Best defender engine

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Smooth Hound

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If I were to buy a defender for say 3-5000 and wanted to tow a 1t trailer behind it quite frequently, also the reliability is a big issue and availability of used spares, what would anyone suggest would be the best for the job.
Mike
 
Which one is the most widely available, are they all turbos/and is the 2.5 just not up to it at all or is it just a slow tower ?
 
After the 2.5 N/A they made the 2.5 Turbo diesel which was the 2.5 N/A with a turbo slapped on, there are some who reckon that the turbo version was unreliable, but I reckon thats a load of bollocks, they are OK if they're serviced regularly and aren't thrashed within an inch of there lives, which is where the towing bit comes in, or if its a hard worked 110. After that they redesigned the engine making it stronger and kept the turbo, but also built in fancy electrics which in themselves can create problems.
 
So lets see if i understand. when they put a turbo on the 2.5, they also introduced the ecu, and they used the same non turbo head. so if i were to not want ecu, then i would be best with an non turbo, can you tell me what yr the ecu and turbo were introduced. and with the 2.5 non turbo, apart from speed obviously, what are they like at towing and reliability and so forth.I am presuming also it would be Di.
Mike
 
2¼ (1983 Early models only)
2.5 N/A(1984 to 1986)
2.5 T/D (1986 to 1990)
2.5 Tdi 200 series (1990 to 1994)
2.5 Tdi 300 series (1994 to 1998)
TD5 (1998 on wards)

Hope this helps to clear things up!
 
they also introduced the ecu,
Click to expand...
Noooooooo the ECU came with the 300Tdi (may have been th e 200Tdi) the 2.5 Turbo has no, zero, absolutely bog all in the way of fancy electrics. Unless you call a solenoid to shut the fuel off fancy.

the 2.5 Turbo came after the series three in the mid 80's and was put in 90's and 110's that was the official name for them. The 200Tdi came in in 1990 and put in 90 and 110 but were renamed Defenders.

The 2.5 that came before the turbo in the series three was non-turbo and is usually called N/A (Normally Aspirated) all diesels are injection.

Dunno what they're like for towing 'cos I've never towed with one,but I reckon the N/A is worse than the Turbo which is worse than the 200Tdi which is worse than the 300Tdi.

I'd say the N/a and the turbo are as easy to work on and cheapest for parts followed by the 200 then the 300. They are all easy to get parts for new or 2nd hand.
 
So the 2.5 N/A was a 3 series then, I know that all diesels are injection, but was the 2.5 direct injection as for example the 2.5 transit engine which has no need for heater plugs, i thought because it is a direct injection. I dont quite understand the technicalities of why that would be though. Mike
 
The other thing that occurs to me is that if thje 2.5 N/A was designed as a non turbo, then surely by adding a turbo with no mods done to the engine at all would put a great deal of strain on the engine in general, giving it perhaps a short life, which is possibly why the engine was changed in 1990, what do you reckon?
 
No, the 21/4 was in the series 3 and the very early 90 and 110.
then they introduced the 2.5 N/A.
then they bolted on a turbo to the 2.5 N/A making it a 2.5 TD.
Then came the 200 tdi witch had no ECU.
this was followed by the 300 tdi which has a ECU.

I would recommend that you get a 200 tdi as it was much stronger than the 2.5 td, but has no ecu, like the 300 tdi.
 
ok, looks like this is going to be complicated, I get the general idea though about the yr the ecu came in and that the 200 would be best for me, the only bit i am a bit unsure of is the engine of the 2.5 td now, i am wondering whether the engine is strong enough for a turbo, if it wasnt designed for it. many thanks for all replies, Mike
 
There are no problems with the 90TD as far as I am concerned, my daughters 90 TD regularly tows 2 large horses in a large box (2 tons) and has not suffered at all. I think a lot of the negative comments come from people bad mouthing the engine when it had been in service for a while and they failed to have it maintained correctly.
 
Is it easy to just take the turbo of the turbo one then, and viceversa, could you just convert a non turbo into a turbo, can someone point me to a thread or two on this cause im having a job getting round this site at the moment, its always the same to start with, ill get used to the set up im sure. Mike
 
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