I have a long history with LandRover, I even worked part time for Land Rover as an Instructor and demonstrator and help launch a new Experience centre, I also worked on the launch of the P38 and the Discovery 2. My "Company Car" was for a while a genuine Land Rover owned Camel Trophy Discovery (a lot of swaying about!). My first car at 17 was a Land Rover SWB, I've had quite a few Range Rovers, I had a Conran Blue Discovery 1 and quite a few other Discoveries plus a selection of Defenders. There have been some crazy memorable moments with my Land Rovers (like being arrested at gunpoint by Russian soldiers at Checkpoint Bravo) but that's another story!

So we needed a vehicle for our events company in Dubai that could swallow a lot of tables, chairs and other bits and pieces so naturally we bought a 2008 LR3. That was about 19 month ago, Well, I love the LR3, its one of the best vehicles Land Rover ever made (along side the LR4 and the 2007-2008 Range Rover) but ours has not been good...

On the test drive it had a suspension fault warning. The dealer replace all 4 air shocks and we drove away happy. 18 months - yes just 18 months of ownership later and its had so far :

• 5 air shocks
• 5 Air suspension Compressors (the last one just two weeks ago, and yesterday the "Suspension Fault" warning came on)
• 4 air suspension valve blocks
• 2 Batteries
• 4 new tyres
• 2 AC blower motors
• 1 new front grille
• I new headlamp washer
• countless interior light bulbs (LED)
• 1 new AC Compressor
• new brake pads all round

And the LATEST??? Just 2 weeks after paying for a 5th Air Suspension Compressor, the cabin filled with what we thought was smoke - Oh God I thought, its finally going for a Viking Funeral.. out with the fire extinguisher but it was not smoke, it was almost worse. It was a leak from the AC Evaporator ! Some of you will know what that involves. A lot of money and the car in the workshop for 3 days.

So, now its 19 months of ownership, can anyone say their LR3 has had more bad luck???

 

Well, it has certainly been an Experience for you, then 😂

But seriously, the sandbox makes everything break and usually prematurely. The sand gets everywhere and ages things. Still, five compressors sounds like there is a bigger problem somewhere waiting to be found and fixed. Or you guys - AND the previous owner - trash the vehicle regularly off-road and not just on Sheik Zayed.

thinking positively, at least you don’t have a sunroof leak, water ingress via the A pillar or something…

 

Yes, so far no leaking sunroof, although the amount of rain we get here is increasing every year, so....

No, we don't trash the car off road, I was a Land Rover factory trained instructor but I haven't been off-road for years now.

 

I'n still on the original air struts and original compressor, were genuine parts fitted or cheap copies ?

 

I know of a couple of LR3 owners still on original air shocks and compressor. Parts have been a mix of copies and refurbish and new original, we changed to another garage not long ago and they are using better parts.

 

I have to think that going through 5 suspension compressors in that time frame is indicative of a different root problem. Same with the air shocks and valve blocks. What were the fault codes you were getting?

 

I was never shown fault codes, however, there is a story to be told here that sheds some light on things. We bought the LR3 from a dealer and as I mentioned on the test drive it showed a suspension fault (the rest of the car was immaculate especially compared to other LR3's we looked at). The dealer took the car to a suspension specialist in Dubai and showed us that they replaced all 4 air shocks and one valve block.

Why replace all 4? no idea but it was at the cost of the dealer so we didn't ask. The car had a limited warranty so when the next suspension fault came up we took it to the same suspension specialist. It took us about 14 months and a fair bit of money to work out that these people, nice though they seemed, were idiots and had no idea really how to fix this. The final nail in the coffin for them was when they told me they had replaced the Hitachi compressor with the AMK version.... I asked if they had used the correct mounting kit? "What? Oh yes of course.." and did you change the software "Yes we always do that..." No, it was another copy of a Hitachi compressor.

We know know that 3 of the compressors were cheap Chinese copies at least 2 of which were Eastern Europe sourced refurbished cheap Chinese copies !!! Of the original compressor, there was a loud bang one day and the drier canister exploded. I now know this can be replaced separately. One of the front air shocks sprung a leak and was replaced by the next garage we went to who actually knew what they were doing. Later the same new garage would fit a refurbed Compressor and a genuine center valve block.

Just lately one of our friends, a great Filipino guy called Ace, started his own Garage in Dubai and we started taking the LR3 there next time the suspension problems came up. He generously fitted a brand new original compressor (for RR Sport, slightly different plug) and so far no issues. (apart from the Aircon Evaporater springing a leak, and he will fix that for us soon. A bit of a massive job!). I made a video of Ace's smart new workshop (with a pool table) for my personal YouTube channel, you can have a look at https://www.youtube.com/@ProducerCliff/videos if you are in Dubai please go and try them!