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Buying a 90 300Tdi... Advice please?

After several years absence I'm keen to get back into the mud, and smell peat burning off the exhaust as cane tops pass within 2" of the door mirrors.

I've recently had a test drive in a 90tdi hard top; it's ~10 years old and has an early 300Tdi engine. Bodywork seems straight and I didn't detect any strange clunks or noises during the test drive. The main levers seemed to do what they were meant to do; we had a quick sortie off road.

I'm going back to have another look in a couple of days, this time with boiler-suit, torch and hammer. Is there anything I should be looking for especially...? What goes wrong with 90s? Which are the expensive oil leaks? Which bits of the chassis rust first? Are there any bits of the engine I should look at especially beyond oil colour and looking for oil in the coolant? It has done about 90,000 and has a service history which looks promising. Money seems about right to verging on the expensive.

My last LR was a SIIa SWB, so the coil sprung 90 is new technology as far as I am concerned! Help!

Thanks,

M
Reply to
McBad
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Make sure the engine has had a recent cam belt change and that the modification kit has been fitted (if needed). 300Tdi's have got a bit of a bad reputation for breaking cam belts. Land Rover cocked up the design slightly resulting in some of the pulleys not being aligned correctly. The mod kit fixes this.

Somewhere on the 'net are the details about which engine numbers are affected. Hopefully someone will be along with the details soon.

Reply to
Simon Barr

2", bags of room! I can tell you that after an 80 a 90 seems enormous between the canes. If you're down to 2" clearance tho', watch out for the eyebrows.

All of it. Compared to the Series chassis it's a disaster, designed to rust. Look at the rear cross member, especially where it joins onto the main chassis. Also check where the bulkhead outriggers join the main chassis. Not that you'll be able to check, but expect rot on the chassis behind the gearbox cross member mountings, and the cross member itself. (That's no real problem, they're easy to fabricate from a bit of box section). Also check the front shock absorber towers. Easy enough to replace if rotten, but you WILL shear off one or more of the four fixing studs for them, which means you have to get the spring out to replace them, so it all takes a lot longer than you estimated. If you do have to change them try and get a gas-axe onto the nuts to loosen them.

Gordon RTV entrant in this years Nationals, 200 TDi 90.

Reply to
Gordon

Simon and Gordon, thanks for your advice. I'll let you know the result of tomorrow afternoons inspection...

(As well as feeling much bigger than the IIa it also feels like a rocket-ship in comparison! Fifth gear on a Land Rover! Stunned!)

M.

Reply to
McBad

Tell me about it! Local hill = 30 mph, 3rd gear in the Series 1, 35 mph in 3rd gear 2.25 90 petrol, 50 mph, top gear, still accelerating in the TDi!! And 30 odd mpg as opposed to 20. Sort of thing that makes you wish you'd done it years ago.

Gordon

Reply to
Gordon

Yes.

And I could only find superficial rust on the rear X-member yesterday, everything else looked pristine (including all round gear box x-member). Also a full service history and not a single dent underneath or on the body work....

...so, I've bought a land rover! Collect it next week; can't wait!!!!

Thanks,

M
Reply to
McBad

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