Puma

Should I avoid buying a Puma. Some of the topics seem to Slate the engine. Wiring and reliability

Owned mine for more than eleven years. Never had any engine problems. Had a few problems with air booster hoses and intercooler splitting, all easily fixed. Other than that, totally reliable, always starts on half a turn of the engine, never ever broken down. Do all my own maintenance. Always passed mot with no advisories (except one year got an advisory on a lower shock absorber bush). I look after it and its well maintained. Same engine as a ford transit - they seem to do enormous miles under the boot of uncaring drivers, so the engines can't be bad.
In short, mine has been totally reliable.

paul griggs said:

Should I avoid buying a Puma. Some of the topics seem to Slate the engine. Wiring and reliability

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Have you looked at some of the other cars on here, that people (and us)still buy

Its as reliable as the maintenance or wallet thickness. Like any other car, ok a LR may appear to need more but I personally don't see it with ours.
Its the nature of forums to help fix problems, so reason you only see bad. But as ^^^ he loves his

I dont seem to see many major issues with it (on here).

J

The youngest defenders are now at an age when many ordinary cars are going to the scrappy. The Puma shares the same chassis and body as all earlier derivatives, with a few minor changes here and there. So the only real differences between different versions, is the engine. Provided it is looked after, a Puma should give a long and reliable life ahead in the hands of an enthusiast.

My 2.4 Puma is a decade old now and only had normal wear and tear/ standard maintenance and has not let me down. In my opinion as long as you keep up with the maintenance and treat it well - it will be as reliable as any other. Maintenance to me also means opening the bonnet and looking at it regularly as well to spot cracking hoses, loose wires or as in my case hundreds or acorns in the air filter box and chewed pipe insulation!

Thank you.
I have a 84 plate defender. No issues as it is old school maintenance. Something I I learned at college. Moving on to a ll round electric microchip and all the bits that show code faults and wiring degrade is something that will fly straight over my head.
Just don’t want to leap and regret it.

paul griggs said:

Thank you.
I have a 84 plate defender. No issues as it is old school maintenance. Something I I learned at college. Moving on to a ll round electric microchip and all the bits that show code faults and wiring degrade is something that will fly straight over my head.
Just don’t want to leap and regret it.

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Puma is no different to any modern car in that respect. I had the same trepidation early on, but bought the right diagnostic tool (Nanocom) and armed with an official workshop manual, wiring diagrams and reference library, (all available as download freebies) I soon learned how to interpret info and where to look under the bonnet to deal with any issues. Which so far have all been related to boost pipework splits.

Ok. Thanks. I’ll look. Bit deeper.

My brother has owned his for 5 years and has been through 2 engines!!!

The first was a blocked oil pipe/filter located inside the engine which led to oil starvation, ( I believe this was revised on later engines) he replaced with a brand new crate engine at vast expense, which then 2 years later threw a conrod through the side of the block! Hes now replaced that with a recon unit, and is thinking about selling it.

He previously owned a td5 (as do i) which had absolutely no problems whatsoever!
He is a proper Landy enthusiast and services filters and oil well before the recommended intervals, to say we're unimpressed with the engine is an understatement! I personally couldn't recommend one!
They also sound like a transit, because that's what they're from, so from a kinda purist point of view it doesn't sit well with me (although that is a superficial reason), but it just doesn't sound right from a Landy point of view.

I would on the other hand wholeheartedly recommend a td5, nearly as refined in the day to day driving, amazing tuning capability, sounds brilliant, and mine has been utterly reliable. I use it every single day for work, and have for the past 9 years! If you can find a low mileage one, I'm fairly sure you'd be quite safe with it!

Yeah. I think im
Gonna give up on this one. Was gonna sell the 90 I have and get the extra seats and space. I think I will hold off. Like you I blinking hate transits. Never have never will. I don’t think I’ve ever owned. Ford come to that.
Thanks for your reply.

Chalky. said:

The first was a blocked oil pipe/filter located inside the engine which led to oil starvation, ( I believe this was revised on later engines) he replaced with a brand new crate engine at vast expense, which then 2 years later threw a conrod through the side of the block! Hes now replaced that with a recon unit, and is thinking about selling it.

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Some pumas were recalled for a replacement oil pump, mine was (early 2.2 puma). Worth checking if your brothers engine had this recall done, maybe the replacement engines had the old type oil pump built in as well?

Used to work at a truck dealer who also had a van franchise that used transit common rail engines, there were always ones in for engine work.