Member Since: 22 Jul 2018
Location: Harbor Springs
Posts: 79
My $500 LR3 rescue rover
Click image to enlarge
Way back in caveman days, I owned a Series IIA 88, which was really impractical because I was living in Alaska at the time and the mighty Kodiak heater wouldn't even keep the windshield clear. Fast forward a few centuries and I found myself in a postition to buy a 2008 LR3, took the chance, and loved it. Took it two tracking, to the office, even took it from Northern Michigan to New Orleans and picked up an identical one for the wifely one on the way back home. Reluctantly sold it for the down payment on a Ford Bronco, the new 6 generation critter, which had its charms but never did rise to the level of the LR3 so we sold that, and the wifes Bronco sport, took the money and bought her a nice 2019 Discovery Sport, but what was I going to drive? Mustang Convertible? 1979 Chevrolet pickup? Yeah, not through the winter!
1st Sep 2024 3:37 pm
Gnomad
Member Since: 22 Jul 2018
Location: Harbor Springs
Posts: 79
My job as a copier fixit guy takes me all over northern Michigan, and I see a lot of vehicles "for sale" along the side of the road, fairly common in this area. You can find everything from trash to treasure. That's where I found this particular 2008 LR3 with some kind of G4 tribute package, with the stickers on the doors, brighwork on the mirrors, the chrome rock sliders and on the tailgate. I haven't been able to ferret out if this is a job by previous owners or an actual package from LR, so if you know, I'm all ears!
I called the owner, found out that I actually knew the guy, and after a bit of back and forth he tells me " make me an offer. I'll take $500 for it. Runs good, the suspension needs work" Well, for $500 I can make that work!
Job one was getting it home. It had sat for the best part of a year so the battery was toast, the biggest problem was the shifter linkage had frozen up and I couldn't get it into drive. Choice one was to have a tow truck carry it home and the cheapest was $250, or crawl under with a can of PB Blast and a hammer, Door number 2 was taken, took about an hour of spraying and tapping, finally got it into gear and headed towards home . That drive, clunking and stuttering a bit, reminded me why it was I loved my old LR3 so much and how much I missed the Rover ride. It's very much a thing, but you all know that.
1st Sep 2024 3:53 pm
Moo D3 Decade
Member Since: 13 Aug 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 14483
Nice job. Satisfying as well. D4 HSE EU6 (Known as Jeeves)
New Defender L663 110 SE (known as Noddy!) Sold
Sold Volvo XC90 R-Design (known as Basil)
Sold - D4 HSE (Known as Gerty)
No longer the Old Buses original owner
231,000 miles and counting
05 S manual owned from March 2005
D4 Face lifted
Still original injectors and turbo
V8 Front brakes
BAS Remap, Allisport Intercooler and deCat
EGRs blanked
T-Max split charge
Hanibal Expeedition rack
Prospeed ladder
Duratrac tyres
IID BT
BAS FBH control
1st Sep 2024 4:40 pm
Gnomad
Member Since: 22 Jul 2018
Location: Harbor Springs
Posts: 79
replaced the front valve block and bags, so now it seems to be holding air, but the rover is stuck in off road hieght and I can't convince to to choode any other setting. The switch might have some issues, the HDC button is sticky so I suspectt there hsd been a spill on that panel and it doesn't want to come apart peacefully for a cleaning.
Also need to adjust the shift cable. I have to hold the shift handle to keep it in drive.
2nd Sep 2024 2:49 am
Gnomad
Member Since: 22 Jul 2018
Location: Harbor Springs
Posts: 79
The idle was a bit lopey so I cleaned the throttle body and MAF, and wow was that the filthiest crustiest throttle body ever!
Runs and idles smooth as a baby's butt.
2nd Sep 2024 3:52 pm
Gnomad
Member Since: 22 Jul 2018
Location: Harbor Springs
Posts: 79
It's been a while since I reported on the progress with the Rescue Rover, it's been a chore to be sure but so far my older ones have trained me for this and then some!
That suspension is always fun. I considered going to coils for about 30 seconds until I realised that the bite on that was $1300 at a minimum, so I replaced the front struts and valve blocks, middle valve block, and then right as I was feeling all happy about life and the lack of amber lights the exhaust valve on the compressor got stuck. Someone had replaced the original compressor with a Chinese copy, and I know it was from China cuz it said so! And since I have a packrat habit, I had a Hitachi from a Rangey I'd fixed for a friend of mine which wouldn't build any pressure but the rest of it was good enough to swap parts and build one good from two bad ones! Speaking of the compressor, the bracket was rust welded to the frame, and I got anooyed with it and took a crowbar to it. It came off in 3 pieces, ordered the cheapest one I could find off ebay to replace it and when it came to my surprise it was actual LR stock! $26 US for that. Now I have access to all heights and no lights. Oh, I did have to repair the height switch as the pads and pins were corroded, sorted with a soldering iron.
19th Oct 2024 3:15 pm
Gnomad
Member Since: 22 Jul 2018
Location: Harbor Springs
Posts: 79
My wife being from the UK has this term "mankey" and the interior was pretty much that. Absolutely filthy. Stripped out the seats in the back and spent a few days with a carpet cleaner, a Bissel with the vaccuum, oxi clean, laundry detergent, magic erasers, elbow grease, and airing out in the sun with the windows down. At least now I can drive it without a biohazard suit on.
I've changed out the front and rear diff oils, on the planner is to change out the transmission and transfer case oils, and then there's the engine. It hasn't been changed in who knows how long and when I went to change that I found the plug was well and truly stuck, as in rounded the head off the bolt stuck. Rather than risk damaging the plug threads or even better the oil pan I decided to try an extraction. I'm not a fan of that method but figured I'd give it a try, and between what came out of the filter and the dipstick tube I managed to get about 6.5 quarts out. Noy the best but I do have to drive it as it's getting too cold to take the bike to work.
19th Oct 2024 3:31 pm
Gnomad
Member Since: 22 Jul 2018
Location: Harbor Springs
Posts: 79
I drove it for a week or so, and it did keep getting better but there was a vibration and I knew the center bearing carrier was bad. Hah! Mr Packrat has one, but when I went to change it I found the center CV and rear u joint were notchy so I had to get a driveshaft too. Had to drive the Mustang GT convertible to work for a week or so until I got a new one, it was terrible having to drive the raging beast but it was my cross to bear.
So the driving has been interesting. Having not been driven for the best part of a year, maybe more, it was a bit barn sour. The more it drives the better it gets. The first few days it did this thing were it would drop a gear and freewheel around the corner, it's gotten over that now. It started out at 10 mpg and now is up to 13.5.
Stopping was a bit more work after finding the hard lines had rotted through in the usual areas in the back end. I managed to work around the turtle and get some flares and unions on the lines there, from past experience that's when you find brake lines good enough to actually flare and use. That was a task that made me happy to have a oil pit in the garage, I can't imagine doing that task on my back under the vehicle. No wonder that LR considers it to be a body off job.
So now I'm searching for wheels to replace the TSW's on it, totally out of character for a LR3, but it's slim pickings here in northern Michigan. Even contacted the "local" dealer to see if anyone had a set of "take-offs" as we would call it when someone bought new wheels and tires when they buy something, no joy there. I'm seeing Defender wheels with tires on ebay from UK breakers that even with shipping and import duties are less than what I can find in the US. Any opinions on Michelin Latitude tires in the snow?
19th Oct 2024 3:53 pm
Gnomad
Member Since: 22 Jul 2018
Location: Harbor Springs
Posts: 79
It rained the other day and I found the wipers weren't working on intermitnat/rain sensing and the blades didn't park, so swapped out the wiper motor and all is well. The rain sensing wioers even work, and considering the level of neglect and tough vehicle living conditions in this area I'm amazed how much of this still works!
Sunroof and AC are still off line, not a big deal right now, I've got all winter to figure that out.
Careful shopping and a lot of swaet equity has kept the on the road cost at $1400 US. From what I'm seeing locally, LR3/Disco 3 prices are kind of at a low pointright now and a ridiculous value for the capabilities of this beast.
23rd Oct 2024 1:55 am
Moo D3 Decade
Member Since: 13 Aug 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 14483
Love the perseverance. At that price it's just fun. D4 HSE EU6 (Known as Jeeves)
New Defender L663 110 SE (known as Noddy!) Sold
Sold Volvo XC90 R-Design (known as Basil)
Sold - D4 HSE (Known as Gerty)
No longer the Old Buses original owner
231,000 miles and counting
05 S manual owned from March 2005
D4 Face lifted
Still original injectors and turbo
V8 Front brakes
BAS Remap, Allisport Intercooler and deCat
EGRs blanked
T-Max split charge
Hanibal Expeedition rack
Prospeed ladder
Duratrac tyres
IID BT
BAS FBH control
23rd Oct 2024 7:17 am
Naki Blake
Member Since: 31 Dec 2021
Location: Taranaki
Posts: 325
Just out of curiosity, how many miles has it done?
Cheers mate
23rd Oct 2024 8:04 am
Gnomad
Member Since: 22 Jul 2018
Location: Harbor Springs
Posts: 79
Just turned over 187K a couple days ago. Just getting run in!
Our first LR3 was so reliable and nice that the wife kept borrowing it, so she sold her A4 and we found her an identical LR3, within a 1000 units on the VIN close-and despite hers being more expensive and fewer miles, I ended up doing much of the same repairs to her $13K LR3. I don't mind so much catching up with needed repairs and maintainance on a cheap one.
23rd Oct 2024 12:39 pm
Gnomad
Member Since: 22 Jul 2018
Location: Harbor Springs
Posts: 79
There are a couple programming quirks I seem to be having and not sure what's the deal, am I doing it wrong or is this one just damn stubborn.
First is the "lazy entry" setting. I've turned it off in the info menu several times and yet it won't go away. It wouldn't be so bad but it never seems to get back to where I sit and it takes a whole 10 seconds or so to get the seat back to my setting. This is compleatly unacceptable in the 21st century!
So then we get to the CCF. I was able to turn off TPMS, as my rims don't have the transponders and I got tired of looking at that yellow tire, but my parking aid doggedly refused to deactivate and since my sensors are old and the lenses faded they beep at me every time. Once again it is the 21st century and this vehicle refuses to bend to my will. I've edited the CCF several times, it shows parking aid as not fitted or such and yet it still acts as if it is.
I know that it is possible to set these because my last LR3 was set up, especially the lazy entry thing, which is a neat feature for the first few times you see it and then it gets pretentious unless you do have multiple users.
27th Oct 2024 3:20 pm
Naki Blake
Member Since: 31 Dec 2021
Location: Taranaki
Posts: 325
Hi Gnomad
On my SE spec, I had rear parking aid sensor faults despite the vehicle not having parking sensors fitted, in the rear bumper (or front bumper). I was getting the faults even if turned off in the CCF.
I removed (with advice on this forum) the panel on passenger side rear above rear wheel arch, and discovered that the rear parking sensor ECU was there. It must have been factory fitted, but not used for SE spec. Any way I unplugged it and faults disappeared. Note passenger side is left side as we are RHD in NZ, so for you I think right hand side.
The only thing I get now, is when I clear faults, the GAP IID then goes through a recheck of the faults and for a split second a message comes up as "upload failed" when it gets to the parking aid ECU (I think it is ECU 8? It flashes up so quickly).
Cheers Blake
28th Oct 2024 2:16 am
Gnomad
Member Since: 22 Jul 2018
Location: Harbor Springs
Posts: 79
Thanks Blake, I will have a look. It will be nice to not have it shriek at me every time I back up!
It cleaned up fairly well, although a 30 footer at best. The DPO really beat this truck and it has a lot of deep scratches. I might attempt a wrap on it at some point or even get out the paint gun.
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