Great timing Robin, as I am contemplating the purchase of a ~$10K grocery getter and Golden Retriever hauler. I really love the off-road engineering of the RR, but have been put off by the nightmare stories about all the little things. I was looking at a 96 Calloway HSE last week, but have been hesitating because no one that I know has a RR. With your purchase, I feel more confident! I just can't bring myself to buy a 4Runner... my better half already has a Rav4. The RR is a lot of luxury (maybe too much!) and off-road performance for the money. Keep us posted.

 

A good friend of mine was bitten last year by the Range Rover bug. It was one electrical problem after another and the suspension was a close second in the problem category. He did have a funny line though, he said that he really liked the Freelander which he drove as the dealer loaner every other week. He now drives a Lexus SUV as a winter runner.

Although, I think my British wife summed it up the best when she refused to let me buy a Range Rover. She said, "they (Range Rovers) are not reliable in the UK and I'm sure they are not getting better over here."

 

My $.03 would be to trade up from RAV4 to 4Runner. I have an 04, V8, full-time 4WD. It is sublime. Truly the cream of the crop. RR are more capable off roaders, but how often will one be traversing the South American jungles?

 

You could take a look at the Discovery V8 if you're looking for offroad performance. But if you're going down the Land Rover abyss (way beyond the slippery slope) join a LR forum en get some decent info before you take the plunge. Nothing comes close to a Land Rover as far as breeding, history and capability go, but they do have their quirks.

I wouldn't trade in my Defender for a 997GT3RS

Peter R.

 

I have the 4.6 HSE, good old push rod... There were no stickers to say that engine requires premium unleaded, but based on my forum reading they are saying this motor needs premium fuel.

 

Tom,

That was reason for my purchase, and of course for the baby too. It only gets 13-14 MPG, so for sure I wouldn't use it for a daily commute. So far I have just been tinkering with it, taking things apart, poking around with a volt meter and making jumper wires to see if the suspension would move. So far I feel pretty comfortable with the way this truck is designed and put together. I also feel that it will not be more problematic and troublesome to maintain and work on than our 993s. On the bright side there are lots of room to work with on compare to our 993s, probably wouldn't even need a lift.

I haven't even tried to put this truck on my little sissor lift yet. Because this truck weights close to 5000 lb, and I don't think my garage is high enough.

There are many good web sites out there that have all the common problems listed and solutions for the fix. http://rangerovers.net/

The only short coming is that in order to reset the EAS error you will either need to take the car to the dealer or have a special Rovercom diagnostic tool.

As with the problematic air suspension, actually there are many options, aftermarket parts, repair parts commercially avaliable which makes me comfortable enough to live with it.

I have made up my own little list of how to deal with the suspension:

(1). Install the manual overide option http://rangerovers.net/repairdetails...n/replumb.html
This will allow me to completely by-pass the EAS computer to raise the car to a normal driving height.

(2). When time permits, I will tinker with the EAS and see if I can get it to work again.

(3). All else fails, I will install steel springs and once for all stop messing with the EAS.

 

"(3). All else fails, I will install steel springs and once for all stop messing with the EAS."

That's what I was thinking, too, Robin. When the EAS fails, just ditch the whole thing for the spring suspension. I have heard that the spring suspension is fine for everyday use and even better for offroad use.

With the price of gas, I am thinking of getting an older natural gas Civic for a commuter car. With the advent of the Phill system, (www.phill.com) I can recharge at home each night. With the federal rebate, the cost equivalent per gallon ends up to be about $1. That is attractive enough to make me want to get a natural gas f150 to replace my guzzling old truck, too...

Any Rennlister have a natural gas vehicle?

 

An update:

Received the M.A.R.S. "Manual Air Receovery System" kit last night, had it installed in 30 minutes. Pump the air bags up, jumped the EAS ECU to fool the system into manual mode. Now the truck is ridding high and dry back in action.

So, at least now it is driveable. Will take my time to figure out what's wrong with the system when I have more time.

http://www.carrollrovers.com/Range-R...ion-Bypass.htm

 

That's good to hear. Keep us posted about your progress with diagnosis. Thanks for the info.

 

Robin Robin Robin - what have you done indeed??
a '96 Rangey?? Just be glad of your superior than most mechnical skills. RR's should come with a permanent AAA membership (maybe even have the little man with a flag running in front of you - just in case!!)

Good Luck (I'm afraid you'll need it).

 

Rover progress update...

After installing the MARS (Manual Air Recovery) kit I was able to pump up all 4 corners of the truck to the correct ride height, which helped me diagnose why the EAS went to a hard fault in the first place.

Been driving the truck for the past week, found out that the suspension air bags definitely have some problems in keeping air. So right now I have some air. Fortunately there are plenty of aftermarket supplier of the air bags, so I was able to pick up 4 lifttime warranty units from http://www.arnottindustries.com/ for $400.

In the mean time I went ahead and did all the standard service items, worn hood shocks, serpentine belt, pollen filter. Still need to replace all the fluids next.

So far I am very impressed with the British enginneering (My first British car/truck), this thing was surprising easy to work on compare to a 993.

It only took me 10 minutes to remove the faulty air bags with minimal tools.


More to come....

 

Full steam ahead!

 

Progress update #2

Ordered 4 new aftermarket airbags for around $400 from Arnott Inc they come with life time warranty
http://www.arnottindustries.com/manuals/index.asp

The new air bags are longer than the original worn bags, so took only 5 minute per side to remove the original worn air bags, but took about 2 hours to install.

The left is the new air bag, the middle is the old bag, on the right is the new air bag installed on the seat.


So far so good with the new air bag, even after one week without adding more air it is still holding air and keeping the rear the same ride height.

While I was changing the rear air bags I noticed that there were several blown open spots on the exhaust system. What the hell !!!! For this price range car they should have used stainless steel. This is when I really appreciate the quality of Porsche's components. In any case the redneck in me came out and decided to patch up the exhaust holes on the Rangie instead of forking out money for a new system.

Here are the 3 patches I made today... More for tomorrow on the intermediate muffler while also have a big hole on there.


Apparently according to the Rangie forum this is totally normal, there were saying that some people replaces their exhaust system very often. Unbeleiveable!!!!

Discovered more problem during an oil change, the ball joints and the tie rods are all busted..... no wonder the truck pulls to one side, and shakes badly above 70 mph




Have all the ball joints and tie rods on order.... next project.....

I am so glad that this truck is so easy to work on, no lifting needed even to remove the muffler. And all the parts are fairly cheap, would say they are half of the Porsche price... of course you get what you paid for....

Darn British car!!!!

 

Great news on Rover! Like we discussed a few weeks back, you are more than welcome to borrow my alignment tools after you replace the toe links.

 

OMG! Just speechless...

Robin, I'm with you and may the force be with you as well... "The new chapter-R-car.com"