About to buy Defender, question about oil issue

Hi,

First post from me and already I'm asking favours!

First of all I am a complete Land rover novice. I have to buy a 4 wheel drive because I work in the Welsh hills and tow a trailer and the van is causing me great embarrasment so sold it.

The guy I work with has a 110 Defender for sale (approx 96). I know and trust him (he gets to work in it every morning!). He is a perfectionist. He has had a recon engine fitted, had it waxoyled after pressure washing it himself, changed the suspension, cut some of the back chassis away and had it replaced etc. etc. It has big tyres and a snorkel exhaust. He has also fitted storage boxes both sides.

Basically he has made it how he wants it (wants a new project now, a short wheel base).

Because he is a friend he has made me aware of two issues:

1. It uses more oil than he expects, about a litre every six or seven weeks sort of thing. He does not know why. The recon has 15,000 miles on it after about 10 months of use. He recently took it to a 4-wheel drive garage and they said not to worry about it citing that it is probably not run in fully yet with the guy saying that his own Defender is no different. Also something about "varnish" in the cylinders maybe (me no understand). He has just changed the oil to a "cheaper oil" as recommended by the garage. Basically he says that they think he is over worrying. He says he needs to tell me before selling it me so I have all the facts.

2. There is a damp but underneath the vehicle, again he says he does not worry about it. He says it is the back seal on the transfer box (think I got that right). He says that most Landys leak somewhere and that, to be honest, it does not worry him.

Question is should I be worried?

Many thanks in advance

JP

As a Land Rover novice the best thing you can do is find some one else to go with you and have a look at it.

You don't say how many miles he is doing every six or seven weeks to need a 1 litre top up. More importantly is where the existing oil is going. If it's burning it then it could be valve seals, piston rings or head gasket which need looking at. If it's getting into the cooling system, that suggests a head gasket or damaged head. If it's dropping onto the road that means it's a Land Rover and one of a number of seals/gaskets could be leaking.

I think you mean air intake snorkel, not exhaust - but I could be wrong.

If the transmission seal is leaking, OK not a major issue, but does mean it's losing transmission oil and will need topping up if it's more than a drop now again.

The good news is none of the above are terminal/expensive, particularly if you can do they work yourself. It is a 16 year old vehicle after all.

Before I would buy such a Land Rover though I would get a few insurace quotes: don't forget to mention the modifications he has made (inclduing the big tyres). Some High Street insurance companies won't touch modified Land Rovers.

By the way:welcome2: and think about introducing yourself in the newcomers section.

96 would make it a 200Tdi? Unusual to be using that much oil imho, a solid engine shouldn't realistically be drinking that much oil, but as tazz says, how many miles, kind of work is it doing?
A recon engine could be anything from a enthusiast rebuilding it to a professional firm doing it, bores not honed correctly, turbo seals gone, leaking timing seals etc, etc.
If there is no sign of oil leakage on the floor after standing for a few days then it's likely to be burning the oil, does it smoke on pulling away/starting up?
It's hard to nail down why it's using oil without a good knowledge/experience of the engine itself, but as you say you trust the guy who owns it, then it's a decision you have to make.
Personally i ran an engine which used almost that amount of oil a week ( bored knackered, valve clearances were 5x what they should've been ) and ran it for a year, it was abit gutless for a 200Tdi, but these engines are bullet proof to a certain extent

'96 would be a 300 tdi although the comments made about the 200tdi pretty much still apply. My '94 300tdi with 120k miles on the clock doesn't need any oil between services every 6 months.

We used to have issues with bikes that were run in too gentlely on synthetic oil where the bores would glaze and the engine would use too much oil. This could be the issue they refer to but I don't know that tdi's suffer from that so seems a bit dubious. As refered to above, is it a recon engine or an eBay pressurewash and new oil filter special?

Seal on the transfer box is probably the output seals which not that trivial a job but unless it's bad , I wouldn't bother.

Thanks all! It is a 300tdi.

I am likely going to purchase the Defender (after checking insurance as advised). All discussions point to it burning too much oil but I will have to live with this and will get it checked out/sorted in a few months or so as finances allow.

Test drive tomorrow.

Many thanks everybody for all your help.

Spoonfire said:

Also something about "varnish" in the cylinders maybe (me no understand). He has just changed the oil to a "cheaper oil" as recommended by the garage. Basically he says that they think he is over worrying.

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I agree with SpringDon; has the current owner been using a fully synthetic oil?
The garage has probably recommended a mineral 15w-40 oil, its thicker viscosity will reduce oil consumption. The good news a quality mineral "truck" oil is only £16 for 5 litres.

Not sure where done but will ask. The recon was £1200 I was told (plus some more for a new clutch) and the guy did actually visit the place and was happy with what he saw. He said he visited the place because he wanted to paint/seal the engine bay whilst there was access (something like that).

Apparently it's not the turbo as he has had new (seals?).

The guy at the 4x4 place who said it's likely nut run in properly and to use a different oil is from Power Range 4x4 | Land Rover Specialist,North Wales.

"Our highly qualified team is led by a factory trained Land Rover technician with over 35 years experience and we use the very latest T4 diagnostic equipment when assessing vehicles."

Thanks all.