As title says. I'm a pretty big car guy, owned 4 saabs now a Subaru Legacy nicely tuned up. By owning the saabs I can understand some of the quirky maintaining these vehicles might require.

As these trucks are extremely cheap..seems like a good time to buy one.

I'd be using it maybe 5k miles a year, basically for heavy snow, and whenever I go to my land up north.

I've read as many reviews as possible, but wanted to get your guys take on the reliability and the average maintainance costs.

Cheers!

 

I would stay away from a '03. Did you read the post about oil pump failers?
At only 5,000 milesper year you are not looking at much for maintence costs. You MUST have the front driveshaft rebuilt, but other than fluids and a really good tune up not much to do. And make sure that you use premium gas. If you dont you are looking for trouble. But you already knew that with owning Saab's.

 

I was reading about that. I heard 2003's are more reliable than anything prior...and 2004+ isnt really an option financially.

What are oil pumps like to replace? And whats the front driveshaft cost and why does it have to be replaced if not broken?

 

Well the oil pump is intiragted into the front engine cover. So you would have to remove the water pump, front cover and I think the oil pan.
But a new oil pump will not fix the problem. The problem is with the engine block. The dowl pins that are machined onto the block that the oil pump hooks onto is in the wrong spot, the oil pump wears to quick and then fails. You can have low oil PSI and not know it, it can be one PSI above the light coming on and you can drive it that way for a long time. ANd when it does fail, you need a new engine.

 

The 2003 models have a machining defect so the oil pump breaks and takes out the entire engine. Someone else can give more details about that. There is no fix for other than to replace the engine. If a 2004 is not possible than go back to a 2002. Or even better go to Discovery 1. They are simpler therefore easier to maintain and are inexpensive. A 98 or early 99 model would be my recommendation for a D1. That's the end of the run and are the most updated.

 

The 2003 i'm looking at is around 6500...what are the odds of the oil pump actually going? Shouldnt it have gone already before 115k?

What about this one? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Land-...spagenameZWDVW

 

As for the drive shaft, this is on all DII's and only the front shaft, there is a double cardon joint where the front DS connects to the transfer case. It came from the factory without any grease fittings. "Lubed for life" kind of thing, well since you are a car guy you know that lubed for life means the life of the componet, not the car.
When the joint fails, becuse itis so big and heavy and spinning at such a high rate of speed, it "slaps" the side of the transmission and pokes a fist sized hole in the side of the trans case. And because everything on a LR is cast aluminum there is no fix other than a new tranny.
So, rebuild it before it breaks, $250 at a shop, after it breaks, $7,000.
Yes it is a stupid design. But that is the way it is.

 

Most fail around 50k. You can call your dealer with the VIN# and ask them if the trk falls into that range. They know which ones are bad. There is a TSB on it, but Ford wouldnt do anything about it. (they owned LR from the early '00's until about a month ago)

 

It does fall in that range. My options are to really get a 2002 for around 5k, the 2003 for 6500, or a 2004 for around 10k.

I guess I'm kind of a risk vs reward guy...if its not THAT common I'd lean to go for it. I did talk to my friend who imports rovers, he likes the 2003 model, but I figure you guys would know best overall.

 

Well is was almost 6 months worth of trks with this defect. With over 100k either it wasnt defective or the engine has been replaced.
I personally like a smaller reward without the risk, but thats me. I would get the '02. Never spend more than you can afford. So if the '04 is pushing it then dont do it. But the '04 is by far the best year.