I don't actually own one of these things yet, but I'm a long time Jeep owner, do all my own wrenching (which on a 97 TJ ends up being quite a bit). Personally, I love to rebuild automatic transmissions, so I'm always on the lookout for cars with a blown tranny. I guess I'm just cheap, probably!

I'm here in general because it seems like there are no shortage of broken down mid-2000's LR3's out there in the $1500 price range. I have no experience with Land Rovers, aside from the awareness that the general consensus on British cars is that you should expect to do work on them. But that's kinda what I want to sign up for anyway, so maybe it's a good fit. Sadly, I haven't found any with bad transmissions, but I've found several that seem to be "easily fixable." My idea of easy might be different than yours, but I guess we'll figure that out as we go.

In the near term, I've got $1k from a recent jeep flip burning a hole in my pocket, and I see an LR3 with a busted air suspension, so that's why I'm here today. Looking at the possible causes, it can only be a few things. Owner says all 4 wheels dropped overnight. So it's probably not the bags or the compressor (although the compressor might now be burned up, who knows), or the ride height sensors. My money is on the valve block, likely caused by the dessicant getting downstream or some such?

HOW HARD COULD IT BE?

 

I agree it shouldn’t be difficult for a guy with your experience. I can’t speak directly to the LR3, but my ‘97 P38 Range Rover has EAS (which I really like). The valve block is very likely. Again, from a P38 perspective, parts to rebuild the valve block are readily available and not expensive.
If you get it, my bet is that you’ll change from a Jeep guy to a Land Rover guy.