newbie here on the forum but not necessarily to Range Rovers (had P38 before)

bought a 2015 L405 3.0 for wife a year or so ago - she absolutely loved the car until last week when a low coolant warning came on but she was stuck on freeway and car overheated and shut down in traffic on the freeway.
Towed to an independent LR shop and he said a coolant pipe to the expansion tank ruptured, they put it back together but now when running it pressurizes the coolant tank so head gasket is leaking and his final diagnosis is that the car needs a new engine.

He checked with Rover in the UK and they have a rebuild 3.0l engine available mid of next month for about $21k plus about $5k labor to put it in.
So now what to do - car has 80k mls - has been meticulously serviced at dealer with previous owner and is in beautiful shape. I would estimate it was maybe a low $40k car before the engine melt down. It seems to make little sense to invest $25-30k into a 9yr old RR. But how to sell a project with dead engine?

Used RR engines don't seem plentiful and still cost $10-15k
Is there a market for 9 yr old RR with a dead engine? I am reading about all the overheating issues on the forums - wish I had paid closer attention. I work on all of my cars myself but since this is the wife's car and was dealer maintained I did not worry much about it other than changing oil and fixing smaller electrical issues.
Any word of advice ? best way to sell this as-is? it's a beautiful car - hate to have someone buy if for nothing and part it out
thanks

 

Sorry to hear about your issue. I would check with your dealer about the possibility of trading your vehicle and analyze the pros and cons of doing a trade. Spending that kind of money on yours to replace the engine can be applied towards a newer Range Rover and it may make financial sense to do the trade depending on what a dealer will give you for yours as is. I would also check with your dealer on what it would cost to rebuild the engine versus buying another one. Good luck!

 

thanks wcc - talked to several "dismantlers" and shops that buy damaged/non-op cars - best case scenario is about $10k they would offer for it as-is
Didn't even call a dealer but that's also still an option. 'Looks like we really bought it at the height of the market because used RR prices seem to have come down significantly compared to a year or two ago.
We really took care of the car, ceramic coated the paint, new wheels etc so we are leaning towards fixing it by possibly buying a used engine or a remanufactured one from a third party.
That would be a $15-17k option instead of $26K+
Super painful to have that happen because of a $2 plastic hose. He showed me the part, the leak was in the coolant overflow hose that runs on top of the radiator. Didn't even look old or brittle - still looked pretty good actually.

 

I feel your pain. It is quite unfortunate that a $2 plastic hose can cause such damage. Just make sure you get some kind of warranty on the used or remanufactured engine. Good luck.

 

How did you come up with it being a low 40K car before the meltdown? We have a 17, and the value on it has been dropping like a rock.

I think it is sitting somewhere near 30K right now. That's with 54K miles on it.

 

I have a 2018 and yes the value is dropping on these cars especially in the last year. I have an order placed for the new Range Rover and the value on those is holding steady as the supply is very limited. There are a lot of 4th generation Range Rovers in the markeplace and I expect their value to keep going down.

 

congrats on the new RR order! Yes, I was likely too optimistic on value. We ended up getting a deal on an original LR factory remanufactured engine that somebody had ordered and ended up not installing.
A local indy Rover shop put it in, complete with replacing every single coolant hose and plastic coolant piece there is and the car is back on the road. Was very happy with the shop, quite a surgery on these cars. So far so good .....

 

Glad to hear about the deal on the new engine. Hopefully it will last you a long time and you get to enjoy your car.