Just crusing along on way home from work talking about defenders and my mate spots one out the corner of his eye with a white sign in window, turn around for a look

a very nice clean looking country 90 in land rover blue, interior looked clean country windows and seats in rear, country logo on side, head lining and nice clean looking seats, paint looked nice and shiney and wheels and tyres looked decent, and generally looked all round nice for the age, was dark and late so only had a quick look and took the number, but said for sale no tax or mot needs steering box for mot £1800 ono

going to ring in the morning and go look at it when i pick him up tomorrow for work early tom eve, il find out what engine etc

but when i ring and look.. what sort of questions should i be asking and looking for when i go to look and generally looking for advice on buying a defender like that ? how to tell if its just the steering box or anything else need doing etc and what im looking at ££ wise to fix that or should it just be completley avoided or what ? i take it it should all start up and run fine if its just that ? can/should it be able to be driven or moved or not ?

if the chassis and bulkheads all solid and nice as it didnt look like it had had a hard or off road life and i could get it for a deal,if it had a tdi engine in, then it maybe worth loooking at ? but then again i know little about these

appriciate any help !

The steering box isn’t too expensive or difficult to replace (£200 + VAT for an exchange unit which includes the £100 surcharge – the rebuild should be done by Adwest, but ensure that it is) or for one with a new drop arm £220.

If it’s excessive play have a good check at all the joints, track rod ends, drag link joint, drop arm ball joint, make sure the drop arm is fitted snugly to the steering output shaft, sometimes they can be loose which gives the impression of a faulty box. There is also an adjuster on top of the box which you can wind in a little to help with excessive play.

Rust – check for rust, major holes, bits that sound dead rather than metallic when tapped are not good unless its small sections that area easily fixed with a plate, in which case you could be a few quid in materials if you can do it yourself.

Check that things the MOTer will check work and are in good condition basically, bushes, suspension, tyres...

Good luck.

All the outriggers for rust, get under it and check all the chasis for rust top to bottom, suspension mounts, body mounts, rear x member and towbar . check all the electrics work like indicators and headlighs as an auto sparky will cost a small fortune if you need one. other than that no problems as all the rest is just nuts and bolts which you can do yourself and if its a tdi check if its an orignal or a disco conversion and if the dvla know about it if it is.

Good luck!

ok cheers lads, to be honest i can have a good check for rust and issues and general condition,electrics etc, but i dont really know what im doing with these sort of things ...

"If it’s excessive play have a good check at all the joints, track rod ends, drag link joint, drop arm ball joint, make sure the drop arm is fitted snugly to the steering output shaft, sometimes they can be loose which gives the impression of a faulty box. There is also an adjuster on top of the box which you can wind in a little to help with excessive play."

any advice on exactly what to do and check there ?

im going to ring him in a bit and find out the crack, and if its been tried and failed for mot and what engine etc, and if it all sounds ok go for a look later, but il be on way to work so cant roll around on the floor too much n get dirty, but il have a little look and decide if its worth a further proper look, and take mymechanic mot tester mate with me and have a proper inspection and check everything, as he can check everything properly

what sort of questions could i be asking him ?

but intersting on the drop arm, if its a tdi and not in a bad way,then it could be a bit of a bargain find, which would be nice, the truck hasnt been on ebay or autotrader or piston heads etc id of seen it

finaly managed to speak to him

its a 200 tdi, he says the chassis if tip top condition and its all round nice, he doesnt sound like he knows a great deal about them really, says he thinks theres a leak in the fuel tank now too, he said the price thats on it (£1800) isnt what id want for it now could do with it gone, so come and have a look and wel start it up etc and have a chat and you can tell me what you think its worth to you

im going round tomorrow

hope it goes well.

a 200tdi for that price is pretty cheap so make sure its genuine.

might be worth a full check too (hpi/rac?) just in case.

Do the full hpi on it. Although good dont be dazzled by bulls&%* as lots of these are nicked and that is a low price. A td- 200tdi conversion would cost that to do. Also worth checking what security he has for it already and what you are gonna put on. There is a trend of you buy a motor and nicked in next few weeks before get a chance to fit alarms.

Simple things are good on defenders. Hidden cut offs, motion sensor alarm, pedal lock, steering lock. Thing is most defenders can be unlocked with a screw driver, hammer n brute force so other features are important. If its robbed it'll be butchered for parts and not recovered.

cheers guys all taken on board, going for a look teatime, drive past it again last night its a D reg, looks real clean for the year, but look forward to having a proper look

had a good chat with my mot mate yesterday hes told me a few things to check over, but he said go for a look myself then if i think i want to progress then hel come over the weekend and have a proper test of everything and an in depth look over it for all the bits mentioned above here all the joints etc

but im thinking if it actualy is a tdi, and a nice clean shell/chassis/interior/bulkhead, and it starts and runs nice, then getting it and spending a few hundred /5-600 even is no drama if it still brings it in at a cracking price

but wel see, may turn out the chassis/bulkhead is shot or something or its a TD not a tdi and i walk away

A D reg isnt a factory fit 200TDI it was the NA or the TD up till an H plate. If it is a conversion and is done properly and most important looks good then it should be ok. A new steering box,drop arm and track rod ends arnt expensive or difficult to fit, Would be worth while changing the damper and checking the radius arm bushes. When the bushes are worn it can cause the steering to wander