running costs of a f reg defender 300tdi

buxtonous · May 2, 2012

im a little stumped at the moment
is my defender going to be a money pit?
ive owned it for 6 months so far and the costing and problems keep coming!
mot = £400 welding and general bits and pieces
tax = £250
transfer box + fitting = £200
now a rear main oil seal = £400
engine also using water suspected head gastket??? = £300???
suspected uj = £50

£1650 for 6 months has taken the smile off my face :/

am i going to have be constantly throwing money at it to keep it going?
or even having to do the work myself?

storm99 · May 2, 2012

Yes and yes.

robint · May 2, 2012

hwo much for a new uj fooking hell wont be useing your garage

Ham Salad · May 2, 2012

Specialy if your paying to have it done

ricc · May 2, 2012

if yer worried about the pennies you got to get yer hands dirty.

uj is about a tenner and a couple of hours.

400 for an oil seal seams a bit steep.

richfish1 · May 2, 2012

buxtonous said:
im a little stumped at the moment
is my defender going to be a money pit?
ive owned it for 6 months so far and the costing and problems keep coming!
mot = £400 welding and general bits and pieces
tax = £250
transfer box + fitting = £200
now a rear main oil seal = £400
engine also using water suspected head gastket??? = £300???
suspected uj = £50

£1650 for 6 months has taken the smile off my face :/

am i going to have be constantly throwing money at it to keep it going?
or even having to do the work myself?

What do ya mean 'even have to do the work myself'?:scratching_chin: Of course you should! You'll save an absolute fortune, especially at prices you've been quoted. And its all part of the joys of landy ownership

they are simple to work on and if you do get stuck with anything, this forum will always be here to assist. once you start building confidence you'll start searching for work to do on the old girl!

Jongould · May 2, 2012

richfish1 said:
What do ya mean 'even have to do the work myself'?:scratching_chin: Of course you should! You'll save an absolute fortune, especially at prices you've been quoted. And its all part of the joys of landy ownership they are simple to work on and if you do get stuck with anything, this forum will always be here to assist. once you start building confidence you'll start searching for work to do on the old girl!

/\ This /\

The price on the UJ is about right if not cheap for the trade, its a 1/2 hours work plus bits, maybe a bit less if it goes well, more if it doesnt!!

Learn to do it yourself, nothing technical about a landrover, its all nuts and bolts on an older model, get a manual, read up, use google and search for how too guides when you face a problem, all the info is out there and will save lots of money!!

Tronicus Maximus · May 2, 2012

buxtonous said:
am i going to have be constantly throwing money at it to keep it going?
or even having to do the work myself?

yes you are! to both!

I was like you when I got mine...but I ain't afraid of graft!

consider this: at franchise garages (Bosch for example) can charge up to £20 an hour for labour.

Parts are F*@k all and get even cheaper if you can be arsed to pull em out of a donor.

New parts depend on qualtiy: britpart are cheap and some on here will argue that its better to reach further into your pockets and go for the brand above. you get what you pay for.

if the next question is: "I don't know what I'm doing" - my advice:

grab a set of spanners, socket set all the way up to 30mm, 1/2 rachet driver, 3/8 rachet driver, adjustable spanner, more grips, pump wrench, massive knackered old flat head screw driver, wire brush, wd-40 or gt-85, duct tape, a decent jack, a pair of axle stands, posidriver, allen key set and a ****ting iron, and have a browse on this forum and you can't go wrong.........99% of the time.

storm99 · May 2, 2012

Tronicus Maximus said:
consider this: at franchise garages (Bosch for example) can charge up to £20 an hour for labour.

Wow...

Sean · May 2, 2012

storm99 said:
Wow...

a leading 1 was omitted for hilarity

Pikey · May 2, 2012

Tronicus Maximus said:
consider this: at franchise garages (Bosch for example) can charge up to £20 an hour for labour.

I take it this was a slip of the finger?? If not when was you last in a garage??? Try £120 an hr??

for labour costs.

ricc · May 2, 2012

it ud be pushing it a bit to remove a prop and do a uj in half an hour...probably take me that long to get the prop off, small independant garages round here are around the £30 an hour mark

Tronicus Maximus · May 2, 2012

redhand said:
I take it this was a slip of the finger?? If not when was you last in a garage??? Try £120 an hr?? for labour costs.

huh....well they must have undercharged me last time I got the micra done

300tdistu · May 2, 2012

buxtonous said:
im a little stumped at the moment
is my defender going to be a money pit?
ive owned it for 6 months so far and the costing and problems keep coming!
mot = £400 welding and general bits and pieces
tax = £250
transfer box + fitting = £200
now a rear main oil seal = £400
engine also using water suspected head gastket??? = £300???
suspected uj = £50

£1650 for 6 months has taken the smile off my face :/

am i going to have be constantly throwing money at it to keep it going?
or even having to do the work myself?

you need to do the work your self.

Jongould · May 3, 2012

Tronicus Maximus said:
consider this: at franchise garages (Bosch for example) can charge up to £20 an hour for labour.

An average garage will charge around £50-60 an hour labour, a main dealer will be around double that.

1/2 hour labour is best case scenario, a few rusty bolts or rounded nuts can easily double this...

buxtonous · May 3, 2012

i did think as much! i can happily build a 2 stroke jetski or boat engine which i do quite often but never really played with cars especially 4x4's but hey ho ill give it a go

thanks people

Tronicus Maximus · May 3, 2012

any experience with engines means you got head start!

m500dpp · May 3, 2012

I have jsut spent £1600 on a Disco 2 that we have only had a month so I sympathise!!!

I do whatever jobs I can on the Landy myself and will do an oil change, remove the EGR and change the discs/pads and shocks. I left the clutch and flywheel etc to the garage as I just dont have the facilities to do the heavier stuff.

I do think once I have spent some time/money on some much needed maintenance it will be reliable.........I have also realised that the Landy is as much a hobby as a vehicle!!!

Jongould · May 3, 2012

m500dpp said:
I left the clutch and flywheel etc to the garage as I just dont have the facilities to do the heavier stuff.

I can see why you left it to the garage but if your willing you may find that its not that bad, can be done easily on the floor and there really is nothing difficult about these jobs, I don't even take mine into work anymore as its just as easy to do on my drive at home and I can leave it there for a week or so....

Land Rovers really are the brake often & fix easy type of cars, I like mine as it reminds me off the old VW's I love doing, plenty of rust and simple engineering, best way to learn mechanics....

buxtonous · May 4, 2012

on that note "heavier stuff" what rating hoist would i need to be able to do engine gearbox etc...

running costs of a f reg defender 300tdi

New Member

Spreading Joy & Harmony

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

New Member

New Member

Spreading Joy & Harmony

Banned

Dummy Ejection Facilitator..

Well-Known Member

New Member

Well-Known Member

New Member

New Member

New Member

Active Member

New Member

New Member

Similar threads