He said his dad's a pretty good mechanic and if he's bound and determined he might want to consider studs. That's all. I'm staying out of whether he should buy it or not.

 

Look, there's an *** for every seat, the question is . . . . . .?

 

Wow... THERE'S another perspective. Thanks for chiming in and scaring the hell out of me again. Trust me, this is the inner battle I'm having in my brain right now. All good points.

 

I know these vehicles are investments and will cost money. I'm okay with that. I am also confident that between my Dad and me we can do most of the work. He and I have rebuilt a couple in my life.

I just don't want to get this thing and stay under it all the time. Occasionally, I enjoy tooling around and will treat it like a baby. I'm also okay with investing 7-8k eventually. But not today.

 

So if there's a better deal on this type rover out there, let me know. If I were to find the perfect one, I'd drop 7k.

 

You're going to have to address the HG issue immediately. You are also entering into a truck where you don't know if the problem is only the head gaskets and not something more serious like a slipped cylinder sleeve. These trucks are notorious for this problem especially if they have been driven while overheating. I also don't care how well you and your dad are with rebuilding engines, you're not going to do the heads for $200.

You're also going to need to do the tires right away. A good set of tires will set you back around $600.

I still don't know where you're located but if you were in CT you wouldn't pass inspection with the service engine lights on the dash. To buy a truck without at least pulling the codes is insane. To believe the seller when he says it's nothing is even crazier. What did Reagan say, trust but verify. You could be looking at a few hundred dollars, you could be looking at a couple of grand. How can you seriously consider a vehicle that is over priced to begin with when you have no idea what's going on with the codes?

I'm sorry, I've seen too many people get in over their heads with these trucks. The key to buying used is to buy something that enables you to get ahead of the maintenance curve as quickly and cheaply as possible. Buying something that needs this kind of work is crazy for the kind of money you're talking about. I know what I'm talking about because I buy these Rovers for a living. Last year I bought 20 DII's and NEVER paid over $1000 for any one of them and they were mostly purchased from private sellers.

This is not a good purchase.

 

Oh, and Rovers, with the exception of the Defender, are NOT investments. Investments, by their nature are supposed to give you a return. Rovers are money pits. The key is figuring out how deep into the pit you want to go before you make the commitment. Otherwise, you'll wind up pissing money away like a drunken sailor on leave.

 

If the trees are any indication, you are in the southern US somewhere. In my opinion, If the current owner hasn't fixed the head gaskets there may be an underlying issue, I'd keep looking for a bit as you apparently aren't on foot. There's got to be another one in your area that isn't as bad as this one. Therefore, you can spend the cash slotted for the head gasket on something fun

 

Look he asked for advice. That doesn't mean he has to take it. Clearly, he's not well versed in the pitfalls of DII's or Rovers in general. If he wants to spend $7K on a 15 year old truck with more questions than answers, refer to my comment above.

There's an *** for ever seat.

 

There are much better deals.

I sold my 1999 D2 with about the same miles and NO engine issues for $2900. With brand new tires.

I sold my 2003 with arb bumper, warn m8000, Greg Davis rear bumper, 3" lift, nearly new 33" bfg km2, and no need for head gaskets for $5000. It had about 130,000 miles on it though.

I'm not sure I'd pay $7000 for any D2 these days.

Heck a guy was selling a RHD defender on defendersource.com for $7000. And defenders actually COULD be an investment, if done correctly. (Mine isn't. It's a toy.)