L322 Building a L322 for long road trips, yes or no?

Hey everyone, serious question which I'm looking for more than a yes or no answer.

I have a L322 with the V8 gasoline BMW engine running on LPG and planning to use this car a lot to travel thru Europe and it will see some off road action and will also be used to tow car transport trailers.
I've read a lot about reliability and it seems it are mostly the same issues. Can I get this car reliable enough for it?
I've read hours and hours on different forums to gather as much info as I can but nothing beats answers from people with experience.

I can do a lot myself and am planning to replace:
-Distribution chain and vanos clocks (with improved seals)
-Air suspension + compressor
-Torque convertor
-I've read that there might be some internal problems in the transmission but not sure if I should rebuild this preventative or not.

So with all this, what else should/could be changed for making it reliable and not break down on me somewhere in the mountains?

Is this a wise decision or would it be better to trade it in? (don't get me wrong, I love this car... But either I hope to make a reliable build and keep it for many years to come or trade it in for ... suggestions welcome)

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my post and hopefully help making a decision.

Your asking how long is a piece of string? As long as it's well maintained I don't see a problem,at least it's not a TD6 with its transmission weakness. Best get good breakdown\recovery insurance.

tomcat59alan said:

Your asking how long is a piece of string? As long as it's well maintained I don't see a problem,at least it's not a TD6 with its transmission weakness. Best get good breakdown\recovery insurance.

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Haha thanks, I'm aware it's a difficult question but if its mainly maintenance after everything is mostly fixed then its fine. But I do hope hearing from some people with the same car that have travelled a few thousand miles and if they did anything to avoid breaking down. It will still be a Land Rover but where we can improve.. why not.

Own up, who said buy a toyota.

Like Alan said...

Quite a hard question to answer, Id change all the oils before hand

Nick_V said:

Haha thanks, I'm aware it's a difficult question but if its mainly maintenance after everything is mostly fixed then its fine. But I do hope hearing from some people with the same car that have travelled a few thousand miles and if they did anything to avoid breaking down. It will still be a Land Rover but where we can improve.. why not.

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You are asking the impossible, for any vehicle of any age. You can rip it out and start again but you will never make any vehicle breakdown proof. Even the scientists at NASA haven't managed that
My suggestion is get your vehicle in the best condition possible, pack as many spares as possible, the Dakar guys pack a 7.5t or two with spares, which shows, again, breakdowns cannot be avoided.
Then, and this is the most important bit, change your mindset. Instead of 'how do I prevent breakdowns', start thinking, ' how do I set myself up the best chance of repairing a breakdown'.
Good luck with your travels.

you have picked a vehicle with more computers than the apollo rockets had, its not so much a mechanical issue i would worry about but all the different sensors and interconnection between ecus, the need for decent diagnostics and the fact that unlike a series you cant get away with a few spanners and a hammer for a tool kit

badfluffy said:

you have picked a vehicle with more computers than the apollo rockets had, its not so much a mechanical issue i would worry about but all the different sensors and interconnection between ecus, the need for decent diagnostics and the fact that unlike a series you cant get away with a few spanners and a hammer for a tool kit

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A basic calculator has more computer power than the Apollo rocket, not so with the L322. I took my Classic on a 5000 mile round trip to Southern Spain many years ago at least ,when the centre of the clutch drive plate fell apart 1000 miles from home, I was able to have one sent out from England and replace it with just the hand tools I had with me.

tomcat59alan said:

. I took my Classic on a 5000 mile round trip to Southern Spain many years ago at least ,when the centre of the clutch drive plate fell apart 1000 miles from home, I was able to have one sent out from England and replace it with just the hand tools I had with me.

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the word classic says it all built to be repaired mostly with spanners and a hammer, in some ways the best of the range rovers

gold rover said:

You are asking the impossible, for any vehicle of any age. You can rip it out and start again but you will never make any vehicle breakdown proof. Even the scientists at NASA haven't managed that
My suggestion is get your vehicle in the best condition possible, pack as many spares as possible, the Dakar guys pack a 7.5t or two with spares, which shows, again, breakdowns cannot be avoided.
Then, and this is the most important bit, change your mindset. Instead of 'how do I prevent breakdowns', start thinking, ' how do I set myself up the best chance of repairing a breakdown'.
Good luck with your travels.

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Thanks, this is indeed maybe a good mindset which I will adapt. And ofcourse taking preparations to repair possible breakdowns but I mainly want to avoid a serious breakdown on the transmission or engine. Hence replacing the common issues, but still of anyone has a suggestion for what else could preventively be replaced. I did a lot of research but it doesn't mean I couldn't have missed something.

badfluffy said:

the word classic says it all built to be repaired mostly with spanners and a hammer, in some ways the best of the range rovers

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Wish I still had it now.

tomcat59alan said:

Wish I still had it now.

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I do agree with the classic being a (technical) superior choice (most you find here are quite rotten), unfortunately due to the fact it being a classic I won't be allowed into the big cities here in Belgium which work wise puts me in a bad position if I need to transport a clients car.

Ah well, probably will take the gamble with this RR anyway. Advise still welcome on problem areas I might have missed ofcourse.

The suspension will play up. Even if you rebuild the system new will likely need diagnostics for it or minimum a reset tool. Likely there will be one in the glove box of whatever you buy.
L322 will be great for long journeys providing it is well maintained. Finding one will be difficult and a gamble building one is the only way to be sure. International breakdown cover for peace of mind?
Ideally you’d have a spare vehicle on a trailer hitched up ready

RangeRoller dt said:

The suspension will play up. Even if you rebuild the system new will likely need diagnostics for it or minimum a reset tool. Likely there will be one in the glove box of whatever you buy.
L322 will be great for long journeys providing it is well maintained. Finding one will be difficult and a gamble building one is the only way to be sure. International breakdown cover for peace of mind?
Ideally you’d have a spare vehicle on a trailer hitched up ready

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Awesome, this is really good to know to best take a diagnostic tool with me. I've read some good things about the IIDTool on here, do you know if this will be enough?
International breakdown I will do for sure, no matter what car you are driving.
Haha, travelling around with a spare car behind you. Wouldn't that be an interesting sight.

Nick_V said:

Awesome, this is really good to know to best take a diagnostic tool with me. I've read some good things about the IIDTool on here, do you know if this will be enough?
International breakdown I will do for sure, no matter what car you are driving.
Haha, travelling around with a spare car behind you. Wouldn't that be an interesting sight.

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Diagnostics is the absolute basics, before doing anything else. That and a good battery. So ensure your battery is tip top. If going somewhere difficult to get a battery, take a spare.
@Wazzajnr has two different diagnostic systems for sale at the moment. Even with postage the price will be more than competitive.

On top of this make sure you have good quality bags on EAS. Age and wear can cause holes that are found at the most inopportune moments.

When buying one don't take full service history as gospel. some of the garages that service these days just ain't up to look scratch on a lot of cars not just RR's. Try and find one owned by a RR nut (bit like us nutters on here), it will probably have been looked after and serviced correctly

Fix whats broken and worn rather than replacing things because they might break. Thats been my way of running old cars which i have done for nearly 20 years now.

We have bought an 04 l322 for the same reason. Touring but with a caravan. Those bmw m62 v8 are quite reliable if maintained. Change filters and fluid on time or ahead of time and they do 250000 miles before needing any serious work. Also the gearboxes are not fragile if fluids and filters are changed regularly. Bmw 740i 840i and 540i car use the same engines and gearboxes and in those if maintained the drivetrain soldiers on. The cars where it does not are the neglected ones mostly.

Vanos does not suddenly failure. It will give symptoms of impending failure before it does.

With our its been in the garage as we just bought it and it needed through going through. It was Sold as well maintained. I had a list of maintence jobs but i had not been able to see the brake lines which were rotten at the back and had joins where they shouldn't have. Also they were not clipped in place properly so the brake lines have been replaced in there entirity. The abs pump failed so a replacement has been fitted. New pads and rotors as even though they "had" been replaced by the previous owner the rear pads were worn out and the front rotors were wavy. Air suspension fixed with a new air pump and height sensors. We have used a replacement air compressor and that fitted to the donut rather than buying a new donut. That saved a fair bit of coin.

Even the locking wheel bolts fitted were not the right ones for the wheels (too small) and the wheel bolts did not fit the spare. So thats been rectified.

Old cars can be reliable. My other car is a 33 year bmw 5 series. All cars need is the owner to be on top of the maintaince and to drive it sympathetically. I have driven all over europe in it.

unless your willing to drop a fair bit of money on diagnostic kit then you might be wasting money. What ever you buy has to talk reliably to your car. I dont own one currently as i am not sure at moment exactly what i buy. What i do know is a fault in one system can cause another to stop working. So clearing fault codes is not the way to go. Identifying the fault and rectifying it is the way. Hence all system faults are being addressed in one hit. your fault code reader has to be able talk to all the cars systems.

One thing that has been noticed the car still thinks 19" wheels. The previous owner fitted 22". So recode the telling it the new wheel size and recalibrate the height sensors ( it should not make any difference) but why give the ecu a reason to throw up a fault.

You dont have to be a range rover nut to run one of these. Just keep on top of everything and dont leave jobs thinking ill do it another time or when i can afford it. Thats how any car becomes unreliable. Also major component failure should not come as a surprise. As with all things if you not up to speed with how all the cars systems interact and not quite there with skills employ the services of someone who is. I know my skills and knowledge are not there for this car so i am not attempting the work myself.

Agarange said:

Fix whats broken and worn rather than replacing things because they might break. Thats been my way of running old cars which i have done for nearly 20 years now.

We have bought an 04 l322 for the same reason. Touring but with a caravan. Those bmw m62 v8 are quite reliable if maintained. Change filters and fluid on time or ahead of time and they do 250000 miles before needing any serious work. Also the gearboxes are not fragile if fluids and filters are changed regularly. Bmw 740i 840i and 540i car use the same engines and gearboxes and in those if maintained the drivetrain soldiers on. The cars where it does not are the neglected ones mostly.

With our its been in the garage as we just bought it for a through going through. Sold as well maintained. Brake lines were rotten at the back and had joins where they shouldn't have. Also they were not clip in place properly so they have been replaced. The abs pimp failed so a replacement has been fitted. New pads and rotors as even though they "had" been replaced the rear were worn out and the front rotors were wavy. Air suspension fixed with a new air pump and height sensors. Even the wheel bolts fitted were not the right ones for the wheels and the wheel bolts did not fit the spare.

Old cars can be reliable. My other car is a 33 year bmw 5 series. All cars need is the owner to be on top of the maintaince and to drive it sympathetically. I have driven all over europe in it.

unless your willing to drop a fair bit of money on diagnostic kit then you might be wasting money. What ever you buy has to talk reliably to your car. I dont own one currently as i am not sure at moment exactly what i buy...............

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If it helps any we've just had a massive conversation about which diagnostics , on the 'what did you do' thread. Several popped up for your year and engine. Again , I think @Wazzajnr is selling one that suits your vehicle

Its all well and good having a fault code reader but if you dont know how to address the problems or address them badly then your no better off.

I might buy one anyway as there is only one way to learn but i personally will be handing the work over to keith as he a better car mechanic than i will ever be. I am a better bicycle mechanic than he is. I repair his bikes, he fixes my cars.

Agarange said:

Its all well and good having a fault code reader but if you dont know how to address the problems or address them badly then your no better off.

I might buy one anyway as there is only one way to learn but i personally will be handing the work over to keith as he a better car mechanic than i will ever be. I am a better bicycle mechanic than he is. I repair his bikes, he fixes my cars.

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Then why say " I dont own one currently as i am not sure at moment exactly what i buy", when you mean you don't have one because you wouldn't use it.

FFS! I knew there was a reason I avoided his posts.