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defender td5 or 300tdi


RobC1990
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for me the 300tdi is very overpriced, the td5 is a much better motor.

my advice would be to buy on condition for the price you want to spend though, if you don't know what you're looking at take someone that does.

 

had my td5 a year now and no problems at all, wouldn't swap it for a 300

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Both very good engines IMO. currently running a td5 but have had plenty of 300 tdi.

as landy george[and barney 66] has said the 300tdi is easy to work on and requires no diagnostics like the td5.

If you go 300tdi then try and get one with not too many miles on and get a cam belt kit fitted for piece of mind.

Edited by aga man
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Guest rimotu66

I sold my old trusty 300 and bought a early TD5 , had nothing but trouble and the chassis rot out, I spent 1 1/2 days welding up the back end, I never had to weld the 300 at all , I also had a head go on it, maybe I just bought bad one but will never buy another.

 

Mickmep said the 300's are over priced, there is a reason for that, they keep going. Don't worry about power, if we wanted to go fast we would buy motor cycles.

 

If you do go for a 300 try and get a commercial if you do not need passenger doors and definatley get one without sunroofs.

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Dont think the engine choice would make any difference to the amount the chassis rots by sound of it you just got a dog.

 

I sold my old trusty 300 and bought a early TD5 , had nothing but trouble and the chassis rot out, I spent 1 1/2 days welding up the back end, I never had to weld the 300 at all , I also had a head go on it, maybe I just bought bad one but will never buy another.

 

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Guest rimotu66

Dont think the engine choice would make any difference to the amount the chassis rots by sound of it you just got a dog.

 

 

Tom, I have had a few Land Rovers over the years, I never meant the chassis rot problems where anything to do with the enigines, I remember back to series 2a days with good solid chassis, then LR brought out the series 3 and a lot of people had problems with the chassis rotting prematurely, it turned out the S3 chassis was 1mm (I think) thinner then the S2, I guess they did the same with the Discos, D2 had no problems with chassis rot normally just boot floors and rear wheel arches and of course leaky sun roofs, early D3 TD5's seem to suffer with heads that split and weak chassis, they have some how fixed the boot floor and rear wheel arch problems though.

 

Of course these are just my own experiences.

 

Don't forget LR thought it was a good idea to fit plastic locating dowels to the cylinder heads on the TD5.

Edited by rimotu66
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My TD5 was pretty damn nippy and it was quite good on fuel, I attribute this to the fact that it ran on a mix of diesel, water and glycol.

 

I changed the head gasket, water pump & stripped and flushed every hose and the chuffing thing was still blowing its water out so figured the head was probably cracked. New head was £1500 (cheeky swines, LR know they have a head fault yet they still charge full whack for the replacement parts!!!) so I thought I'd bite the bullet and convert to a 300 tdi. They do have issues but cost buttons to put right in comparison with the TD5.

 

The 300 wont get you anywhere fast but theres mucho el torko which comes in handy when I have to tow broken down landrovers.

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Both have good and bad points, both can developed coolant leaks and if run with to little coolant will damage the head beyond sensible repair (as will many other makes before any suggests it's a landy trate)

 

Maintained properly both can be very reliable

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Guest rimotu66

What year? If its a 1996 check that its had the cambelt mod done if it needed it, mine hadn't and had a healthy appetite for chewing belts up no matter how many genuine mod kits were fitted to it.

 

Agreed, should have a yellow paint dot on top of the cam belt casing, near the alternator I think.

 

Good choice by the way :good:

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It wasn't the actual cambelt that was the problem on that model year, the back plate was mis-machined meaning that the pulleys ran out of line and chewed the belt up. Gets expensive after a while especially when the mod kit doesn't cure the problem.

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2004 onwards your Road Fund Tax will keep going up (No 1)

300 old but not the headache of electrics on TD5 (Engine Managment system) No2

Suspension suspect till altered to manual (Springs ) No 3

Very bad engine for trying to get the heads done, (Expensive) No 4.

I think I could go on, but will disappoint to many people who have them and think there the Bee`s Knees.

Thats why all the OLD Land Rovers GO UP in Price, and these drop price like a brick..

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Eh?

No1 td5 starts from 1998, well before the road fund change

 

No2, electrics yes, also more torque and better driveabillity

 

No3, defender on air ? Yet to see one myself, disco yes defender no

 

No4 early td5 suffered with bad heads, all should be sorted by now, plenty around with serious millage on them (well over 200k) and still going strong

 

As home mechanics realise it ain't all that hard to work on they people will become less sceptical, some folk are talking of conversions to fit them in the old series, so times change!

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Eh?

No1 td5 starts from 1998, well before the road fund change

 

No2, electrics yes, also more torque and better driveabillity

 

No3, defender on air ? Yet to see one myself, disco yes defender no

 

No4 early td5 suffered with bad heads, all should be sorted by now, plenty around with serious millage on them (well over 200k) and still going strong

 

As home mechanics realise it ain't all that hard to work on they people will become less sceptical, some folk are talking of conversions to fit them in the old series, so times change!

DId I say 2004 start, Do not remember stating 1998. Please Re-Read. :good:

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DId I say 2004 start, Do not remember stating 1998. Please Re-Read. :good:

It's a mute point, if the td5 started after the road fund change then that'd be fair enough, but the td5 started back in 98 so is available before the road fund change, same as a 300tdi

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No the START point Was 2004 for the tax to go up every year, it was to discourage people buying big cars, it doesn`t only apply to TD5`s it applies to all cars this size, AFTER 2004. :yes: . My Mates doing his nut, I did tell him to buy before 2004, this way he would have avoided it.

so TD5`s Before this date does NOT Apply..

Edited by subsonicnat
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