To buy or not to buy - Land Rover Defender Td5 2004

Dear All,

I was looking for some insight from the wealth of experience in this group.

I have previously owned a Discovery 2 which was my pride and joy. I had just finished a ton of work on it and was driving to the MOT when a learner driver ran into the side of me. Ripped out the right side back door and tire, car spun and flipped over rolling down into a ditch. Car was a right off but I walked away in one piece.

After a seven your absence I am now back in the market for a Land Rover Discovery 2 or Defender here in Sweden. The amount of cars for sale is very limited so when one comes up for sale you need to be quick. A Defender 110 Td5 from 2004 with 277tkm on the clock has become available. The chassis is in good shape as is the bodywork. Gearbox was renovated last year. There is however, a noise from the transfer case "a whining noice" which the owner said he has had back to the workshop. Mechanic cannot determine the cause however, "over tightening" was one possible deduction. Mechanic says he cannot determine the cause unless he drops the gear box. The ower stated if it is the transfer case and it needs to be replaced it would cost approximately 10,000 SK = £800 plus labour.

He is asking 200k SK = £16K for the car.

After looking through the copious information about the gearbox and transfer case problems on the interweb I would very much appreciate experienced owners input on the matter.

Many thanks in advance.

Glad Disco did its job protecting you. A recording / video may help us, and it is not clear if noise is from gear or transfer box. Did owner say reason for box needing attention.

I'd think that 16K is a bit expensive for here (UK) but realoly don't know the market in Sweden.
It would need to be more than 'in good shape' to command 16K.

I would kile to know that the chassis has been treated inside and out, the bulkhead has been simalarly treated for rust and coated with some form of protection.
There should be absolutely no leaks from the engine/gearbox/axles and the electrics should all be 100%.

The LT230 costs around the £800 mark as an exchange unit so the numbers you have make sense.
I'd say £1K to sort that out is reasonable, £1500 if I was 'knocking off' the price.
You can get the car fully (rust) treated here for around the £1K mark so again i'd ask for around £1500 off to get that done.

Pictures will help but if it;'s relatively OK elsewhere and the engine starts and runs smoothly then i'd offer £11K and let the seller talk me up to £12.5 or £13K.
Just my opinion, hope it helps.

Many thanks for your input. I will view the car either this weekend or middle of next week. I will take a number of photos and return here for input if thats ok.
Regards

Make sure you lift all the carpets up in the cab where your feet would go and check for rust and water, also take a good look at the cross member on the very back, ideally have the defender on the ramps for a detailed inspection to satisfy yourself.. one last very important thing, make sure the engine hasnt been started that day for you start it from stone cold…

Sorry but another thing to check with a good eye would be all the doors and out riggers

Discodevon said:

Make sure you lift all the carpets up in the cab where your feet would go and check for rust and water, also take a good look at the cross member on the very back, ideally have the defender on the ramps for a detailed inspection to satisfy yourself.. one last very important thing, make sure the engine hasnt been started that day for you start it from stone cold…

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Carpets ? Shove ur disco excess.

I forgot to come back with the assessment of the Defender. My god what a heap.......

Chassis was eaten through in many places. Engine was leaking like a sieve, oversize tyres almost brought the car to a halt when turning, The inside was leaking everywhere (pools inside) and after the test drive, while I sat in the drivers seat talking to the owner, I had a surprise. It started to snow outside and within minutes it was raining inside, down the back of the steering column and onto my feet.

The sale price was £16,000

Needless to say I didnt walk away........I ran....

Thanks for getting back, we do like to know outcomes.
There sure are some shed's out there for silly money.
Went miles with a mate to see a 200, looked tidy inside and out but underneath it was marshmallow. I could just push my penknife through the bottom of the chassis in several places. A while later found a good one just down the road next door to his mum.

Good ones are out there, you just need to keep looking.
As Sweden is RHD it may be worth a trip to the U.K. to buy one, there's loads for sale here.
Is it straightforward to import one to Sweden?

tottot said:

Thanks for getting back, we do like to know outcomes.
There sure are some shed's out there for silly money.
Went miles with a mate to see a 200, looked tidy inside and out but underneath it was marshmallow. I could just push my penknife through the bottom of the chassis in several places. A while later found a good one just down the road next door to his mum.

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I have decided to go for a late Discovery 2 Td5 instead.

I hope this story has a happy ending too.

lightning said:

Good ones are out there, you just need to keep looking.
As Sweden is RHD it may be worth a trip to the U.K. to buy one, there's loads for sale here.
Is it straightforward to import one to Sweden?

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Unfortunately all of continential Europe is Left Hand Drive. I wish it was Right Hand Drive as the number of avalable cars in the UK is far greater than over here.

Ah sorry yes l read "drive on the right"
and mistakenly interpreted it as RHD when it's actually LHD of course.

Irish4x4 said:

I have decided to go for a late Discovery 2 Td5 instead.

I hope this story has a happy ending too.

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Done and dusted.

Bought a 2004 Disco TD5 Auto. It has a Diff Lock, 2” lift, EMU suspension, stage 2 mapped, large intercooler, straight through sports pipe. Lots of offroad extras, rack, rock sliders, diff protectors, terrafirma front and rear steel bumpers, winch, tyres, snorkel et al

Happy with the buy.

Dropped the tank as I saw the residue of a leak but everything is in order. Seems diesel was stuck in all the crud on top of the tank. Fuel tank clean, pump, lines and electrics inspection. Rear quarter stripped and being prepped for rust protection inside and out.

May or may not have a FPR leak but one job at a time.

Let the debt ceiling increase