High mileage TD5

I'm going to take a look at a TD5 with 180k on it. Sounds like it has service history for most of it's life then a little neglected and not used much by the previous owner for 4 years and then self serviced by the current owner. If it checks out then I'm prepared to take a bit of a risk. Let's say the worst happened how much roughly to stick a used lump in there? And what sort of mileage are these engines capable of?

Apart from that. It has an advisory on the rear cross member (slight rust) and rust at the bottom of the doors.

Some TD5s are showing up with pretty high mileages these days and still working fine. With regular oil and filter changes some seem to go on and on, with 200,000 or 300,000 mile examples showing up.

Equally, people report having problems. Exhaust manifold studs breaking or stripping their threads, head gaskets blowing, that sort of thing. Oh, and the oil pump drive sprocket coming off so the engine gets starved of oil. The peripherals are a bit vulnerable too, with injector looms and fuel pressure regulators needing replacement fairly often on some people's cars. The injector washers and sealing rings seem to need replacement on some examples yet on others they remain trouble free for hundreds of thousands of miles. While we're on the subject of cylinder heads, another fault is cracks or porosity developing, especially where the injectors fit in the head.

As to what to do when the engine expires, if you really want to bend the plastic, have a look at the Turner Engineering website. Alternatively, secondhand units show up on Ebay ranging from a few hundred to over a thousand. One possibility is to get a secondhand one before the current engine fails and work your way through it replacing wear items like bearing shells, seals, piston rings etc. so it is ready to drop in when you need it.

Hi there what year is it?

My old mans got 210k miles on his

Starts first swing every time... It's had clutch flywheel fuel pump front pulley all that nonsense

Check how well it starts from cold ie left overnight...

I'm not a mechanic but these are great engines and are quite strong too

It's 1999. Its recently had the injector harness replaced and a few oil leaks fixed. I'm going to go and see it shortly. Won't be making a purchase today as I'm waiting for funds to clear in my account. Checking ebay it looks like there are a lot of used engines around so it shouldn't be to hard to pick one up at a decent price. Just about to move house to one with a decent garage so don't mind a bit of a project. Just need it to be reliable for the move and refurb work on the house.

My last 110s engine had 190K in it before it got rolled. Engine is living on and still perfectly healthy in my dads Disco 2 and currently has 210K on it. Only thing that Ive done to it in nearly 50K miles is replace the injector washers and the exhaust manifold warped and it's been tuned since about 130K too with an ECU remap, then when I got it with 150K, it had a bigger intercooler, then VNT etc on it and then once in the Discovery, it's had a standard turbo, bigger intercooler, Boost box and turbo boost at 1.4 bar.

All it's needed since fitting it to the Discovery is a new clutch as the pressure plate failed on it a few months ago which has been in it with a new flywheel since 130K
My current 110 has 185K when I got it but an injector failed and engine needed to be rebuilt recently because of it due to a melted piston. Has 212K on it now though and also heavily tuned


Have seen some TD5s with 300K on them and are perfect once maintained well

Mileage isnt really an issues these days like it was 20/30 years ago, engines last well if oil/filters changed often.
When I started in the truck game the workshop was always full of trucks waiting for engine work some seriously worn out, nowadays no one expects to open an engine up even with 1 million k on the clock. not unusual to see trucks with well over a million on the clock and still doing their job, sadly the rest of the truck isnt as tough as the engine!

Had a look. No black smoke, oil and water clean, started well and idled well. I notice an occasional whistle from the engine when driving, turbo? I also noticed a bit of vibration coming through the dash at high revs in first and second but this settled out at when not pushing the revs too hard. There were a few oil leaks. I know he's replaced the cam cover gasket recently so may be old. On the driver side of the engine it looks like it is coming from fairly high up above what I think was the starter motor. The dif at the back looked a little oily too. Brakes were a bit crap but i'm comparing to my Porsche so that might be land rover brakes. Felt like the steering floated a bit but again comparing to Porsche. I'm not used to driving high up. It's got disco alloys which he says rub the chassis a little on full lock because they are bigger. Don't know if bigger alloys effects the handling.

if the engine is wet with oily stuff on the driver's side it might be a leaky fuel pressure regulator, which is a block with pipes and wires going to it towards the back of the cylinder head. Yes, of course the rocker cover gaskets leak too. When I bought mine I cleaned it all up with Gunk and a pressure washer and it's been much easier to see where the oil is getting out. It's possible to improve the steering feel so it is less 'floaty' at speed. Possible culprits are bushes and bearings, especially the tapered rollers that serve as a 'kingpin' on each side, but wheel bearings and suspension bushes are also worth changing. The brakes can be tightened up with new flexible hoses, new pads, maybe new discs if they're worn, and new seals at the master and wheel cylinders. Plus the vacuum pump and servo can get tired. All of these things are possible to do at home so not necessarily catastrophic.

Don't compare ANYTHING on a Defender to your Porsche!!

lightning said:

Don't compare ANYTHING on a Defender to your Porsche!!

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My 110 upstaged a GT3rs and RR Phantom parked either side of it once on a street outside a restaurant... People didn't even bat an eyelid probably worth nearly half a million between them while taking pics of the Defender

Ok so I'm thinking if I can do a deal with the guy then I'll probably go for it. I'll give the brakes a good going through and replace anything that needs doing and take a look at the bearings and bushes.

Any thoughts on the whistle and the vibration? The whistle wasn't particularly loud but with no music on you could notice it.

DaveM-sport said:

My 110 upstaged a GT3rs and RR Phantom parked either side of it once on a street outside a restaurant... People didn't even bat an eyelid probably worth nearly half a million between them while taking pics of the Defender

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Tremendous!
The Mrs was out last summer having a meal with some friends. One of them noticed a bit of a commotion in the car park and said there were people around the Landy. When they went to the window a coach of Japanese tourists were taking each others pictures in front of it. Individuals, groups, some girls were jumping up in the air to get a 'mid air' shot in front of it! Weird It's wall to wall castles and Roman forts up here anorl

Al2O3 said:

Tremendous!
The Mrs was out last summer having a meal with some friends. One of them noticed a bit of a commotion in the car park and said there were people around the Landy. When they went to the window a coach of Japanese tourists were taking each others pictures in front of it. Individuals, groups, some girls were jumping up in the air to get a 'mid air' shot in front of it! Weird It's wall to wall castles and Roman forts up here anorl

Click to expand...

Haha, was another few occasions like that too. Once where I was coming out of a fashion show that a friend was organising and a couple of models or girls that looked like they knew what was trendy anyway were saying what a cool jeep it was while in front of me as I was walking back to it.... I left the "It's not a jeep, it's a Landrover" remark go just the once
Another time, got a snapchat from a friend with two girls posing like Lara Croft on the bonnet while it was parked outside the pub we were in while I was inside with others lol

I would have ignored the Jeep comment too

The whistle might be something in the induction or exhaust system. The exhaust is easy to spot because after a while you'll be able to see some soot accumulating where the gas is escaping. The induction system is a bit more difficult to assess, but checking that all the pipes are intact and the clips are tight could be worthwhile.

Has it got a roof rack? My Mantec roof bars play a tune if I've not got anything on the roof but have left the bars on.

Vibrations are more difficult to trace. Land Rovers vibrate a lot anyway. The Discovery had a lot more rubber joints and padding to try and make it feel more like a saloon car, but even then it doesn't quite get there. Possible candidates include worn bearings in the drivetrain (wheels, diff input bearings, universal joints in propshafts, gearbox output shaft bearings) as well as the usual things like wheels running out of balance. These are the sort of thing you can work your way through over the course of a few weekends and can make it feel a lot smoother. Sometimes the engine can be a bit rough under high revs too. Usually I don't do more than 2000 rpm (or maybe 2500 when accelerating hard or on the motorway) but when my injector loom is getting oily you can begin to feel it getting rough at high revs.

220000 on mine and it runs very well (to my ear).
New Turner head many moons ago, various wheel bearings, rad, intercooler (both stone damage), FPR, one rear half shaft, caliper overhauls with SS pistons 5yrs or so ago, new DM flywheel (and clutch etc while it was in pieces), steering rod/links recently just cos it was not much more than the swivels (that's what I told myself anyway.....;-) ), steering damper while I was at it, cross member, rear dampers twice.... all sorts of bits and pieces that just bolt off and on again.

Needs new doors (waiting in the garage), water pump, alpine window seals, and some welding footwells and pillars........ Honestly not bad for that mileage, mostly my own work and enjoyable with the right kit and weather - and I'd never be without a Defender anyway.

From your description my only serious follow up would be on that vibration - but not the mileage in itself. Good luck. A