Newbe land rover owner

Gents,

thought I would join up as this looks to be a really good forum, so hello, as this is me first post.

And on to me question (s)!!

I have spent the last three months trying to find a spot on landy, and finally fell for a green hard top, about 10 yrs old, bought from a specialist dealer. The first few days of ownership have been a bit of a baptism of fire!

The main issue I have is that I noticed coolant dripping from the underside of the engine, and on checking the header tank noticed that the coolant level was barely visable, this was on friday. I tried to top it up yesterday but when i took the top off the tank, it was like the flood gates opened, coolant was properly running out of a site close to the left hand corner of the engine (when viewing from underneith)....not being mechanically mined I find this quite worrying having only just bought the thing a few days ago. Unfortunatly the place were I bought it from is several hrs drive away so am going to have to get it to a local garage to find the problem then get back to the dealers to let them know the issue. Any thoughts on what it could be? Obviously I have stopped driving it!

Also a few other smaller things which as I have never owened a land rover b4 am not sure if they are just things to be expercted or things which should not be happening, so any help would be appreciated:

-Oil leeks x2 coming from the same areas at each end of what I think is the drive shaft(long tube going from front to back) where it meets (i think again) the diffs...is this to be expected or can it be fixed?

-Reverse gear, it is hard to get out of, I have to push quite hard to get back into first or nuetral from here.

-When I turn off the ignition, there is a squeek from somewhere in the engine bay, again is this normal?

-There is a gap between the roof panal and the metal which surrounds the windcreen, it looks like what was there originally has perished (it looks white) does this need replacing?

-brass screw holes on drivers side, I think where a snorkle has been fitted then removed, do these need caping in some way or are they ok just left open?

Sorry about the amount of questions, just like I said new to owning a defender and not really sure how much of the above is normal, so any thoughts would be appreciated.

With all the above I am starting to get a bit worried and am thinking about taking it to a local indy garage to get the whole thing checked out.

Cheers
eLucius

:welcome2:

Looks like your landy may not be so 'spot on' after all!

Before you go spendin money of any sort answer a few of these q's.

1) Did you get a warranty from the dealer?
2) Did the dealer lead you to believe it was in perfect mechanical order
3) Did you pay an good price for it? (i.e. similar to a landy with same age, spec, condition etc)

If the answer to these is YES then id be after that dealer lookin for him to collect and sort!

there is a thread on here somewhere with advice for new owners and wher they stand with this kind of thing i'll have a quick look for it.

here it is...

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f16/buying-crock-****-if-you-already-have-76002.html

Have a look in the anything goes section at the thread buying a crock of **** or if you already have.

I would take it to the dealer to sort out if you have only had it a few days

an idea of model might help

I agree, you ought to get this looked at by the 'specialist' you bought it from, but it's worth going in knowing what you are talking about, or you might get fobbed off with some rubbish!

eLucius said:

...when i took the top off the tank, it was like the flood gates opened, coolant was properly running out of a site close to the left hand corner of the engine (when viewing from underneath)...

eLucius

Click to expand...

Sounds to me like the vacuum was stopping the water from pouring out and when you undid the cap it let air rush in and the water pour out at the leak. You are going to need to put new coolant in it anyway so I would get a hose into the header tank and turn it on so that it can just about keep up with the leak and have a good inspection and see where it is coming from. If you are lucky it will be a loose hose clip that needs tightened up. If it is as simple as that, tighten it up and refill with antifreeze/water - bleed the system and check level, top up if necessary.

eLucius said:

Oil leeks x2 coming from the same areas at each end of what I think is the drive shaft(long tube going from front to back) where it meets (i think again) the diffs...is this to be expected or can it be fixed?

eLucius

Click to expand...

Yes the driveshafts/propshafts come from the transfer case and into the diff, the seals at the flanges can go and can leak oil, can also be a sign that the bearings are worn giving the flange lateral movement which hammers the seals and it leaks. This can be sorted easily enough but I don't think you should have to.

eLucius said:

-Reverse gear, it is hard to get out of, I have to push quite hard to get back into first or neutral from here.

eLucius

Click to expand...

The gearshifts can be difficult if the turret is not set up properly or if the detent plungers need wound out a little bit, it can also mean the box is shot, simple things first though!

eLucius said:

-When I turn off the ignition, there is a squeak from somewhere in the engine bay, again is this normal?

eLucius

Click to expand...

Probably not, can you hear where it is coming from, how long does it last, there are certain noises that are in fact normal but give more details for this one.

eLucius said:

-There is a gap between the roof panel and the metal which surrounds the windscreen, it looks like what was there originally has perished (it looks white) does this need replacing?

eLucius

Click to expand...

Probably, they leak enough as it is!

eLucius said:

-brass screw holes on drivers side, I think where a snorkel has been fitted then removed, do these need caping in some way or are they ok just left open?

eLucius

Click to expand...

I would, no point in letter water in , they rust badly enough with the holes they have!

Awesome, thanks for the quick replies!

Yep I have a six month warranty, yes it was surviced and MOT'd (at a garage independant from the dealer) prior to purchase so I presume it was in perfect working order. And yes i paid a good price for it, slightly higher as it has had certain improvements done to it, but nothing to do with the mechanics or suspension.

Its a TD5, hardtop, just box standard base model I think, no aircon etc.

The noise when ignition is switched off lasts only a second, and comes from the bonnet somewhere I think.

All this is really annoying, I know its a land rover but in my opinion it should not be leaking anything, be hard to get out of gear, and not be making odd noises!! I should be in the honeymoon period not wishing I hadnt bought the thing.

Anyone know if rcv in kent can be trusted?

Thanks Guys

If it is the noise I think you are talking about it's nothing to worry about, when you turn it off there is a short high pitched whine (not that loud) that comes from some of the electronics, it sounds like a high frequency circuit dis-charing to me, I think it's the ECU or EBM circuits.

Unfortunately an independent MOT means nothing, I have an MOTer who is an understanding MOTer and will let me away with things that are non safety critical as he knows the difficulties in keeping LRs in textbook MOT pass condition. If this specialists uses the same MOTer all the time the chances are he is getting some easy MOT's. Also an MOT doesn't mean a vehicle is in good working order, it just means it's safe for highway use. You could have an MOT on a car with an engine thats gubbed (as long as the emissions were low enough etc...).

have a read of the above thread (about the crock o ****) and know what your entitled to and where you stand, then get onto him first thing monday and explain the situation.

its unfortunate that you have had a tough start but once its cleared up u will love it!

if you put your location in your user cp there may be someone around who could help ya out/ advise what to look for from dealer etc