Newbie Seeking Advice On Buying Lr90 200Tdi

[StoppedBySafety]

Hi all

I'm new to the forum, seeking some of your collective expert advice before buying.

I've driven quite a few green & black LRs over the years, and now have a hankering to own one. A good friend whom I trust is offering to sell me his LR90 3door, its a 200tdi, around 1991/92 vintage. Don't know the mileage at the moment. It starts well and seems to drive fine. The only other thing I know is he had it waxoyled when he got it about 3-5 years back. It's been used rather than fawned over, so it's in age-appropriate condition, ie superficially a bit scruffy but he believes its completely sound mechanically and I'm confident he wouldn't be knowingly pulling the wool.

So the issue really is any possible unknowns that might be lurking. Is there a known list of major mechanical items that need doing about that sort of age and are expensive jobs? Then I can ask if those have been done or not and take an educated view on risk.

Also, any guidance on what would be a fair price between friends in that situation would be much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

S

[Lewis]

Before you consider the mechanical components look at the chassis and bulkhead structure.

I would expect some chassis repairs to have been carried by now and I would certainly have a good poke around underneath. Check the rear crossmember, bulkhead outriggers and front dumb irons as these are common for rot, but the entire chassis is equally likely to be rusting. The waxoil that the previous owner applied may well be hiding problems, so don't rely on a visual check over.

Likewise the bulkhead could well be suffering from rust by now. The usual places are the top corners where the windscreen brackets/hinges are, the door pillars, and the footwells.

Both the chassis and the bulkhead can be repaired which can be time consuming if you have the skills and facilities, or very costly if you have to pay someone else.

New and second hand bulkheads and chassis are readily available but to replace either is quite an involved job, at the end of the day it's only nuts and bolts but both strip and rebuild are time consuming and require some skills and a lot of space. To complete a bulkhead replacement yourself I estimate costs of between £600 and £1200 depending on how many parts you have to replace and what hidden problems you discover along the way. For a chassis replacement you can probably double those figures

For me the condition of these structural components is more important than the mechanics of the vehicle because all of the mechanical components are more easily replaced at home or less costly to have replaced by a professional in terms of labour

[smallfry]

Unknowns ? Really almost impossible to answer with Land Rover. They are all different. Could be anything and everything ! The other factor is your expectaions, skill levels, and whether you will work on it yourself or pay someone else to do it................

Assuming its a hobby vehicle and not a daily driver, as Lewis has said look at the chassis and bulkhead, as this is what will likely keep the vehicle off the road for long periods, and be expensive if you have to pay someone to fix it

All the rest is bolt on and easily (relatively) fixable. They do need a lot of ongoing maintainance though, so will never be a "cheap" vehicle to run

[trafman]

Hi

It may be worth having a read through the info that the good folk on here have passed to me in the topic re " A Defender for use on Ascension Island" some pretty useful thoughts on 200tdi v 300tdi etc also good tips on what to check for etc.

happy hunting and good luck on finding the right Landy

Trafman

[Ibex94]

Welcome,

Linky below should take you to the Defender on Ascension thread.

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=88996

However Lewis makes some good points above, changing the bulkhead is no joke if you're new to Land Rovers everything passes through, around or is hung off it. doing this job will also reveal bits of chassis that are very difficult to get to when all assembled so also figure in a few repairs at the same time. Genuine land rover chassis's hide a lot of internal components buried in each of the rails. The chassis should have straight side, if the chassis has issues then you may see the sides swelling where the rust has started to jack the two pieces of metal apart.

In comparison the oily bits are relatively easy and more frustrating and expensive than time consuming to fix.

NB. One of the golden rules of buying a vehicle is never to a friend, there are a few exceptions but.....

Also worth a look at military dispersal if you're after a basic truck (and you've got experience of the black and green ones), may have a few bruises but you know they've been maintained. LRO had an article about buying one probably about 12 months ago.

NB. Second golden rule is don't buy the first one you see.....unless you've checked a few more out before you go back and buy it.

Also worth asking if a local forum member can spare some time to show you over his truck and point out where the problems lie, also check out local LR clubs.

Good luck with your search.

Rob