Hello peeps,

so i bought a 05 SE 4.4l with 220k miles, 0 rust. Love it.... $1500 ,
Little background, i am pretty good mechanic. worked on bunch of German cars, this is not the first land rover i work on and i understand the electronic systems and how they work. I got equipment to properly diagnose issues. I am coming here for the special information, that only an LR3 owner knows.
I plan to keep this car forever, it is honestly my dream car. Where it has enough technology to be nice but not overbearing junk that disables the car if one module sneezes + i am open to engine swapping in the future.

Here are the issues with car. and the things i need help with.

1. Cats were stolen, and they took oxygen sensors. Ordered oxygen sensors, where can i get some male plugs as they were cut off? Engine has random misfires code but has power, so im going with fixing cats first. Then diagnose engine.
2. Horrible Transmission leak via oil pan. Ordered pan and will be changing this weekend. The kit i ordered has like 3 little plugs which is a fix for these ZF transmission. Where do they go?
3. Air suspension Compressor, the plastic little reservoir/drier thingy on compressor with the 2 little plastic hoses is cracked(hitachi style). If possible i would like to just replace that as the actual compressor is good. I already ordered one anyways.
4. Radio doesn't work. Bought radio, has harman kardon but no nav, pretty sure it has optical but not 100% sure. Anyways, i need a wire harness to install and aftermarket radio. I am going to bypass factory amp.
5. Sunroof, i suspect minor water intrusion due to sunroof, would just pushing air through drains be enough? I worked on a couple of mercedes that if they were really clogged the hose would separate inside the A-pillar( i am gutting interior to rewire speakers so i can check)
6. Rear parking sensors, where is the buzzer located? Computer says its shorted.

Here are also some questions and recommendations "bulletproofing"
1. any cooling issues? like oil/water cooler prone to failure?
2. Any engine issues like weak oil pumps that can grenade high mileage engine? weak timing or something like that. Heard something abought PCV valves or something? Anything to make this puppy last 200k more.
3. Any cool tips like good oil filters ( i will use wix), recommended oil weight (i live in USA FL, not cold at all)

I havent been able to drive the car more than 10-20mphs due to air suspension. Once i fix that and fix the cats i am sure i will find more issues , specially with suspension components like bushings, but one step at a time.

This is a passion project of mine and it is not my daily driver. It is not getting fixed in a week. it is in my enclosed shop and i plan to make it 120% before i take it out to enjoy it.

Thank you all ahead of time.

 

Welcome! Sounds like a fun restoration project. If you have worked on other euros I think you'll find the LR3 pretty enjoyable to work on.

You can find some manner of info on your specific issues in the forum archives. Sunroof drains and compressor for sure are well documented. Cooling systems are pretty robust but watch out for the plastic parts, in particular the bleeder valve at the top of the engine. I just did all my hoses and the thermostat housing (170k). The hoses were in good shape but they all have plastic junctions which are brittle with age. The 4.4 engines are very robust. Timing chains are not unheard of but not nearly as much of a liability at the 5.0.

Some general resources:

Parts - https://parts.jaguarlandroverclassic...overy-3-parts/ Use this site to find part numbers, then search online. The more obscure parts are sometimes only available from dealer websites.

You'll want a service manual. There is a free one online but it's terrible to use. I just grabbed an Alldatadiy subscription for a month for the cooling job. It is comprehensive (factory docs) and well worth the ease of use.

 

I am new to my LR3 as well so can only answer a couple questions. I would be interested in answers to some of your questions.
For the electrical plug you might get them from a wrecker or try www.vehicleproducts.co.uk
They specialize in electrical stuff for LR.
For oil, the owners manual says 5-30W. I would use full synthetic.
On YouTube the channel "Project Farm" tested oil filters and concluded Mobil 1 was best.

 

Thank you guys for the wonderful responses.

I have a fun picture for you guys.


yeah, so previous owner when he got the cats stolen he tried to fix it. Anyways, funnily enough it doesn’t leak from there.

so good news, I was worried that transmission was bad due to the fact that I couldn’t test due to not having any fluid. New pan is in. Was able to swap it out relatively easily by just unbolting passenger motor mount and pushing engine up. Trans is working great after resetting shift adapts.

Another issue I am having is I am thinking I am going to buy the whole level, terrain mode selector. I can’t go down on the suspension , it always goes to off-road mode. When I checked with computer the lower button is not being registered. I am wondering if I can open it and clean it. Possible to drop liquids on it and mess it up. Maybe cleaning contacts work.



I am going to gut the interior next weekend. Double check modules for water intrusion and try to figure out what is wrong with this switch before I order one. I have to do it anyways, there’s no communication with radio or amplifier. I want to check the status of the can network due to some random intermittent codes for lost communication with some modules.

I will keep you guys posted. Here is a picture of the new pan installed. No leaks found so far, in the transmission I mean. Driver and passenger side valve cover are leaking so that will be a fun job. Would be interesting to see how the interior of the engine is looking like at this mileage. I will keep you guys posted.




yes I am cheap and just bought the cheapest oil pan because I wasn’t sure in tranny was good. Next time I will purchase metal pan.

 

That clamp on the exhaust system is a candidate for the YouTube channel "Just Rolled In"😄.
I kind of doubt you will be able to take that switch apart. If not you might be able to dribble in some Deoxit contact cleaner and get it working by operating it a bunch of times. Should be able to test it with a multimeter.
What transmission oil did you use?

 

The switches can fail if water, spilled drink, sunroof left open, etc.... The whole console is not hard to service, just lots of screws and tabs. Probably a few write-ups out there. Patience is key. I had flow some solder on mine due to corrosion. Now is works great again.

Pic shows a good switch pad on the left versus my corroded one. Bottom pic is the repair.

 

That’s for sure, kinda want to leave it for fun.

I used liqui moly high performance atf

 

definitely taking it apart then neat thanks!!!

I also found the misfire, bad coil. She almost running like newww.

 

I just replaced my coils just because of age. I was surprised by the boost in fuel economy with the new ones.

 

Which ones do you recommend? I bought a cheap one on amazon to make sure i diagnosed it correctly ($20), but i do want to buy some quality ones that are hopefully not that expensive.