I have a D1 I am rehabbing and recently saw a craigs list ad for a 2005 LR3 for $5500 in which the seller said,

"I recently returned from a trip abroad when an electrical fault occurred. The LR3 will show multiple caution lights to indicate an electric fault, and requires diagnosing. It can be as simple as a low battery or brake light switch; worse case it may be the transfer case. Estimates put the vehicle between $8k-$10k, the price is low so that you can diagnose and repair and be well within the worth of the vehicle. I am purchasing a new 2015 vehicle and do not want to diagnose or spend additional resources on a vehicle I won't be driving."

Not knowing LR3 foibles, is this something to avoid like the plague or is it possible to discover the actual problem with an OBDII code reader and perhaps fix it without the expense of a dealer intervention? Thinking of this for my wife to drive - it looks decent inside and out in the two photos in the ad, and KBB and NADA estimate value at $1500 to $2500 over asking price. The mileage was not listed.

 

Seller also said,

"2005 Land Rover LR3 for sale by owner $5500 OBO
SE 4.4L V8 4x4 6-speed Automatic 4WD SUV with clean exterior, windows/lights/mirrors/wipers in excellent condition. New tires, new brakes, new air compressor for variable height suspension system. Includes tow package, navigation package (on and offroad features) as well as hill descent control system, variable wiper speed, 3 sunroofs, roof rack, alpaca leather interior (excellent condition) heated seats (all seats), heated windows, heated mirrors, and a Harmon premium sound system. Dual climate control, power windows/locks/seats/mirrors. Fog lights, halogen headlights, and sensor parking assist feature. "

Just read another thread about a faulty brake light switch making the dash "light up like a Christmas tree". Sounds like the seller read something similar, but you'd think he would have changed the brake light switch himself if so. My D1 came to me with a bad switch and it was a simple $30 item from eBay.

 

Obviously, that's hard for anybody here to tell you whether it's worth it or not. There could be a million and one things that are causing the LR3 to show those warning lights. You have to assume (when buying... not when attempting to repair) that the seller has tried all of the simple things and they didn't work.

That being said, I don't know what the mileage is on the car, but $5500 seems like a reasonable price and I would think you could probably part the car out for that much if it ever came to that. Not to jump the gun, but there is actually a used transfer case from an '06-'09 Range Rover (same part as LR3 I believe) in my local Craigslist right now for $500 + shipping. Only 68k miles on it.

If you ever really get into it, here's a link on a teardown and rebuild of a DD295 transfer case.

 

I don't think I'd trust anybody who claimed the leather was in excellent condition after seeing that picture. The steering wheel looks pretty bad too.

Not that this is reason enough to balk at the notion, as everybody has their opinion of the condition their used car is in. But if you go by published "standards" of poor, fair, good, excellent, etc... it's clear to see from that one pic that this person thinks differently.

 

Yes, I realize there is not much info to go on. There was no phone number in the ad - just an email reply through CL and a note to contact them for more photos which I did 4 days ago with no reply yet. I was actually looking for a 2005 to 2007 Jaguar XJ8 VDP for my wife when I ran across this ad closer to home than the Jags I have found and about half the $$$$ for the jags which would help with the difference in gas mileage if the needed fixes were not too expensive.

 

I sent the guy an e-mail a couple of days ago suggesting he try some things... no response to me either.

 

Maybe he is trying your suggestions. His listing hasn't changed, though, and no reply yet.

Reading through some threads here, the LR3 seems to be a money pit even more so than a D1. Guess all those fancy features add up to more things that can go wrong.

 

Yeah but it's an awesome money-pit !!!

 

Or maybe its a scam listing, i have seen them on cl for rovers, just saying

 

Could be, although the scams I've seen never say anything is wrong with the vehicle and usually list it at half the blue book value. I've repied to those once in a while just to see the "I've been deployed to (fill in the blank) and the truck is in (fill in the blank) but I can ship it to you free if you just send the money through paypal and you can return it in 10 days if you are not satisfied before the money is drawn" answer. Once or twice I've told them I have a friend in (fill in the blank) who can come check it out for me just to see what they say and they seldom reply, but some actually come back with some excuse and try to perpetuate the scam. Must be hard times in Nigeria. Hard to believe folks fall for this, but I've know some who have - greed is a strong motivator.