Td5 10p engine question

hi all. I am thinking of getting a defender again but a td5 this time. I hear the earlier ones (10p) had problems. What was the problem and is it sortable. Marty

LR replaced the internal fuel return gallery with an external fuel return on the 15P head - supposedly less likely to crack, but in my experience most of the issues with heads are down to the relatively thin injector seats cracking. Or from exhaust port cracks or head warps due to overheating. All of which are just as common on the 15p.

They're a pretty strong lump really.

AMC aftermarket head is better, much better casting (noticeably heavier).

Main problem was oil pump drive bolt coming loose and wrecking engine, you have to assume if its still running it has been recalled or been diy repaired, repair is basically to loctite a new bolt in the pump sprocket.
The early engines also had plastic head dowels and if the engine was allowed to get to hot for any reason the head would shuffle sideways allowing the valves to damage the bores and again trashing the motor.
Good engine but when they go wrong get ready to bend over!
If you ran a tdi before the td5 engine parts prices may shock you!

I had a 200tdi in the past. Did loads of work on it then the bulk head just seem to rot over night so got rid. Is the Pima engine any better of just as bad. Or is it just safer to go for a 300tdi.

I think its fair to say there have been problems with the TD5s, head cracks, oil pump bolt (mainly older units), injector harness, but on the other side look at : https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/highest-mileage-td5-engine.170400/
Or do a search for similar posts which appear on other forums you will see TD5s which have done huge mileage, and TD5 rebuilds where they can see the honing marks in the cylinders after more than 100K miles.
I have a TD5 and at 116K miles it runs pretty well, its seems to be quite a strong engine, with reasonable maintenance they are pretty good, and if you neglect them they bite back, like so many engines.

When I first heard about the TD5 I thought it would be a delicate, temperamental thing. Five cylinders? A centrifugal oil filter, for goodness sake? Not like the trusty, pre-rusted iron ingot in the series 2. Having got to know my own and other people's TD5 engines over the last few years I am more and more impressed with them. They chug along for hundreds of thousands of miles and are mouth wateringly tuneable. The key vulnerabilities have been mentioned above - oil pump sprocket falling off and head gasket/head porosity problems. The things that have stopped me have included oil in the injector loom and miscellaneous electronic faults including the ECU, which isn't really the fault of the TD5 engine itself. First car I've ever had for 40,000 miles without having the engine out, or at least the head off.