1996 Defender 90 300tdi buying advice/help
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flat
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Rear crossmember, front dumb irons, footwells. Top of the chassis rails. Actually all the chassis.
Take a torch
Get underneath it and look carefully for rust, or swelling of seams and joins or splits in seams. Feel the areas you can't visualise, they should feel smooth not pitted or holed. Look inside and outside footwells, lift carpet to look at them.
If it has repairs on top of repairs all over then the chassis is likely done for. Take a screwdriver and prod suspect areas, if it goes through then it needs fixing - either negotiate price or walk away.
Bulkhead corner either side of the vents should be solid, look for paint bubbling around the hinge. Look at the seams inside the engine bay on the firewall and the passenger compartment footwells for rust swelling. Look at the bottom of the bulkhead sides
Oil leaks, pita ones are front and rear crankshaft seals - easy to do the actual seal but you have to take off a shed load of stuff to get to them (gearbox etc)- a slightly wet engine underneath isn't anything to worry about. Diffs/wheels hubs etc are an easy fix.
Insist on seeing it from cold so you can assess starting performance. Note exhaust colours when starting and driving, shouldn't be any blue (black grey is ok)
Some pointers, take some photos and post up anything your not sure about.
Do you have any mechanical skills etc?
Take a torch
Get underneath it and look carefully for rust, or swelling of seams and joins or splits in seams. Feel the areas you can't visualise, they should feel smooth not pitted or holed. Look inside and outside footwells, lift carpet to look at them.
If it has repairs on top of repairs all over then the chassis is likely done for. Take a screwdriver and prod suspect areas, if it goes through then it needs fixing - either negotiate price or walk away.
Bulkhead corner either side of the vents should be solid, look for paint bubbling around the hinge. Look at the seams inside the engine bay on the firewall and the passenger compartment footwells for rust swelling. Look at the bottom of the bulkhead sides
Oil leaks, pita ones are front and rear crankshaft seals - easy to do the actual seal but you have to take off a shed load of stuff to get to them (gearbox etc)- a slightly wet engine underneath isn't anything to worry about. Diffs/wheels hubs etc are an easy fix.
Insist on seeing it from cold so you can assess starting performance. Note exhaust colours when starting and driving, shouldn't be any blue (black grey is ok)
Some pointers, take some photos and post up anything your not sure about.
Do you have any mechanical skills etc?
Station House
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cheers for that, just what i was looking for, as for skills, 26 years in the motor trade (that was 10 years ago) but no experiance of landrovers and minimal diesel. I liked to play with the quick stuff, Lotus, marcus, maserati, aston, jag etc, the latter years running the workshop.
cheers, will have to look when i`m at home, the link is blocked at work, alough I may have looked at that.
Ok, had a look and not impressed, i think the chassis is past its best, rear cross member actually looked OK, front dumb irons were covered in recent underseal, put my finger in a round hole in the side and it was full of flakey rust? The rest of the chassis on the top and sides was bulging and i could pick off big flakes of rust. The bulkhead looked great from the outside but i think it had been repaired as there was overspray when i lifted the bonnet. Inside beside each side of the dash was rusty with holes, have a look a the pictures below and let me know what you think.
Not a good picture, but o/s of dash
Not a good picture, but o/s of dash
Adam1979
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- South Wales
Looks in terrible condition. What sort of price was this up for?? Looks like the chassis needs changing or a hell of a lot of work doing to it. Leave it there and keep looking. There is much better out there than this.
flat
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That is shagged. Well manky. Walk away.
Better out there for the price.
My 25year old one is waaay better than that
Better out there for the price.
My 25year old one is waaay better than that
Last edited:
Caberfeidh
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- 79
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- North Wales
Looks like the chassis has been patched and it has had a serious leak, hence the rust to inside of bulkhead and floorpan.
If you want to learn how to weld and have something to fill your spare time it might be worth a go. I've had that particular tee-shirt.
If you want to learn how to weld and have something to fill your spare time it might be worth a go. I've had that particular tee-shirt.
Caberfeidh
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Definitely overpriced.
Adam1979
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- South Wales
£3500!!! Offer him £350.
flat
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- Far away from you!!
Yeah the first one I looked at was a dog aswell, 5th was the charm for me!
