Thought I'd share this as it may be of use to some of you although it's probably a unique failure only ours had! However there is a cautionary tale here regarding LandRover and stealers.
In 2009 we bought a brand new L322 TDV8 Westminster with extended warranty which was and still is a simply marvelous car. The only alteration that has been made was having it chipped by JE Engineering within the first month.
Fast forward three years, to 2012, and at 67,000 miles, it came to a spluttering halt with 'Engine System Failure' on the dash.
Still under warranty it was returned to Land Rover who investigated. The intercooler was found to be full of water, the left turbo shot and at least one injector in need of replacement.
They first tried to imply we'd been wading and were therefore responsible for the water ingress. After we pointed out to them that we hadn't, and even if we had would they mind explaining why it was coolant in the intercooler, they retired to consider their next move.
They then announced they would not be honouring the warranty as the vehicle had not had it's 60,000 mile service and so we were in breach of maintenance obligations and therefore had invalidated the warranty.
Again, we politely explained that every time we had tried to book it for its 60,000 mile service we had been asked 'is the service indicator showing a service is required'? We said no and were told not to worry, the car knows when it needs servicing so book it when it tells you.
As 'a gesture of good will' they begrudgingly agreed to carry out the work under warranty as they could see from the service file that servicing had been completed from new in line with their own policy.
The work was completed and much to our frustration they were never able to tell us where the coolant had come from, how it got into the intercooler, or what they'd done to repair the initial problem that had caused it.
Apparently as the work was done under warranty they didn't need to supply a list of work completed, despite our instance they should.
Anyway time wore on, the car performed excellently and we gave up pushing.
Lesson one. Land Rover will try and stiff you every step of the way.
Fast forward almost exactly three years to 2015, and a further 60,000 miles and we came to a spluttering halt on the motorway. Again 'engine system fault'.
Luckily(?) this time it was out of warranty so I had the option to take it to a specialist who investigated and found guess what...
The intercooler full of water, the turbo bust and some injector damage. Removal of the heads showed the extent of the water ingress and that it had been happening for a considerable time.
He was also able to confirm the work previously done by Land Rover due to some 'bent bits where they'd been digging around'. Essentially a shoddy job.
As for the engine exactly the same fault in almost exactly the same time frame.
The eventual cause was diagnosed as a faulty EGR valve, which is apparently water cooled on the L322, that had been leaking - most likely since new - and at a rate that seems to takes 3 years to fill an intercooler before the coolant in the system skims though the turbo and then engine goes bang.
Lesson 2. Work completed under warranty by landrover will be done without proper investigation, as quickly as possible and with little care for root cause.
I guess the moral of the story is don't let them bully you and always ask to have the cause of a problem explained and the rectifying work highlighted to you.
Also, should anyone else have an engine showing these issues, the EGR could be your problem!
There is no reason why this would matter to them but, as a family and across generations, we have over the decades spent hundreds of thousands of pounds with them. So, to have them trying everything - even to convince us we were somehow responsible for the failure - to try to renege on the warranty left a bitter taste. Add to that the later discovery that the work had not been thorough and the actual fault never rectified and it leaves you wondering why you bothered with them.
Regrettably, once the marque is in the blood, it's hard to shift. We still have the Range Rover and will do for another 60,000 at least since the engine has been rebuilt.
We still have a 1999 D2 V8 ES that we've had since new (also on a new engine!) and there is now a 300tdi soft dash in the family which is a rolling project while others have come and gone.
At heart, they're fantastic - if increasingly complicated - vehicles. It's just such a shame they have, as a brand, been let down by the people who sell them and the teams in aftersales.
They constantly get slammed for this by industry and by customer review but I guess if you're still selling them, why bother trying to be better.
In 2009 we bought a brand new L322 TDV8 Westminster with extended warranty which was and still is a simply marvelous car. The only alteration that has been made was having it chipped by JE Engineering within the first month.
Fast forward three years, to 2012, and at 67,000 miles, it came to a spluttering halt with 'Engine System Failure' on the dash.
Still under warranty it was returned to Land Rover who investigated. The intercooler was found to be full of water, the left turbo shot and at least one injector in need of replacement.
They first tried to imply we'd been wading and were therefore responsible for the water ingress. After we pointed out to them that we hadn't, and even if we had would they mind explaining why it was coolant in the intercooler, they retired to consider their next move.
They then announced they would not be honouring the warranty as the vehicle had not had it's 60,000 mile service and so we were in breach of maintenance obligations and therefore had invalidated the warranty.
Again, we politely explained that every time we had tried to book it for its 60,000 mile service we had been asked 'is the service indicator showing a service is required'? We said no and were told not to worry, the car knows when it needs servicing so book it when it tells you.
As 'a gesture of good will' they begrudgingly agreed to carry out the work under warranty as they could see from the service file that servicing had been completed from new in line with their own policy.
The work was completed and much to our frustration they were never able to tell us where the coolant had come from, how it got into the intercooler, or what they'd done to repair the initial problem that had caused it.
Apparently as the work was done under warranty they didn't need to supply a list of work completed, despite our instance they should.
Anyway time wore on, the car performed excellently and we gave up pushing.
Lesson one. Land Rover will try and stiff you every step of the way.
Fast forward almost exactly three years to 2015, and a further 60,000 miles and we came to a spluttering halt on the motorway. Again 'engine system fault'.
Luckily(?) this time it was out of warranty so I had the option to take it to a specialist who investigated and found guess what...
The intercooler full of water, the turbo bust and some injector damage. Removal of the heads showed the extent of the water ingress and that it had been happening for a considerable time.
He was also able to confirm the work previously done by Land Rover due to some 'bent bits where they'd been digging around'. Essentially a shoddy job.
As for the engine exactly the same fault in almost exactly the same time frame.
The eventual cause was diagnosed as a faulty EGR valve, which is apparently water cooled on the L322, that had been leaking - most likely since new - and at a rate that seems to takes 3 years to fill an intercooler before the coolant in the system skims though the turbo and then engine goes bang.
Lesson 2. Work completed under warranty by landrover will be done without proper investigation, as quickly as possible and with little care for root cause.
I guess the moral of the story is don't let them bully you and always ask to have the cause of a problem explained and the rectifying work highlighted to you.
Also, should anyone else have an engine showing these issues, the EGR could be your problem!
There is no reason why this would matter to them but, as a family and across generations, we have over the decades spent hundreds of thousands of pounds with them. So, to have them trying everything - even to convince us we were somehow responsible for the failure - to try to renege on the warranty left a bitter taste. Add to that the later discovery that the work had not been thorough and the actual fault never rectified and it leaves you wondering why you bothered with them.
Regrettably, once the marque is in the blood, it's hard to shift. We still have the Range Rover and will do for another 60,000 at least since the engine has been rebuilt.
We still have a 1999 D2 V8 ES that we've had since new (also on a new engine!) and there is now a 300tdi soft dash in the family which is a rolling project while others have come and gone.
At heart, they're fantastic - if increasingly complicated - vehicles. It's just such a shame they have, as a brand, been let down by the people who sell them and the teams in aftersales.
They constantly get slammed for this by industry and by customer review but I guess if you're still selling them, why bother trying to be better.
