Hello folks, I'd like to share my LR3 experience. Mine currently has 247,473 miles. I purchased it second hand with 216K miles. The previous owner was not a LR enthusiast and did the bare minimum of servicing. That said, it was in pretty good shape when I bought it. There was a transmission fluid leak so I did the metal pan conversion. The vehicle has not left me stranded and the engine is running like a top. I'd like to share my idle fuel trims to show it's operating like new even at this high mileage.


LR3 Fuel Trim

The engine, transmission, and entire air suspension system are original. There are currently no leaks. When I did the transmission pan conversion, I did replace all the ZF seals proactively. The engine did feel a bit sluggish originally, especially in comparison to my SCV6 LR4 and L322 SC. However, after switching to Valvoline Restore and Protect oil, cleaning the fuel injectors and replacing their seals (I have a fuel injection cleaning and test machine) and performing an induction valve cleaning service with BG PN261 the engine doesn't feel sluggish anymore.

The Valvoline motor oil made a huge difference because I had a stuck piston ring in cylinder 8. The oil was able to clean the rings and compression increased in that cylinder (Cyl 8 had low compression on cold starts but normal compression after). Also, it previously burnt about a quart of oil every 2K miles. Now it doesn't burn any oil. To ensure the engine is running optimally, I did replace all the O2 sensors, spark plugs, ignition coils, and cleaned the MAF which fixed some misfires I had when I originally purchased it. Here's a list of the issues I had and the fix:

Oil leaking into cylinder 8 due to bad spark plug tube seal - Fixed with AT-205.
Fuel leaking into cylinders on cold start - cleaned fuel injectors which fixed a leaky injector.
Stuck Piston ring - Valvoline Restore and Protect Oil
Random misfires - cleaned MAF, replaced spark plugs, O2 sensors and ignition coils, and fixing the cylinder 8 spark plug tube seal.

Other things I've done proactively to keep things running well:

Changed transfer case, diff, brake, transmission fluids
Changed front diff breather to LR4 style
BG EPR engine flush (to prep for Tribotex)
Tribotex engine treatment
AT-205 in Engine
BG44K in fuel
Cataclean in Fuel
Replaced all cooling system components (except radiator).
Replaced all suspension bushings, tie-rods, ball joints


The main point of this post is to show that a high mileage LR3 can be restored to like new condition with some basic maintenance and work. The 4.4L V8 is really great. I plan on keeping it forever. I'll add to this post as the miles add up. Let's see how far it can go before an engine rebuild is necessary! Lastly, since i have the induction cleaning and fuel injector cleaning/testing tools, if anyone in the Seattle area wants to get these services done on their vehicles, I'm happy to help.

 

Thanks for lettimg us know so we can tell the doubters. There is an overbuilt durability about these trucks, especially the drivetrains, that keeps them on the road far longer than popular car culture deems them viable, you know, cuz it's a Land Rover.
At the dealer in Grand Rapids where we bought our Disco Sport, the salesman told us about a LR3 that they still service with 340K miles on it. It's used for deliveries and considering what is available for sale these day that driver may not have the faith in anything newer. Mine might rust out before the drivetrain gives out, 188K and it drives like you know what off a hot shovel. So yep, let's keep it going.

 

...my '06 has 259k on it. Still runs great; not as smoothly and powerful as my '05 ("only" 135k on that one) but pretty darn good.

 

Happy to hear these types of stories. My 2007 has 198K on it - runs great (but doesn't have the original air suspension.)

 

Well, for my first post here let me say that I wish I lived in Seattle....

I've had my SE V6 for nearly a decade now. It's been a solid vehicle for sure. Its only got 121k on the clock and the only major thing I had done to it was getting the shift valve/solenoids replaced to fix the rough shifting/slipping issue. There have been no issues with the V6. The shop I've been using had a similar one in for service (can't remember what engine) and it looked thrashed to hell, and 100% stock. The shop told me the owner drove it off road a lot for his work, and it had ~300k on it.

I've gotten the itch lately with a minor case of the wandering eyes. But it's really really hard to find something that would be an upgrade, let alone match what the LR3 is. I've read that the 2013 LR4 is the best step up, but why that year only?

 

Because the MY13 is the last of the V8 engines AND has the 8 speed gearbox. The MY13 has the better/uprated/improved timing chain tensioners out of the box installed. It has ICE Gen 2.1, too, so both Bluetooth phone integration AND A2DP (streaming). I think you could still get the H/K Logic 7 to it, it changed to Meridian/Meridian Surround with MY14.

It was SCV6 after that until end of production. They dropped the low gear box from the SCV6 default config you’ll see an empty spot in the lower dash where the hi/lo gear toggle would be. A mall crawler doesn’t need it 💀😎

 

I often hear that the 2013 is the best to get due to the reasons Kajtzu stated. That said, I REALLY love my 2016 LR4 with the SCV6. The transmission is so good. The LR3, and my L322 have the ZF 6 speed which is a great transmission but I find myself modulating the accelerator to get it to shift when I want. The ZF 8 speed is always in the right gear. The SCV6 is a noisy engine but the power delivery seems respectable. I never feel like it's underpowered. Fuel mileage wise I average 19 MPG in mixed driving. I can get 21-22 MPG on longer freeway trips.

All the updated tech on the 2016 model is great, like the adaptive cruise control and Meridian sound system. The sound system is the best I've heard. It's light years better than the LR3 HK system which I found pretty good as well.