I had the cash for a new one! But it would really depend on running costs and buying the right one for the right price. Plus I think the old RRs are cool and have more character
Hey Frank! Thanks for sliding by, and I’m pleased that you enjoy the content. That’s a lot of questions, and I’m slightly out of the UK game now, but I suspect you’d be well starting off with either a Disco 3 or an L322. In the UK you have diesels, so either of those lumps would be relatively fuel efficient, but I suspect the Disco would be better for you on insurance. The L322 is a much nicer riding vehicle, but early D3s have some hard wearing surfaces that you can bash about a bit in ways you can’t on the rangy. The rangies are also a bit higher on the tech front and may need some higher level support (MOST entertainment and optical canbus systems - though they don’t often through trouble). Go as new as you can afford; fortunately, rangies are quite inexpensive there now (they’re double the price here). You should be able to find a nice TDV8 for not all the money. That’d be my preference. There’s lots of support on channels like mine too, with some people having UK experience and counsel on the diesels. So you shouldn’t get out of your depth. Buy whatever has the best history, as this is usually a good sign of maintenance and owner care.
@ thank you very much for your answer! Will have a look at L322 TDV8s. I think the D3 is quite heavy at 2.7ton and heard they are very bad reliability wise. Supposedly the L322 is more reliable? I guess it depends what engine you have. How often do things fail after it’s been serviced and everything fitted new? Is it expensive to repair and keep in good condition? Thanks a lot!
It’s very complicated to answer these questions accurately and effectively. The D3 is heavy and not very economical, but later models are more reliable - the post 2009 facelift are much more reliable, but they ruined the interior! The L322 is generally more reliable post 2007, but they are also more complicated and less capacious! You have to pick where you sweep the dirt under the rug! I really liked the D3, but mine was a bit of a lemon - that said, so was my 2020 New Defender after 6 month!
I’ve got a USA spec L322 5.0 SC. Bought with 155000miles. Love the car. Most comfortable vehicle I’ve ever owned. Just changed the tensioners and guides, they were due. Just an FYI, there is a timing chain guide/tension replacement procedure without taking the top end of the engine apart. You can use zip ties to keep everything locked in place. There is a video on UA-cam. Much faster and easier that taking everything apart. Again, this is just to change the guides and tensioners ONLY. Those are the typical wear components.
Yeah, I have seen that guide replacement procedure, but I’m always mindful of changing the chains when the tensioners have worn due to potential stretch.
Glad you’re loving your new rangy! Good luck with it, and thanks for sliding by the channel! ☺️
Once again, greetings from southern Ontario. Although it's been decades since I had a LR product they will always hold a soft spot in my heart. Your auction RR purchase appears to be ideal for you and your interests. Just try to find a 12 year old LR product in the salt/rust belt that does not have all kinds of salt related issues. Truly hope your personal health issues get the same attention you give your RR!
Hi Richard!
Good to hear from you again! I’m hoping things are well with you all and all the best for the Christmas period to you and yours!
Thanks for your concerns about my health. Sadly I am currently unemployed, which means I have no benefits, which means that I can’t resolve (via physio, which is prohibitively expensive) the back or shoulder issue! The heart condition was diagnosed, but no-one seems to want to advance it to the ‘getting fixed’ stage, so who knows how that’ll pan out!
I think that you have a similar situation to that in the UK, where rust and associated issues are problematic for these older Land Rovers. As you point out (and as you can see from the clip of the control arms) we don’t have much in the way of those issues here! What we do have is a sort of Western idleitis which comes from too many years of driving pickup trucks! The vehicles out here rarely get serviced and they’re usually really beaten up inside - this one was a bit of an exception in terms of the interior condition. When I last looked to buy my 2011, I looked at probably 40 Range Rovers - all of which looked like they’d been used to store chickens and raccoons in! Finding this in as good a condition as it was from an auction was quite surprising (especially given how long it’d been there)!
I'm in Southern Ont as well, near Grand bend, I just bought a 05 HSE and it runs awesome but won't move in any gear, it needs pads, shoes, rotors, lines, the parking brake doesn't work but not stuck, it has a bit of surface rust on the rear quarter panels but not much, its the BMW 4 or 4.4, I'm not complaining though I bought it for 500$ I'll make a vid and upload it
I liked your video and mostly your dog! I hope you are able to get ahead of your health issues. I have a 2011 HSE RR with the 5.0 gas motor non-super charged. Curious if the timing chain guides have been replaced on yours. My LR Specialist says I need to plan on changing those out at 100,000 miles. That is about 25,000 miles from now. Glad I found your channel.
Hi Jerry! Welcome to the channel!
Hahah! Yeah, Jyp is much more of a star than I am - he’s sort of the channel mascot, to be honest (and moral compass).
The chain guides do wear and can cause issues along the way. It’s a fairly invasive surgery, and there’s much to pull off and put on again (it a little easier with a naturally aspirated engine).
The early chain guides were plastic and permitted excessive wear of the chain, sprockets, and so on. When this happens the failure could be quite quick, though a rattling is generally heard before damage occurs.
I have heard of engines with over 500,000 miles be trouble free of chain issues, and I know of low mileage vehicles whose chains have failed at 75,000 miles too. Mine are original and I’ve measured the deflection (you can do that from opening up the oil filler and sticking something inside to check the slack - ENGINE OFF, of course!). The result is not a completely accurate measurement, but if they’re super tight then you know there is very little wear.
There was a material issue with the guides and chains in a certain production run that generated a lot of issues. This affected the AJV6 as well as the AJV8 - (though I have also heard of chain failures on the AJV6 - despite the AJV6 having the new material guides and chains). It’s pretty much the luck of the draw to be honest. I have not changed mine yet, but my higher mileage 2011’s were done. I have less than 1mm of wear on mine and I’ve 100,000 miles on it now.
I must say that long oil servicing is massively contributory to early chain and guide wear and failure. It’s very important to change your oil and filter every 5,000 miles. While it won’t prohibit chain failure, high frequency services are correlated with reduced engine wear and decreasing incidence of chain and guide failure. That is to say that repeated frequent services can reduce the risk of chain failure, and in some vehicles, eliminate it completely (at least to 500,000 miles)! When servicing, do buy the JLR filter and oil - at a pinch, you can use the high-end Mobile 1 I show on my channel or the Fuchs available in Blighty; you can even use the 0W-20s in the Castrol Edge (instead of the professional) - the key is to drop the oils frequently. Dropping the oils - all of them - before the recommended service interval is paramount. I usually knock a third of the recommended interval and go from there. I’d do your transmission now if it’s not been done before, and do the diffs and transfer box as well. Fluids are relatively inexpensive; gearboxes aren’t! Lol
Great videos. I have no idea how they aren’t more popular. Your content is excellent and you have a lot of experience and knowledge.
How are running costs? I’m 24 Ireland looking at buying a cheap LR. Which one would you recommend? What engine etc? I’m not employed currently so cash is tight but I am thinking of selling my current car to pay for it. I watched all your defender l663 videos and considering you happily went from that to this gets me thinking maybe an old RR would be better than getting a new defender even if I had the cash for a new one! But it would really depend on running costs and buying the right one for the right price. Plus I think the old RRs are cool and have more character
Hey Frank!
Thanks for sliding by, and I’m pleased that you enjoy the content.
That’s a lot of questions, and I’m slightly out of the UK game now, but I suspect you’d be well starting off with either a Disco 3 or an L322. In the UK you have diesels, so either of those lumps would be relatively fuel efficient, but I suspect the Disco would be better for you on insurance.
The L322 is a much nicer riding vehicle, but early D3s have some hard wearing surfaces that you can bash about a bit in ways you can’t on the rangy. The rangies are also a bit higher on the tech front and may need some higher level support (MOST entertainment and optical canbus systems - though they don’t often through trouble).
Go as new as you can afford; fortunately, rangies are quite inexpensive there now (they’re double the price here). You should be able to find a nice TDV8 for not all the money. That’d be my preference.
There’s lots of support on channels like mine too, with some people having UK experience and counsel on the diesels. So you shouldn’t get out of your depth. Buy whatever has the best history, as this is usually a good sign of maintenance and owner care.
@ thank you very much for your answer! Will have a look at L322 TDV8s. I think the D3 is quite heavy at 2.7ton and heard they are very bad reliability wise. Supposedly the L322 is more reliable? I guess it depends what engine you have.
How often do things fail after it’s been serviced and everything fitted new? Is it expensive to repair and keep in good condition? Thanks a lot!
I went off-roading for the first time ever the other day and it was cool!
It’s very complicated to answer these questions accurately and effectively. The D3 is heavy and not very economical, but later models are more reliable - the post 2009 facelift are much more reliable, but they ruined the interior!
The L322 is generally more reliable post 2007, but they are also more complicated and less capacious! You have to pick where you sweep the dirt under the rug! I really liked the D3, but mine was a bit of a lemon - that said, so was my 2020 New Defender after 6 month!
Glad to hear it! Go steady and remember that wide throttle openings can be expensive sometimes!
Just come across this series on your channel. Great stuff.
Look forward to working my way through the others.
All the best regards your health.
Thanks! Merry Christmas to you and yours! I hope you enjoy the content!
You have a top motor for very little money. Yes they get a bad rep but boy the ride is far superior than anything else on the road.
I think that analysis is spot on. I think JLR reached their zenith here.