Cheap car not so cheap

silly boy said:

done same got a "bad cheap one" paid £820 for it of ebay x reg 108000 miles train journey to collect broke down on way home thank god for breakdown recovery any way turbo coolant pipe I think is what it was £275 later now in for repair again 3 amigos what is that going to cost, then shall I keep or "pass it on" one lesson learned do not get of ebay unless viewed and road tested first I say any way good luck with yours

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You can get a bargain on ebay - just be prepared to do the work yourself. With garages charging $40+ and hour and adding mark-up to materials, then VAT on top of all that, you'll soon exceed the value of the car in repair costs.

There's another advantage to DIY - you can try something simple and see how it goes. A Td4 Freelander with clicking starter can be repaired with a £10 kit from ebay. A garage would most likely just replace the whole starter, charging hundreds of pounds. You can see why, as they don't want comeback. Similarly, you can fit scrap parts, such as compressors, very cheaply. A garage would very likely refuse to do so for the same reason.

Cheers, silly boy. The trouble is, apart from second hand car dealers nearly everyone seems to sell their car on eBay and the interesting ones always seem to be miles away. It's a chance you take I guess. I've bought cars that I've inspected thoroughly and still had problems days later. The reason I like cheap cars is that if it goes tits up, I haven't lost loads of money. One of the days I'll work out what I'm happy to be paying per mile to buy and run a car for a year. On average, I'm happy to pay about £500 per year on repair costs but any more than that and I'm looking for something else, so I suppose I'll never own a disco for long.

Col

thanks for both replies have done most repairs to vehicles I have owned but not had a landy before will see what its going to cost prob keep it just having a rant

Rants are good for the soul, I have at least five a day, often on here.

Col

UPDATE just picked landy up and all amigos sorted work as they should according to this forum new front offside drive shaft and abs sensor oem parts
so happy now oh cost £225 "might keep it a while "

Mine cost me £1500 for a 2006 td4 with 68,000 miles on the clock(do you think that is a good buy?) and i have a few probs with that , you have had good advice from here, the more you can do yourself the more you get to know your car . I have to take the engine guard off next to check the air con at some stage not looking forward to that, must admit they do grow on you

tlo said:

Mine cost me £1500 for a 2006 td4 with 68,000 miles on the clock(do you think that is a good buy?) and i have a few probs with that , you have had good advice from here, the more you can do yourself the more you get to know your car . I have to take the engine guard off next to check the air con at some stage not looking forward to that, must admit they do grow on you

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That's not a bad price, how good depends on spec. Apparently the 2006 FL1 is slightly cheaper to buy than a 2005 of the same spec. This is probably due to the higher RFL of the 2006 MY.

I paid £2K for my 05 SE auto with 110K on the clock, 2 years ago. Which was a good price at the time.

Auto FL1s are more expensive than the manual, equivalent spec, but normally only come up in the higher spec trims.

FL1s range in price from £300 up to £5K depending on who is selling them and what spec,mileage and age they are.

tlo said:

Mine cost me £1500 for a 2006 td4 with 68,000 miles on the clock(do you think that is a good buy?) and i have a few probs with that , you have had good advice from here, the more you can do yourself the more you get to know your car . I have to take the engine guard off next to check the air con at some stage not looking forward to that, must admit they do grow on you

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Sounds like a very good price, depending on condition.

On a facelift like yours, you'll end up drilling some holes in the plastic trim to get at the front bolts for the undertray. It's also (arguably) worth cutting a little square out so you can change the oil without removing the tray.

not a bad price me thinks but this is my first "landy" just thinking of by passing egr

I bought mine right at the bottom of the price range: £275 as a "spares and repairs" off eBay. Overall, it wasn't bad, but I was (and remain) prepared to do a bit of work on it - and since purchase I have fixed a number of minor and not-so-minor faults. I've rebuilt the top end of the engine, lower wishbones and bushes, steering arms and ball joints, OSF ABS sensor, Yaw sensor and a few other trim bits and bobs. On the to-do list are the VCU carrier bearings and a hole in the rear tailgate where all Freelanders seem to rust... but I am generally really happy with it!

Buying at the bottom I think generally means you know what you're getting. Buying in the middle is a little pot luck, as you could be buying just as much trouble, but are paying more for the pleasure...

rob_bell said:

but are paying more for the pleasure

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That's what you call it that's not what I called it driving back from Lincoln tonight

rob_bell said:

I bought mine right at the bottom of the price range: £275 as a "spares and repairs" off eBay. Overall, it wasn't bad, but I was (and remain) prepared to do a bit of work on it - and since purchase I have fixed a number of minor and not-so-minor faults. I've rebuilt the top end of the engine, lower wishbones and bushes, steering arms and ball joints, OSF ABS sensor, Yaw sensor and a few other trim bits and bobs. On the to-do list are the VCU carrier bearings and a hole in the rear tailgate where all Freelanders seem to rust... but I am generally really happy with it!

Buying at the bottom I think generally means you know what you're getting. Buying in the middle is a little pot luck, as you could be buying just as much trouble, but are paying more for the pleasure...

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Yes, I've bought many cars in the £200-£300 price range and have rarely been disappointed. It is a risk you take and it all depends on your expectations. Generally, I'm quite happy to drive around in a car where half of its accessories don't work. As long as it steers and stops.

Col

got egr valve coming today, have got 3 amigos sorted and rear diff front mounting renewed and new tyres on front so hopefully a ok now

silly boy said:

got egr valve coming today, have got 3 amigos sorted and rear diff front mounting renewed and new tyres on front so hopefully a ok now

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Erm, I think the general consensus here is that new tyres should go on the back, not front. Unless of course you already had new tyres on the rear or you have the propshaft off.

new tyres already on back

silly boy said:

new tyres already on back

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You do know that the new front tyres must be identical to the rear. And unless the new rears are only a few days old, the new tyres should go on the rear.

Nodge68 said:

You do know that the new front tyres must be identical to the rear. And unless the new rears are only a few days old, the new tyres should go on the rear.

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I keep hearing this but I reckon as long as all the tyres are the same diameter it surely must be ok. If you have an unrepairable punture and you can't get the same tyre, you don't have to replace all four do you. If so, that is a bad design flaw.

Col

Colthebrummie said:

I keep hearing this but I reckon as long as all the tyres are the same diameter it surely must be ok. If you have an unrepairable punture and you can't get the same tyre, you don't have to replace all four do you. If so, that is a bad design flaw.

Col

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The Freelander AWD system is very reliable, if used as specified. However it is very easy damaged by incorrect tyres being fitted. The system is designed to compensate for identical tyres that wear under normal use conditions. This is 4 identical tyres on the road, where the fronts wear down faster than the rears. If the spare is required and it is new and identical. Then really it should be fitted on the rear.
The system can't really compensate for odd tyres from different manufacturers, as there's no guarantee they'll be identical in diameter. So to keep the VCU, IRD and diff in good condition, 5 identical tyres are needed. It sounds overly fussy, and is to a degree. But it's actually very common for AWD systems, regardless of make, to need matching tyres all round.

when I said new tyres already on back I mean new tyres "fitted by last owner to sell I/e a few days before I bought it," any way lets forget that. yesterday I fitted egr blanker, well that's a tale, old one came of easy except when I pull vacuum pipe of it does not come off egr it comes away from underneath exhaust somewhere . oh xxxx I say scratch head, kettle on ,me thinks exhaust manifold off put manifold nuts on piece of cloth on battery for "safe keeping, , ho I see where pipe goes so fit pipe on where it goes and put a screw in end of pipe tie up with cable out of way that's done. now wipe hands with cloth which I put on battery, YES YOU GESSED IT forgot about manifold nuts and lose them down front of engine, send the boss "wife" that is to hardware shop for replacements more tea , well manifold back on test run and every thing seems ok now you know I call myself sillyboy