Thinking of getting a Second-Hand Range Rover Diesel

I had a Range Rover "Classic" in the 90s and really liked the car and the driving experience it offered, plus the fact my wife has horses so the drive down to the farm was easy. Unfortunately, it was the high petrol consumption of the V8 engine that eventually made us sell the car and move onto a Volvo V70. However, after having some problems with our Volvo, we are looking at getting another Range Rover, but this time one with a diesel rather than petrol engine.

There is a local garage selling a 1998 R Reg 2.5 litre diesel Rang Rover for £3000, it looks in good condition but has 166,000 miles on the clock and still has the air suspension. Can anyone advise on how good the BMW 2.5 litre engine is that is in this Range Rover. What is the engine life expectancy after having done this amount of mileage. Also, with having the air suspension still fitted, is there a high chance of failure now?

Any advise will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Engines are good but 3k's too much, gd chance of eas failure anytime unless its been maintained

The Diesels are SLOW.....

But plenty ooomphy enough when needed....

I paid just under £4k in Sept 2011 for my 134K DSE with a 4* 12 month extended warranty, fuul service history (Checked and Confirmed with LR)....

I would say unless you get good 'add-ons' i.e. Warranty, service, all stamped up book etc....£3k for 166k is a tad high....

Expect closer to the £2k-£2.4k for sorted motor with no faults, and tidy exterior and interior with plenty of stamps in the book....

Less then £1.9k for less history....and further down to £1.2-£1.5 for missing history, no faults....

Below £1.2k for no history, a couple of niggles....

Never buy a P38 with faults showing, no matter what the seller says, unless you know what it will entail and cost to repair.....Golden Rule...

way too expensive i just paid £1980 for a 98 r plate dse in lovely condition tons of history new mot and only 118,000 on the clock.
if your getting rid of a volvo coz its having problems you really dont want a range rover as lovely as they are they go wrong a lot!!

Thanks for your replies.

The chap at the garage did say it had just been for and passed its MOT with no advisory notices and did show me it had a fully stamped service history.

If the EAS was to fail would it be best to go back to the old coil springs? I've also seen a device called as FASKIT (:: Range Rover, Land Rover, Emergency Kit for Air Suspension, Parts & Accesories ::) has anyone had any experience of that.

Stick with the EAS system...if maintained properly and preventative maintenance is applied, the EAS is reliable....coils and kits are just an excuse for poor/neglaected maintenance....

A member on here - Datatek - can supply a connection lead and Software for around the £11 plus P+P mark or so, to help read,clear and calibrate the EAS system.....

you can buy the lead and software on disc to do the eas diagnostics fault clearing etc for less than £20 datatec on here sells them.
or in an emergency an eas kicker around £70 to reset faults if it goes into hard fault.
me i wouldnt fit coil springs some do and rave how great they are but most on here dont approve! simple enough the eas system really just tends to go wrong because of lack of maintenance and or leaks

Izak said:

Thanks for your replies.

The chap at the garage did say it had just been for and passed its MOT with no advisory notices and did show me it had a fully stamped service history.

If the EAS was to fail would it be best to go back to the old coil springs? I've also seen a device called as FASKIT (:: Range Rover, Land Rover, Emergency Kit for Air Suspension, Parts & Accesories ::) has anyone had any experience of that.

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£3K is too dear for a 98, model year 99 on are better. The EAS is fine but you will have to budget to replace the airsprings if they haven't been done, they have a design life of 7/8 years 80K miles. Easy job. If the airsprings are bad it will need a compressor overhaul, again easy and not expensive.
You can make up your own emergency inflation valves for next to nowt, go to a truck tyre place and scrounge some used schrader valves with long stems, cut the ends off and buy 4 compressed air plastic pipe connectors of the appropriate size, job done for about £8

the engine should last till past 250k if maintained properly even so id want some sort of warranty for that price, and stay away from coil springs they ruin the ride they should be made ilegal

Thank you for all your replies. It's interesting to read about the EAS as that has been my main concern when looking at the Range Rovers. I have been having another look at other Range Rovers on the Auto Trader site, and found some younger and less expensive than that one I mentioned, just a little further away.

Izak said:

Thanks for your replies.

The chap at the garage did say it had just been for and passed its MOT with no advisory notices and did show me it had a fully stamped service history.

If the EAS was to fail would it be best to go back to the old coil springs? I've also seen a device called as FASKIT (:: Range Rover, Land Rover, Emergency Kit for Air Suspension, Parts & Accesories ::) has anyone had any experience of that.

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don't be fooled by having passed a mot, does not mean jack, you can still get dodgy mot's buy with your eyes open look over everything,make sure everything works,take someone with experience with you.
3 grand is too much, 166,000 miles as long as it has been looked after should not be a problem,just make sure it starts from hot easily,and cold.
few vehicles compare pick the right one and enjoy

Izak

In my opinion, the diesels are far too sluggish, particularily if you tow anything heavy (caravan, horse trailer) - go for a 1999 on petrol V8 with LPG. Cheaper to buy & you will love the power

don't forget as well that unleaded is approx 10p/ltr cheaper than diesel (round here unleaded 131.9 ltr, diesel 140.9/ltr)

just my 2p worth

Hawaii said:

Izak

In my opinion, the diesels are far too sluggish, particularily if you tow anything heavy (caravan, horse trailer) - go for a 1999 on petrol V8 with LPG. Cheaper to buy & you will love the power

don't forget as well that unleaded is approx 10p/ltr cheaper than diesel (round here unleaded 131.9 ltr, diesel 140.9/ltr)

just my 2p worth

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Thanks for your reply.

I've actually just been having a look at LPG Range Rovers on Auto Trader but there isn't many in the local area and the couple that are for sale are high mileage and expensive.

But I was having a look at petrol models and there are quite a few in the local area that are reasonably priced. Have you any idea how much it would cost to do an LPG conversion on one of these?

Just thought I'd also mention that I am looking for automatics only as both myself and my wife have not driven a manual for over 30 years!

Izak said:

Thanks for your reply.

I've actually just been having a look at LPG Range Rovers on Auto Trader but there isn't many in the local area and the couple that are for sale are high mileage and expensive.

But I was having a look at petrol models and there are quite a few in the local area that are reasonably priced. Have you any idea how much it would cost to do an LPG conversion on one of these?

Just thought I'd also mention that I am looking for automatics only as both myself and my wife have not driven a manual for over 30 years!

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Single Point system (not as good - but works) £1200-1800

Multi Point system (good) £1500-£2500....

But shop around, BRC systems are good apparently (no affiliation....)

The Diesel Autos aren't too bad...better suited to the diesel than the Manual version in anycase...

Have you considered a P38 V8 on LPG? My 3.9 V8 Classic has an old single point injection LPG kit fitted, I get an equivalent 26mpg from that - I doubt you will get any better from a diesel. The 'true' mpg is around 14mpg, but at 69.9p/litre for LPG it equates to 26mpg in terms of cost were I running it on petrol. P38's V8's tend to be a bit more economical (my boss gets 18mpg from his) so taking into account a slight loss of efficieny on LPG you should see 28-30mpg equivalent.

This means you will have a better engine - faster, more powerful and sounds better, much better suited to the car - with similar running costs. Find one with a decent multi-point injection kit fitted with the tank in the spare wheel well and you're laughing - as long as you live vaguely close to a couple of stations that sell LPG.

As for EAS, keep it - it's actually a simple system that is often misunderstood, but if you're towing horseboxes and want a decent ride I'd say stick with it but budget £250 for some new air springs if they haven't been replaced recently.

The diesel is a bit under 140bhp and the V8 is about 180bhp, is it not? And there is a slight weight advantage with the diesel too - so I can't see that the difference is going to be that great! Also the diesel can be chipped (no personal experience of this...) which will close the gap even further.

I have a diesel manual, and once you get used to the fact that there is no power at all below 1,500 rpm it is fine. The accelerator also has a very long travel which makes it feel slower than it is - but gives good control off road. It does actually go quite well when you press the pedal far enough! The upside is, the engine is very smooth and revs willingly. With an auto box I can't really see what the problem will be.

Personally, I would stick with diesel - and learn to live with the power delivery, and/or get it chipped. I am also a fan of LPG - I have it on my Subaru - but it will take a very long time to get your investment back (budget 2K for a decent multipoint system properly installed, and be prepared for frequent fill ups) if you compare the running cost vs. diesel.....


HTH

Cheers,

Jerry

MikeV8SE said:

Have you considered a P38 V8 on LPG? My 3.9 V8 Classic has an old single point injection LPG kit fitted, I get an equivalent 26mpg from that - I doubt you will get any better from a diesel. The 'true' mpg is around 14mpg, but at 69.9p/litre for LPG it equates to 26mpg in terms of cost were I running it on petrol. P38's V8's tend to be a bit more economical (my boss gets 18mpg from his) so taking into account a slight loss of efficieny on LPG you should see 28-30mpg equivalent.

This means you will have a better engine - faster, more powerful and sounds better, much better suited to the car - with similar running costs. Find one with a decent multi-point injection kit fitted with the tank in the spare wheel well and you're laughing - as long as you live vaguely close to a couple of stations that sell LPG.

As for EAS, keep it - it's actually a simple system that is often misunderstood, but if you're towing horseboxes and want a decent ride I'd say stick with it but budget £250 for some new air springs if they haven't been replaced recently.

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And you can enjoy the benefits of dropped liners, cracked blocks etc, just look at all the threads on V8 engine problems. The diesel is comparatively bomb proof if well maintained although if overheated can fairly rarely suffer head failure. They will also run on home brewed biodiesel which cuts the legs off the LPG fuel economy argument. Chipped, a diesel will give the V8 a run for it's money power wise

Datatek said:

And you can enjoy the benefits of dropped liners, cracked blocks etc, just look at all the threads on V8 engine problems. The diesel is comparatively bomb proof if well maintained although if overheated can fairly rarely suffer head failure. They will also run on home brewed biodiesel which cuts the legs off the LPG fuel economy argument. Chipped, a diesel will give the V8 a run for it's money power wise

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yep a good argument although chipping can put extra strain on the gearbox, mine is a diesel manual it is only on moving off that the power is an issue,on the move can't fault it, once you get used to how it needs to be driven you don't notice it.

Datatek said:

And you can enjoy the benefits of dropped liners, cracked blocks etc, just look at all the threads on V8 engine problems. The diesel is comparatively bomb proof if well maintained although if overheated can fairly rarely suffer head failure. They will also run on home brewed biodiesel which cuts the legs off the LPG fuel economy argument. Chipped, a diesel will give the V8 a run for it's money power wise

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Until the gearbox blows up...!

I agree the diesel manual has Fook all power under 1500 rpm, but once you get it going its good, I test drove autos and thought they were slower , but of course could be just me