I bought mine in November 2010 for £900 and immediately spent £100 on a pair of rear air springs and about £150 to skim the heads and replace both head gaskets. Since then the main cost has been £2600 for the top hatted motor and everything else as it's needed it but I've not kept any records. I suspect I've probably spent somewhere in the region of £2500-3000 in bits and pieces over the years. So at a maximum something in the region of £6750 in seven and a half years.
Fuel is a different matter though. Since buying it, I've covered 148,000 miles (now at 353,000) so with a fill of LPG every 180 miles on average at a cost of about £35 a fill, that's £28,777 on fuel (and a massive 822 times standing in the cold with my hand on the button!) not to mention the £40 ish of petrol a year too. Bloody good job I'm not running it on petrol!!
Clive603 wrote:
Sooo glad I haven't got a sunroof aperture to worry about.
The sunroof aperture actually makes it easier as the material can be left over the hole (as in the picture), cut out with lots of overlap and then stuck down around the edges. Without it is another concave section that needs plenty of glue to ensure it fits properly all the way along. I know because mine doesn't but my excuse is that it was the first one I'd ever done and it was done on the back lawn as it was getting dark. It annoys me every time I look at it but nobody else has ever noticed it.
You are right about the glue, spray it on both surfaces and as soon as they touch, that's it, it isn't going anywhere. It is definitely a two, if not three, man job. When we did mine we started at the front and stuck down a foot or so at a time. Not difficult to do as the glue must be on both surfaces so any overspray on one surface won't stick. But that does mean you need the other assistant(s) to hold it clear of the backing while you carefully smooth it down. There was a link to a Youtube video of a guy doing a Discovery headlining but it doesn't appear to be there now.
So I pulled the distribution blend motor over the weekend, cleaned out the motor, swapped the feedback pot for one that didn't have a dead spot at one end of it's travel, gave it a couple of little dobs of silicon grease and that sorted that out. All blend motors now moving just as they should, although the left blend motor does go to 105% when set on full heat (?). Still had the book showing after a couple of minutes running and fault showing compressor clutch again. Checked it with a pressure gauge and found that all 1250 grammes of refrigerant had indeed gone walkabout. Back to the garage after work today. When they gassed it they used vacuum to check for leaks and there weren't any. Today they put 10 bar of Nitrogen in it and the ultra violet torch showed the oil dribbling down the front of the condenser but from behind one of the fans. Seems that it has worn through by chaffing on the fan frame and the vacuum had sucked the fan frame over the hole so it didn't leak. With pressure it just squirted it out. So I've just ordered a Britpart condenser because a) it was the cheapest and b) has a 2 year warranty compared with a 1 year one on the more expensive ones. I also ordered the O rings too just in case it doesn't come supplied with any.
If you go into any LR main dealer with the V5 and driving licence to prove it is yours and you are you (so you'll probably have to wait until you have the V5 in your name), they can connect to the Land Rover computer system and print it out. Free of charge too (probably the only thing you will ever get out of LR free of charge)
Mine is also Ash Grey interior so it sounds like the Light Grey would be correct.
If you don't have it, get the printout from Land Rover on it. As well as giving you all the useful information like radio code and EKA code, it'll give you the actual build date.
Mine was light grey too. Maybe they differed depending on the interior trim colour? Oatmeal would be right if you have the Lightstone interior, light grey on mine as I have a grey interior. The SE has the light blue leather interior and that is grey too.
The only trim clips I broke were the little flappy bits that cover the screws on the sun visor clips (the ones either side of the interior light). The hinge but I tried to prise them open from the hinged side so they broke off. Better close up glasses needed......
It's finally made the mainstream press http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43619732
That's good, one less thing you'll need to do to it. I took all of the plastic trims off mine, grille and all the side rubbing strips and sprayed them with black bumper paint. Gives a sort of satin finish and tidies the appearance nicely. Preferable to spending hours with the back to black stuff that fades back to grey within a couple of weeks. The early cars had a few weaker points that were corrected from '97 onwards, the most serious being the fusebox so check that for signs of overheating. Dash illumination is easy enough to sort out too. Otherwise it looks like you've got yourself a bargain.
I would suspect it was put in cross threaded by whoever had it off last. I've come across a couple like that but have never understood why they break when coming out and not when being wound in.
Looks pretty good, got the faded grey plastic grille option too......
Shame the one Adam is breaking (see https://rangerovers.pub/topic/759-getting-spare-car-for-engine-swap) is the wrong colour, or he would be able to supply everything you need. Avenger 4x4 is local to me and I think he has a green one in for breaking at the moment, if you post up the list, preferably with part numbers (as I'm not sure what you mean by rear carpet finishers) or photos, I can call in and see what he's got. It's not the sort of thing he usually keeps so if he has them in the right colour it shouldn't be a problem. Agreed on one big box or you'll end up being charged 1000% tax on every individual part. It'll work out a lot better on a big box with a declared value of £20.
Yup, stuck at 80%......
Bugger, after only 5 hours this time the book symbol is back. First thought was that I had a leak and had dumped all 1250 grams of R134a out but checked the AC and not only does the clutch kick in but it also got extremely cold. Nano is now reporting Distribution Motor stalled.......
Just back from getting it re-gassed. Pressure test showed no leaks after 30 minutes so it seems everything is OK. As it was done at the same place as last time, their records showed it was nearly 4 years ago when it was last done so it hasn't lost pressure as quickly as I thought. So, pushing my luck and saying, everything is working as it should again.
Lpgc wrote:
Charlie Browns was running an AC regas, AC works or no fee operation until recently and I think other firms do the same;
Charlie Browns is based up your way, none around here.
Can buy a DIY AC recharge kit from Halfords, I have one but it's only really economical if the AC just needs a top-up,
But it doesn't, it's got no pressure in it and you'd need quite a few cans to achieve the 1250 grams a P38 needs.
A very basic test of AC system condition (as in leak / no leaks) is just to depress the low pressure side schrader valve,
Or put a pressure gauge on it like I did......
Done properly it's pressurised with Nitrogen first to check that it holds pressure, then vacced, then refilled with the correct amount of gas and oil. I'm considering giving Kwik Fit a try if they do it properly, otherwise I'll just try and get it booked in where it was done last time. I'm thinking it may have a leak, as it's only lasted 2 years since last filled, but as it had the UV dye put in last time it was done, I can't see any signs of it having come out anywhere. Haven't had the grille off yet to see if it is the condenser and hoping I'm not going to have to take the dash and heater box out to get to the evaporator
True, you mentioning 20 years old made me look at the V5, first registered 18/3/98 so I've just missed it's 20th birthday (in fact, thinking about it, I sorted the rear washer on its 20th birthday, how ungrateful is that?). That combined with the 353,200 miles on the clock suggests I'm doing something right.
GeorgeB wrote:
Buggered if I know what that works out at into GBP as I only deal in in Dollars these days
Certainly is cheaper George. Today's rate shows a US dollar is worth 0.71 GBP, so our petrol prices of around £1.20 a litre works out to 1.70 USD. You're still winning.