- Posts
- 506
- Location
- Maidstone, Kent
Last night I went to look at an early L322 near me as it is for sale cheap and I was curious. A 2 owner car with 102k on the clock, 2003 HSE and only the smallest rust scab in the OSR arch. Even has a full tank of diesel!
Seller states that he had a trailer on the back and when he unhitched it, the back shot up in the air, front dropped and now it's stuck like that, ok, no big deal at all, we can fix that. Then when he moved it across his garden and hit the brakes one of the pipes burst and as he said, it was so lucky it didn't happen with a mini digger and trailer on it earlier in the day!
All that aside, it looked to be a fun(?) project, the owner was quite happy to disclose all known faults and it was 10 mins drive from me. When I got there it wasn't quite as described but I don't think it was intentional as he was remembering things as we went. The sort of throw-away comments "I'll connect the battery as it drains if you leave it on there for a few days". He connects a tiny battery and after a couple of very lazy cranks the little 3.0 TD6 fired up and ran like a Swiss watch. Honestly haven't heard one run so quietly from cold in years. This is a GOOD sign! All the electrics work and save for the obvious HDC/brake fluid level/Air suspension faults it's pretty good and I'm thinking "I am buying this!"
Everything going pretty well at this point, I turn the steering to see if we can see the split brake hose as he's sure it was OSF and that's when I felt the steering was really notchy. Almost like the belt is slipping on the pump but it isn't and it's not every half-turn or so either like a UJ issue either.
After that and we turn the car off, he tells me I might not be able to turn the key again and sure enough, the lock barrel is stuck. Battery off and back on, ignition frees off. So that's another thing, the list is now:
Air suspension issue - not sure exactly what as the battery was too weak to get reliable diagnostics there and then
Brake hoses and a brake overhaul as it's been stood for a long time.
Steering rack?
Steering lock/column
5 tyres
re-lacquer the roof at least
I reset the RLM with Gap and the car levelled out which he was grateful for as it will make loading it a lot easier for whoever buys the car, thanked him for his time and left. The thing is, it's bugging me, what is the issue with the steering? Any ideas?
Seller states that he had a trailer on the back and when he unhitched it, the back shot up in the air, front dropped and now it's stuck like that, ok, no big deal at all, we can fix that. Then when he moved it across his garden and hit the brakes one of the pipes burst and as he said, it was so lucky it didn't happen with a mini digger and trailer on it earlier in the day!
All that aside, it looked to be a fun(?) project, the owner was quite happy to disclose all known faults and it was 10 mins drive from me. When I got there it wasn't quite as described but I don't think it was intentional as he was remembering things as we went. The sort of throw-away comments "I'll connect the battery as it drains if you leave it on there for a few days". He connects a tiny battery and after a couple of very lazy cranks the little 3.0 TD6 fired up and ran like a Swiss watch. Honestly haven't heard one run so quietly from cold in years. This is a GOOD sign! All the electrics work and save for the obvious HDC/brake fluid level/Air suspension faults it's pretty good and I'm thinking "I am buying this!"
Everything going pretty well at this point, I turn the steering to see if we can see the split brake hose as he's sure it was OSF and that's when I felt the steering was really notchy. Almost like the belt is slipping on the pump but it isn't and it's not every half-turn or so either like a UJ issue either.
After that and we turn the car off, he tells me I might not be able to turn the key again and sure enough, the lock barrel is stuck. Battery off and back on, ignition frees off. So that's another thing, the list is now:
Air suspension issue - not sure exactly what as the battery was too weak to get reliable diagnostics there and then
Brake hoses and a brake overhaul as it's been stood for a long time.
Steering rack?
Steering lock/column
5 tyres
re-lacquer the roof at least
I reset the RLM with Gap and the car levelled out which he was grateful for as it will make loading it a lot easier for whoever buys the car, thanked him for his time and left. The thing is, it's bugging me, what is the issue with the steering? Any ideas?
