Howdy guys,

Let me start this email off by saying that LR will always have a special place in my heart. My ’95 LWB was a great and my ’03 HSE is appealing to look at, powerful, and fun to drive. However, this evening as I was waited on the side of the road for the tow truck I quietly decided to end my relationship with LR. The truck has been in the shop for something or another without fail weekly for the past 8 months and has been towed five times. My patience with the Classic was quite liberal but I have very little sympathy for a product that is supposed to be the “most refined” RR ever made. All this being said I would appreciate your thoughts/advice on tonight’s issue and two other concerns I need to clear up before I sell/trade this truck.

1) Tonight’s incident involved the magic appearance of the little battery symbol about 30 minutes into my 2 hour drive. No issues for the 40 minutes after notification however around the 50 minute mark the ABS light came on, followed by Air Susp inop light, then Airbag inop, and finally total engine shut down. My thoughts are alternator failure – yet no indications of problems this week?
2) Road noise and steering wheel vibration: To be a premium luxury SUV my truck has pretty excessive road noise inside the cabin and sometimes the steering wheel vibrates. I had the ball joints replaced, steering wheel tightened, and tires rotated last time I was at the shop but this problem still persists. Tires aren’t new but have about 1.2 years of tread left??
3) A fit and finish issue that really bothers me is the fact that the paint on my outside door handles is chipping away. Not really noticeable from a distance but looks quite tacky up close. Anyone else experiencing this problem? If so are there any remedies out there short of replacing the handles?

Any help will be much appreciated. Enjoy your trucks they are truly unique – I’m just tired of being a slave to a machine…

Hunter

 

alternator is shot, they go out quick, not over time. you probably need new tires, these trucks cup tires pretty good due to the weight and susp set up. and yeah, gotta replace them

 

You need an alternator, next time you need tires buy the michelins they dont wear out like the goodyears or contis. susp setup? there is nothing special about your susp setup.

 

I agree with the above on the tires - Michelins are the way to go.

Can't speak to the alternator issue.

I have the same problem with the "chipping" on my 06 and already on my 08 door handles. Annoys the hell out of me. Ironically, the
same thing happened on the inside on the 96 cupholder - I told the dealer they're going to replace the chipped door handles under
warranty, or repaint them - and they didn't balk at all. I'm just going to wait until about 30k to do it, then do it right again at 49k
when I dump the car...

 

My 03 problems could fill a few pages: (less than 40,000 miles on the vehicle)
Most recent issues:
Bad Front Differential
Bad Steering Column
Bad Thermostat
Bad Radiator
Bad PCV
Bad Paint on doors
Bad GPS Unit/ CD Changer
Bad Front Axle
Bad CV Axle Boot (Twice)
Bad Starter
Bad Battery

Very little of this was covered under warranty.

I have written to the presidnet of LRNO since I got poor responses from my dealer and LR Customer service. I finally got some minion (Liaison to the President) who called me back with little or no assistance whatsoever.
I am done with Land Rover.
Ford is Broke, new ownership is unproven. Say good bye to a once grand marque. Total Crap. Anyone buying a Land Rover today should reconsider.

 

Wow, that's a crapload of problems for a vehicle with only 40K miles. I've had my 04 for about 4 months. I've put around 4 thousand miles since and currently sitting at 52K.

So far I've only replaced the oil filter rubber bushing (those things are easy to break if not careful).
Found out yesterday that one of my tailgate latches somehow screwed itself off? and periodically I get this buzzing soundfrom inside my dash even with the vehicle off. This buzzing sound lasts for about two minutes and goes away.

Knock on woody that nothing else happens.

 

the buzzing is most likely your e-box fan, bearing in them go bad, its under the hood, in the black box over on the pass side... does it sound like a high pitched chirp almost?