I’ll give you all the details I have.

First off, Hello! I’m new here, and I’m in Southern CA (comes into play later).

When I was a kid, my dad bought me a 93 Range Rover Classic LWB that I sold in 04 to buy a different car that got more than 11mpg, as gas was over $4/gal (I still get upset with myself when I think about it). Mentioning this just as I have a bit of an idea as how Land Rovers drive with their land boatyness.



Alright, so, this is a decent looking 98 D1, but it has a CEL due to, what he told me, was a single bad Cat, and the ABS light is on. So, there’s that right off the bat. This car isn’t listed for sale, I just happened to walk over and knock on the door and ask him about it (as he has 3 other cars).

Car has the original brush bar on the front, with some possibly after market small round lights, a tow hitch and the little step on the bumper, as it has the 2 jump seats in the back.

The Moon roof (might be a sunroof?) over the front seats has been sealed with silicone rather haphazardly, I never checked the back one, nor the body (for rust). Being in Southern CA we don’t get much rain, so I feel rust is rather uncommon here, but plan to check it out tomorrow.

Owner let me drive it ‘around the block’, which was about 2 miles around the neighborhood, and a short 1 mile freeway run.

I felt it drove decently. Has decent power (I currently drive a 15 VW Passat 1.8 turbo, so hard to compare, and haven’t had a NA car for a while (had an older version of the same Passat before), but did have the old RR about 16 years ago), and it had boat like body roll (again, was expecting it, so not a huge deal). Pick up was good, breaks were good. I felt it accelerated and stopped well, and didn’t shudder or pull to either side, but a I also didn’t get on the breaks, or gas, very hard.

Inside is sort of rough. Front cluster surround was loose and being held in place by a stack of post-it’s jammed in between it and the steering column. Owner does not speak great English, but enough. He said the bulb in the cluster/dash was out. Said everything worked fine on the car, minus the radio as the code needed to be entered from the last time the battery died, or was disconnected, and he had lost the paper with the code on it. Has the original radio. Has an old battery from 2011 but the car started up fine. He also had a spare battery in the back. Seats are averagely worn, but not torn, so that’s nice. They key was odd to me, he only had one (not a huge deal… I think?) which works to unlock the doors (but sets off the alarm if you don't open the driver door with it), but to get the key out, you had to push it into the column quite hard, to get it to release (not sure if that’s normal or not).

He said he got it from his family who live in CA but I never asked where. He’s had it about 8 years and it has 143k miles on it. He said he has his buddy, (who turns out to be a mechanic for a ranch out here in our area) “work on the car” and do all the oil changes on it since he’s had it. He said he has it changed every 5k miles. He works about 5 miles (round trip) from where he lives, and he only drives it about twice a week, so he’s not put many miles on it.

The engine bay looked decent, no obvious leaks. He said the power steering pump was replaced about 2 years ago. I looked under the car later, and saw some oil, but nothing major, and the street where it’s usually parked has spots with oil, but no puddles. I think the transfer case had a wet spot on it, and maybe the transmission to, I’d have to check it out again.

I wasn’t able to get to put it into low and check that the dif lock works or not (light comes on), but he said he occasionally uses 4L when he’s at work (on a ranch) and it works fine.

He asked me how much I wanted to offer him for it, and I said I’d have to think about it. I wasn’t expecting him to actually let me drive it or check it out, then and there.

Keeping in mind; the car, with a CEL, won’t pass smog here in CA, so he’d have to get it fixed or sell as NonOp (I think; I’m pretty sure, but I could be wrong on this).
I’m not a mechanic, do not have many tools, but am sort of handy, and wouldn’t mind getting some work in on the car, if I end up buying it.
Also, I'd really only plan to turn this into a weekender fun car, something to go out and play in. I'm a decent hour from anywhere though. So this isn't going to be my DD.

Thoughts?



Thanks for reading my run away, jumbled post!

 

Interesting. No more than a thousand dollars tops. It has a questionable 143k miles and service records are up in the air.

If it has the rear jump seats and being a 1998, it is an SE7, LE or LSE. It should have the SE7, LE or LSE decal on the front driver and passenger side quarter panels right under the turn signals. If not, it has been repainted likely.

The sunroofs leak that’s why he sealed them. Do Not attempt to open them.

Got any pics?

 

CEL is easy to read with a basic code reader. The 'key' to the codes can be found here.... https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/landrover/

rough interior and a mangled cluster is not a good start.

the ABS could be any number of things but most likely at sensor out of place, or in need of replacement ($30-50 per wheel last I checked).

$1500 tops because lack of rust...you can fix most anything mechanical on these trucks. Interior bits can be sourced from disassemblers and junk yards.

 

Sorry, forgot to mention, it's an LE, the decal is on the side of the truck. I'll double check and see if he does actually have any old records for it, but yeah, I don't think he does.


Thanks for the link for that, and also, for reminding me that that is something rather easy to do! I've asked a friend of mine to borrow his reader and then I'll see if I can get some time to check out the truck again and scan and confirm.

I really hope it is just the cat, or even something easier to fix. Yes, the fact the dash was a bit mangled is a little bit of a negative

Also, one of the reasons I'm also interested in this, is the fact that they are easy to work on (relatively), and the fact that I've been looking for something to do with my weekends, and all this extra spare time, and might as well invest it into a new toy/hobby

 

Was finally able to make it over to look at the truck again, Owner wasn't there so I couldn't ask to scan it. Checked it, no rust I can see. Snapped a few pics of it. Decent bit of oil under it though, But I think it isn't too bad...? Sorry, contrast on one or two of the pictures are sort of got blown out.

 

Buy it!! (..for the right price of course)

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO OPEN THE SUNROOFS!

Great find!

Mine is an 98 LE so if you have any questions about original parts location etc let me know.

 

My '97 key is the same, have to push it in to get it to release. Been that way since I got it 7 years ago. As for the sun roofs, leave them closed. Not worth the trouble. My ABS light came on after I disconnected the fuse, went to stop once and it took forever. Sunny day, dry road, I was never sure when the brakes would work or when the ABS would kick in so I eliminated the problem. Just picked up a '99 D1 with lots of issues and I am slowly getting through them. If the price is right, I'd go for it! My latest has 139K miles, minimal rust and does need tires, etc but has all new brakes, rotors and calipers, and they work great!