HELP and ADVICE PLEASE.

I am considering buying a 2002 Range Rover 3.0TD6 HSE Automatic 5 door to replace my 2003 Freelander TD4 but Alarm Bells are ringing after I read The Gov UK MOT SITE which tells me for 6 years from 2012 until 2014 then again 2017 until 2020 the Mileage was UNREADABLE. I thought this was illegal!L
But on the last MOT 2021 the advisories stae "Concern about excessive Chassis and suspension Rust".My question is-What should I be looking for or should I forget it?

mudinuri said:

I am considering buying a 2002 Range Rover 3.0TD6 HSE Automatic 5 door to replace my 2003 Freelander TD4 but Alarm Bells are ringing after I read The Gov UK MOT SITE which tells me for 6 years from 2012 until 2014 then again 2017 until 2020 the Mileage was UNREADABLE. I thought this was illegal!L
But on the last MOT 2021 the advisories stae "Concern about excessive Chassis and suspension Rust".My question is-What should I be looking for or should I forget it?

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Forget it is the best option. Gearboxes last about 80K miles so quite likely you will be getting a £2K bill soon after acquiring it. they also suffer badly with rust, water leaks and electronic problems.

mudinuri said:

I am considering buying a 2002 Range Rover 3.0TD6 HSE Automatic 5 door to replace my 2003 Freelander TD4 but Alarm Bells are ringing after I read The Gov UK MOT SITE which tells me for 6 years from 2012 until 2014 then again 2017 until 2020 the Mileage was UNREADABLE. I thought this was illegal!L
But on the last MOT 2021 the advisories stae "Concern about excessive Chassis and suspension Rust".My question is-What should I be looking for or should I forget it?

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Walk away my friend unless you want to spend loads of money

Looks well dodgy to me. Agree with the walk away advice. Personally I prefer 2005 onward but in any event find the best you can afford and keep £2,000 in the bank for unforeseen surprises.
My rule is check everything works and any history should make it easier to sort the wheat from the chaff. If you can’t fix stuff yourself then even the independent Range Rover specialists are £50/hour at best.
Happy hunting. Tricky

+1 on the above advice - walk away.

Or RUN, would be my advice.

+1 Walk away from that one.

There are loads and loads of them out there cheaper than they’ve ever been. More hay makes the needle harder to find, but sheer numbers mean you can be picky. Very picky when it comes to L322 for your own good.

If you see one you like with no alarm bells ringing - no major rust, GB already done, electricals seem decent and no vin numbers scratched off or ^^^ - offer them £5-600 and tell them they may as well sell it to you than let it sit in their pocket burning money.
It will work when you catch them on the right day. Normally a sunny morning after hard rain

Another point, TD6 is bit agricultural for an L322. If your gonna go for agricultural with comfort get yourself a diesel P38 (is same engine) that has half to go wrong and twice the longevity. You can even get one same age as ^^^ lemon you were looking at

I have clients with the early and later models, the later is the better if you must.

Thanks for the advice. I"ve already bought some running shoes.

mudinuri said:

Thanks for the advice. I"ve already bought some running shoes.

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Wise man

RangeRoller dt said:

Another point, TD6 is bit agricultural for an L322. If your gonna go for agricultural with comfort get yourself a diesel P38 (is same engine) that has half to go wrong and twice the longevity. You can even get one same age as ^^^ lemon you were looking at

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The P38 diesel is an M51, the L322 uses the vastly more complicated M57, not the same engine or anything like it.

Look at the rust on rear wheel arch in this thread https://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic58310.html

Most early L322 will be the same behind the plastic trims.

Datatek said:

The P38 diesel is an M51, the L322 uses the vastly more complicated M57, not the same engine or anything like it.

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is It not a straight 6 turbo diesel?

RangeRoller dt said:

is It not a straight 6 turbo diesel?

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It is, but the M57 is nothing like the M51. I'm sure it would n ot be difficult to mate the P38 manual box the the M57 though, might need an adapter plate for the bell housing and a custom flywheel to take a clutch assembly and a clutch that will handle the power.

ashcroft used to do a kit to mate the gearbox on to an M57 but they used an auto for some reason. Not sure which one don’t think an hp22 would handle it. There’s a company that will put an M57 in your DSE for about £2500 all in

With enough effort any engine can be made to fit and run, a chap on another forum has done an M57 in the P38 with a 4HP24 it looks factory..

As for the TD6, yes avoid like the plague.

The early Iron cast block m57 wasn't a bad engine but the later alu block was known for timing chain breakage along with its little brother the n47 and reverse mounted 2.0d

RangeRoller dt said:

ashcroft used to do a kit to mate the gearbox on to an M57 but they used an auto for some reason. Not sure which one don’t think an hp22 would handle it. There’s a company that will put an M57 in your DSE for about £2500 all in
View attachment 255873

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The kit I saw from Ashcroft was to fit an HP24 to the Ford PUMA lump in the Defender.
I know a guy in New Zealand that has fitted the M57 to a P38 along with an HP 24 box. There were some initial overheating problems but fitting a GEMS RAD and electric cooling sorted it.

Mark Piercy said:

The early Iron cast block m57 wasn't a bad engine but the later alu block was known for timing chain breakage along with its little brother the n47 and reverse mounted 2.0d

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I learn something every day. I didn't know that there was an alloy block version of the M57.