Advice Needed...and prob lots of it

Hi Everyone.
I've been thinking about buying defender 90 for some time now and I've kinda taken lockdown as an opportunity to really keep an eye on whats available at the moment. It will be my first LR and I've watched my fair share of videos on what to look out for together with trawling through this fantastic information resource. One has come up I'd like your thoughts on the the MOT history. Lets just say with my other cars the MOT history all looked a lot cleaner in terms of advisories and things mentioned through the years. Of course when the ban is lifted I will of course go and see for myself but in the meantime I'd be grateful for your thoughts. So it's a 2001 defender 90, got 105k mileage, MOT'd to Feb 2021, but the MOT history mentions the below advisories:
Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):

• Oil leak, but not excessive gearbox (8.4.1 (a) (i))
• Oil leak, but not excessive (8.4.1 (a) (i))
• Exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases (6.1.2 (a))
• Nearside Rear Brake disc worn, but not excessively (1.1.14 (a) (i))
• Offside Rear Brake disc worn, but not excessively (1.1.14 (a) (i))
• Nearside Front Track rod end ball joint has slight play (2.1.3 (b) (i))

Looking back at the 2017 MOT its more. I know the usual every defender is an ongoing project etc just wanted if there is something here that would immediately make you walk away or is this just expected issues which require further looking at. Many Thanks and I'm hoping I've posted in the right section

2017 Advisory notice item(s)

• Rear passenger door catch deteriorated but the door can still be readily opened and closed Door split (6.2.B.2)
• Rear passenger door hinge deteriorated but the door can still be readily opened and close Badly worn (6.2.B.2)
• Nearside Front Seat belt damaged but webbing not significantly weakened (5.2.2a)
• Offside Front Seat belt damaged but webbing not significantly weakened (5.2.2a)
• Nearside Rear Track rod end ball joint has slight play (2.2.B.1f)
• Nearside Front Oil leak Swivel hub ()
• Offside Front Oil leak swivel hub ()
• Oil leak engine ()
• Oil leak gearbox ()
• Oil leak transferee box ()
• Vehicle structure has slight corrosion removable panel Under middle seat (6.1.B.2)
• Nearside Front Radius arm damaged but not seriously weakened worn due to tyre fouling (2.4.G.1)
• Offside Front Radius arm damaged but not seriously weakened worn due to tyre fouling (2.4.G.1)
• Rear brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (3.5.1i)

I have found that a lot of mot advisories are are highlighted just because they have to be seen to be doing so ....

Id have a good check on the oil leaks , everything else is a pretty easy / normal fix ...

do you have any photos of it .. ?

Price and condition of chassis, bulkhead and battery box are the most important things to look at. Without seeing pictures of it and knowing how much they think it's worth I can't really advise you

What you have to bare in mind is compared to normal cars, most defenders are bits of siht, they are after all a commercial vehicle.
There is way more to go wrong, stuff takes more of a hammering, and poeple tend to just ignore stuff until its to late.
They take an awful lot more looking after than your average runabout, and if you use it off road, way more maintanence.

Like all land rovers new and old, look after them and they will look after you.

All the items in the first list are straight forward fix's.
The second list items have either been done or were the work of an over enthusiastic MOT chap or some of both.
I have never seen radius arms damaged by rubbing tyres, they just get shiny.

Id say keep an open mind , we looked at loads before we found ours , even the more newer ones we found had suffered , either been used as a work vehicle or had a really hard life ... (depending on what your planning on doing with it ) try and find something with fewer owners and where possible just used as a normal car ..

aevans692 said:

we looked at loads before we found ours ,

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That is the boring way of doing it. What you do is buy the cheapest one you can possibly find, with 6 months mot, blind of ebay. Then you spend the next 10 years and more money that I care to imagine buying tools, parts, and rebuilding it to keep it on the road (if you are fancy you could call it a rolling restoration). Worked for me and has not been off the road more than about a month in that time. However when I got mine I was spending my student loan on it so cheap was better than good!

...lol..

Ha well perhaps it wasn't a genuine ad as I have not heard back but here it is:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2001-LAN...530647?hash=item3fdf8d7a17:g:3XYAAOSwrSpekYhS

Defwant1 said:

Ha well perhaps it wasn't a genuine ad as I have not heard back but here it is:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2001-LAN...530647?hash=item3fdf8d7a17:g:3XYAAOSwrSpekYhS

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I bet the real owner doesn't even know their lovely 90 is being advertised on their behalf - £10k + car that.

doriz said:

I bet the real owner doesn't even know their lovely 90 is being advertised on their behalf - £10k + car that.

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Yeah I assumed the price was wrong and asked the guy to confirm. The search continues but glad I can rely on you guys when the
time comes .....your responses were still appreciated!

Someone on here will always help you choose something that'll get you started. Sometimes the tattiest drovers have the best running gear and the best looking are basket cases. Keep an eye out in the LZ LR sales as they tend to be reasonable and honest. Don't jump at the first one you see and be patient.

doriz said:

Someone on here will always help you choose something that'll get you started. Sometimes the tattiest drovers have the best running gear and the best looking are basket cases. Keep an eye out in the LZ LR sales as they tend to be reasonable and honest. Don't jump at the first one you see and be patient.

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Thanks Doriz yeah I have been keeping an eye and ideally this is where I would find one. Certainly takes a more expert eye than your average car purchase and I'll defo take someone along when the times comes whose got or had a defender Not much else I can do put be patient in these troubled times cant actually go looking at them anytime soon.

Eyes peeled everyone.....many eyes make hmmm

In my search I come across a fair few that have a new chassis fitted like this one:
https://ebay.us/aARlfe
This one doesn’t say galvanised but can I assume it is. Is this the ideal then having a new chassis? At this price isn’t that a good chunk of the value alone?

I noticed that blue one at under £5,000 and messaged the seller to see what l got back.

Guess what? He’s working away and l can’t view the vehicle.
He’s using the lockdown as an excuse....and if l put the money into an Escrow account he would get the Land Rover delivered.

“Nathan Edgar Wright” lol

lightning said:

I noticed that blue one at under £5,000 and messaged the seller to see what l got back.

Guess what? He’s working away l can’t view the vehicle.
He’s using the lockdown as an excuse....and if l put the money into an Escrow account he would get the Land Rover delivered.

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I’ve messaged about 3 and got this same message. To be fair I’m looking at the bottom of the market so it’s great fishing ground for them. Strangely a lot of them have eBay history not sure how they are doing that.

lightning said:

I noticed that blue one at under £5,000 and messaged the seller to see what l got back.

Guess what? He’s working away l can’t view the vehicle.
He’s using the lockdown as an excuse....and if l put the money into an Escrow account he would get the Land Rover delivered.

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And here’s another I imagine although really obvious here:
https://ebay.us/DTGJK0

Hijacked Ebay accounts mostly.

There’s about five scam Defender listings on Ebay at the moment.
Here’s another

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174246587476

I would be looking for something that looks (exterior looks) more like one of these:
link 1
link 2
it is easy to polish bodywork to make it look shiny for a sale to distract you from everything else that is wrong with the vehicle. I would rather get a vehicle that looks very rough but is mechanically sound than one that looks perfect but is a dog underneath.

I would also suggest that in the 5k and below bracket you are not going to be getting a td5 unless there is something wrong with it., and you are potentially better getting a 1.5-2k defender fitting a galv chassis and bulkhead with the rest of the budget (you would need to do the work yourself otherwise it would be a lot more than the budget) as that would give you a vehicle far better than you could get for the same money.

dag019 said:

I would be looking for something that looks (exterior looks) more like one of these:
link 1
link 2
it is easy to polish bodywork to make it look shiny for a sale to distract you from everything else that is wrong with the vehicle. I would rather get a vehicle that looks very rough but is mechanically sound than one that looks perfect but is a dog underneath.

I would also suggest that in the 5k and below bracket you are not going to be getting a td5 unless there is something wrong with it., and you are potentially better getting a 1.5-2k defender fitting a galv chassis and bulkhead with the rest of the budget (you would need to do the work yourself otherwise it would be a lot more than the budget) as that would give you a vehicle far better than you could get for the same money.

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Thanks buddy yeah My only issue is mechanically I can top up oil and water and beyond that I’m struggling! Ok so I appreciate I’m gonna have to get better if I want a defender but going from this to fitting a new chassis might be a little ambitious. But I’m here to make friends and get advice and who knows. I don’t mind going down the route you suggest getting a ugly duck and polishing it up even if it means paying a more experienced hand.