Well, I am taking delivery on my Rover on Saturday. However my friend who is delivering the thing has picked it up for me and given me a laundry list of problems with it which the seller did not disclose. Here's the list, followed by questions and details:

1) Oil leaks (front and rear main seals, timing cover, valve covers)
2) Transmission shifts hardish
3) Sunroof headliner sagging
4) AC doesn't work (but compressor spins)
5) Rear axle seal leaks
6) Transfer case leaks
7) Power steering appears to leak slightly (stuff on top of engine is slightly damp)
8) Electrical gremlins! Fuse 10 fail, Fuse 20 fail, Sunroof Not Seated, Alternator Failure.
9) Radio display functioning poorly (radio also needs code)
10) Trip computer functions poorly (claims average mpg of 12.6 and average speed of 24 mph)
11) Front anti-roll bar end link is broken.

Obviously I have to buy a new end link. Are there any upgrades here (polyurethane, etc.) or should I just go with the factory ones?

The trip computer I believe is probably due to it being reset at a poor time, and was probably idled a lot and not driven much during that time period. That I will probably deal with later. The radio needs the code, and I was going to go to the Land Rover dealer, but turning it on doesn't result in the display being highly visible. Apparently there are indications that it is turning on, but you just can't read the display.

Electrical gremlins: It says Fuse 10 and Fuse 20 have a failure (however that goes away immediately after turning on). However, all the electrical functions work. It says the sunroof is not seated, but the sunroof is closed. I believe that goes away, but I am not certain. When my friend started the truck today it said Alternator Failure, but that went away and it's charging at 13.7 volts.

Power steering is self-explanatory, as are the leaks, and the sunroof headliner sagging.

The AC compressor is spinning, but apparently the AC doesn't work. I am going to have to look into this myself. Hopefully it is just low on charge. He said that both temps were on LO and the fan was on max. I told him to try putting the fan on the minimum setting and see if it cools, and also to put his hand on the low side lines to see if they are cold. If so, it probably needs a can or two of freon. Alternately I assume there is a blend door. Any info here for me? I've got plenty of AC experience so I'm sure I'll figure it out, but if there is a problem with the blend door that may do it.

And I think the tranny needs a fluid/filter change...

Oh, and finally there is no text around the steering wheel buttons. Can anyone tell me what each button does?

So, obviously I need to do a lot of work on this thing. I'm disappointed because only one of these issues was disclosed (the Fuse 10), and now the seller is nowhere to be found. Gee, what a surprise. My friend who picked up the truck didn't inspect it thoroughly (despite my instructions) and I am annoyed at him about that, obviously, but doesn't change the fact that I have this thing. The good news is that the interior and exterior are still in overall excellent shape, especially for being 7 years old. It's got 61,000 miles on it, and everything does work (except for whatever is wrong with the radio). Plus there is absolutely zero rust on it. Really I just have a lot of small issues to deal with. I still want to keep the thing as I feel I have overall gotten a good deal, but that I have more work ahead of me than I'd anticipated. I always do my own work, and have worked on these things some professionally while I was a Jaguar mechanic. The main things that I could use some advice on are the electrical issues, as well as which part suppliers you all would recommend.

Thanks in advance!

 

Steering wheel controls, on the left hand side at 9 o'clock there are 3 buttons. All for the radio, the bottom is mode, It changes between Tuner, Cassette, and CD in that order. the middle will change the preset if in FM in descending order(6-1). It also changes the CD track in descending order. The top button will change the FM preset in ascending order(1-6). It also changes the CD track in ascending order. Opposite these three buttons, at the 3 o'clock position the two buttons are the volume control the top button up, bottom button down. At the 7 o'clock position is the set/coast button for cruise control. at the 5 o'clock position is the Resume/Acclerate button for the cruise control.

 

Also for the sunroof does the message center say Sunroof Not Set. If so this is the one-touch/anti-trap features. To fix this press and hold the sunroof button to fully open the sun roof. Then press and hold the button to close to fully close the sun roof, after this the message center should say sunroof sent. Now you can just press and release the sunroof button to open and close the sunroof. Repeat if the message center says any of the windows not sent. The Alternator Fault message, Is this when you first turn the car on, but not started. Ever since my alternator was replaced I get the message when the car is turned on, but not started. Just one of those quirks i guess. Trip computer, just press and hold the two buttons at the end of the turn signal switch until it resets. When it resets you will need to drive .6 miles for it to get the info. Radio, it's possible that the lights inside the radio display have burnt out. It's possible to change the lights, but i am unsure of the process. Rangerovers.net has the fix for that somewhere. Oil leak, Pretty much all rovers oil leaks, i've heard people complain about new ones leak. Just monitor your oil level and top off as needed. Transmission. Could need a rebuild, or maybe your Gearbox ECU is going out. Bring it to the dealer or if possible, find a transmission shop that has the correct equipment to pull transmission info for a Range Rover. The other leaks i'm sure can be fixed just by replacing the seals. see if you can find them at atlanticbritish.com Hope i helped you out. Let me know if you need anything else.

 

Thanks for the advice, esaycho. I passed the electrical gremlin and button info on to my friend who has the truck at present and he's going to try that out. On the tranny I'm going to try changing the fluid and filter first, and then doing one of my favorite tranny upgrades, which is to add an external cooler and filter to it and see if that brings it back to how it should be. I've dealt with the 4HP22/24 in Jaguar applications extensively, and most of the time just doing a fluid change will work wonders. It's a very nice transmission, I've found. At the very least, it's a lot cheaper to do that than to have it rebuilt or replace the ECU!

Any advice on the Fuse 10/Fuse 20 fail, or is that going to be just another gremlin like the alternator? If it goes away after starting I suppose it won't bother me too much, but I do try to keep my vehicles in all ways as close to perfect as possible, even if that means making it more perfect than the factory did!

I looked up the radio information on RangeRovers.net as you suggested. That's most likely it, and once I get the thing and can look into that further and get that problem taken care of... but first I need to get the radio code. Perhaps the two will have to go hand in hand, as I know whenever I got a code for a Jag they wanted me to actually pull the radio since, as they pointed out, the radio wasn't necessarily the original one, especially on a car that old.

Thanks for all the help! I'll be coming back for more, I'm sure...

 

Fuse 10 and 20, off the top of my head i think those are the Heated Seat fuses. If you open the passenger door, and look at the base of the seat you will see a little removable panel. That's the interior fuses, look in there for Fuse 10 and 20 and see if they are bad. Also when you remove fuse 10, remember to put it back in the same position. Fuse 11, which should have no fuse in it right now, puts the transfer case in neutral and the car won't move at all.

 

It is true about the oil leaks. The factory manual even states that some drippage from certain components should be expected. Other than that you may want to start changing out gaskets and hoses as time and money permit. I have replaced just about every seal, gasket, bushing, o-ring and hose on my 94RRC LWB and it still drips from strange places. Think of it as "marking it's territory". I just take it to the car wash and blast the underside every couple weeks. Otherwise it builds up and is just nasty to work on.

 

Any updates on your range rover?

 

Well, last night my friend delivered the thing. In short, I had two friends look at it, and neither of them were correct on the condition. It's actually about halfway in between what each one said. Last night and this morning my fiancee and I came up with a true list of every little problem that the thing has. A few of them we managed to fix already, but I'm going to address the more major ones here, and highlight the ones that I intend on taking care of immediately.

1) Bad end links on the anti-roll bar in front. Obtain new links, replace.

2) Some idiot replaced the factory 18" wheels with 16" wheels. This actually doesn't bother me, but now my spare is a beautiful 18" with a brand new tire on it. I intend on obtaining a 16" wheel like what I have as a spare and sell the 18". Any suggestions for places to get a cheap 16"? Or anyone interested in doing a trade?

3) AC is low on freon. It works, but is just low. I'll add some leak detector and more R-134a.

4) The radio display is completely FUBAR'd. It's not the backlights, those all work fine. However the display itself is not functioning. Any solutions to this? Can I purchase just a new display and reinstall that (I am quite competent with electronics) or am I going to need to obtain a whole new radio?

5) Some of the backlights in the center console are broken. Along with this, some of the selection lights (i.e. telling you the driver's heated seat is on and which vent selection you have) aren't visible from a normal seating position. Ideas?

6) The front ash tray won't open, it's stuck closed. Ideas?

7) Some of the trim pieces are missing (like the plastic one above the center rear view mirror) or else in bad condition (like the front B-pillar trim pieces). Any recommendations on good places to get these bits?

8) I see the little holder on the top of the dash that looks like it's a place to throw a cell phone or something. Is that supposed to be glued down?

9) The glove box doesn't fully latch closed and is misaligned. Do I just have to bend this into proper position or is there some piece that tends to wear on this?

10) The cruise control is not functioning properly. Looking under the hood I see the cruise control bellows. There is a vacuum line that comes off of the bellows and goes to a little box beneath the bellows and has a T-valve in the middle. The box beneath has two vacuum ports (one below the one that is used, which is just open). The T-valve has one port that is just open on it. What is the correct configuration here? Before I figure out if something else is wrong with the cruise I'd like to get this fixed properly. Also, where the hose that is there is attached to that little box, there is a mini-vacuum line from that same connection, and I can't see where it goes but it appears to be connected to that same box. Configuration?

11) I need to get plugs and wires for this thing. Is there an upgrade here?

12) The driver's side nozzle for the windshield washer isn't spraying at all, and the passenger side one is just squirting a stream of water, rather than spraying a mist. Fix here?

13) The airbags all around air fairly rotted, and will need to be replaced before too long... but there are other, more pressing matters at hand.

14) The light for the mirror on the driver's sunvisor doesn't work

15) Still complaining about fuses 10 and 20... I have no idea what those are supposed to be for.

16) 3 out of the 4 doors have a click in them when opening. This looks to be the pin on the truck for the middle hinge-type thing. Do I just need new pins?

In addition, we would eventually like to do the following additions:

1) Rubber floor mats for the front, rear, and cargo area
2) Roof rack
3) Brush guard
4) Winch mount

So, any suggestions there would be appreciated!

Sorry for such a long post. Really, this thing is in very nice condition and I am happy both with the way it drives and with the interior and exterior condition. I really love these vehicles, always have, and my fiancee loves it as well, which is more important. We're still happy with the overall purchase, it just needs some work to get up to par. I suppose the most pressing issues are the radio, end links, and cruise control, along with the plugs/wires. After that will be the other cosmetic issues, and then finally we'll be ready to do some of the upgrades. That said, we'll probably go ahead and do some of the upgrades simultaneously since none of them will be particuarly difficult or time consuming.

 

Oh, and the CD changer magazine is missing...

 

The only thing i can answer right now, without looking at anything would be #8, the cell phone pad or w/e it is is not glued down, it should sit dead center on the dash but sharp turns can cause it to move. When i have some free time i'll see what i can find, you own the exact same rover as me so i doubt there is any changes.