Member Since: 11 Aug 2017
Location: Helsinki
Posts: 6661
V8 is GR8 ;-)
After my short and unfortunate experience with MY2010 D4 (see my other posts if you're truly interested) I decided to continue on my quest for the ultimate vehicle. None of the vehicles for sale up here north were "interesting enough" to pull the trigger. Usually there was something which I felt lacking - on SE models in particular the interior was all shot up, previous owner was a smoker or the history of the vehicle wasn't known... they just didn't feel right.
One late night in August as I was surfing the bottomless selections of mobile.de and autoscout 24, playing with Excel for the financials I noticed that there was a MY2005 D3 V8 for sale, in what I think is a really nice color, approximately 20 km away from me. Whoa! The ad pretty much said the following:
Color something-else-than-a-shade-of-gray? check.
One owner? VEERY nice, check.
Full history including receipts of all services? yes, please. check.
Very good condition externally? check.
Interior leather in good condition? check.
Third row? not mandatory but nice, check.
Audio on rows 2 and 3? check.
Another set of wheels? No.
HSE? check.
V8? CHECK.
At this point I was quite interested in the car as having looked at various vehicles during the preceding 3-4 months the selection wasn't all that great.
A few days later, having arrived to the dealership and before doing anything else I politely asked whether it was allowed to plugin IIDTool to read possible faults. Dealer concurred and I got a nice list of old codes most of which were easy to match with receipts of the service. Had there been something else I would probably have dropped my interest then and there. Fortunately there wasn't
Up close and personal with the vehicle the paint looked good, a few light scratches here and there but that was expected. Summer tires practically brand new (and Nokian Hakka Black SUVs) on Land Rover 19" wheels. Engine runs smooth both cold and warm. Veeeeeery nice acceleration from traffic lights, on the highway, etc. Suspension works, compressor had been replaced a while ago. It really looked like the previous owner had not spared expense in servicing the car.
Yes, the V8 purrs nicely at all rpms.
Some wrangling with the dealer over the final sale price and he nicely closed the deal for him by throwing in another set of 19" Land Rover wheels for winter use. The studded winter tires weren't in great shape but the value of the wheels made the deal better. I once looked at the list price of LR wheels and decided I wasn't going to buy brand new ones if I could avoid it.
There were some fixings for the dealership to do before handover. Me and a friend had noticed a dark right parking light, left side bellows boot was fractured and needed replacing. They also did some light service to it where they changed oil & filter, changed antifreeze and a few other things. So no a A or B service but still better than nothing. I got it today. 8)
So, there you have it - a Cairns Blue MY2005 Discovery 3 V8 4.4 L with beige Alpaca interior. While I have no official stats on how many D3 V8s have ever been registered in this country my semi-educated guess is much less than 50.
Things I've already managed to do in a day:
- door sill protectors - these should be mandatory in every car to be honest. The ones I had were by Bearmach and based on the instructions intended for a chinese audience
Things I've decided to do or get done:
- stop the aquarium effect by darkening the passenger and cargo hold windows to some degree; LLumar, 3M, etc. will be ok if a professional installs it
- figure out how hard it is to install a D4 BT module - the car is missing voice control so I guess it means some changes to the steering wheel, addition of a microphone, etc. The basics are there - HSE and 6 CD changer. I've read the threads on D3 BT to understand the whole problem field
- figure out how hard it is to install the ACM to get music from my iPhone
- bling it up a bit by replacing the lettering front and back with chromed ones. After ~12 years the originals are a bit run down and faded
- change interior lights to LED; I was going to do this with the D4 already
- add some kind of sliders to the side - TF818 looked nice or something else with steps or grip tape. as for sliders vs steps, as we have a lot of snow up here I feel that choosing the latter might result in snow and ice preventing the opening of doors. with tube sliders that shouldn't be a problem
- probably convert the engine to also accept E85 - while consumption would go up ~20% the unit price per liter is roughly 40-50 eurocents less than for 95E10. System would pay itself back in less than a year with fairly light driving.....
- while I'd like to replace some exterior lights with LEDs the car does need to pass inspection and the police won't like dodgy looking things either. Might need to figure out what is street legal and what isn't.
- get rid of the sat nav + display, the map is from 2005. Based on a few other threads it seems like it is possible to remove the display by removing it from the MOST ring and disabling the satnav in the CCF. Need to figure out what to put in instead if I do that.
- add some kind of rear camera which automagically switches on while reversing, it was a thing that I miss from the D4. If I keep the display the camera and GVIF box hids4u sells looked interesting.
- replace the rotting key fobs somehow, doesn't seem to be an as easy job as on the D4
Things I most likely won't do:
- make it a "D3.5" by converting it to look more like a D4. I had one already, no need for a facelift with botox. The D3 looks very rugged in its own way already
Stuff I'm going to look at or have someone look at the ones I don't think I am competent to judge myself:
- PCV check (and replace with LR003380)
- MAF check
- throttle body cleaning
- AC refill
- replace T-piece "just because" (LR027661)
- Transmission flush, doesn't seem to ever have been done
- have someone look through the fuel injectors and their O rings "just in case"
- new battery; while there are no faults or weirdness, the LR branded battery does look ancient and unfortunately doesn't have a manufacturing date on top of it. Probably a good thing to do before the winter sets in
- acquire studded winter tires, Nokian HKP9 SUV is my choice
Fun times and more to come before xmas.
14th Sep 2017 9:44 pm
bimblephish
Member Since: 21 Jul 2016
Location: Wiltshire
Posts: 272
Welcome to the V8 club - a very exclusive club indeed in your part of the world. I have a friend in Helsinki, when I finally get to go and see him I'll look out for you in town
14th Sep 2017 10:48 pm
pjm-84
Member Since: 04 Oct 2016
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 2541
Still enjoying my V8 a year on and 6000miles trouble free miles.
Welcome.
14th Sep 2017 11:15 pm
kajtzu
Member Since: 11 Aug 2017
Location: Helsinki
Posts: 6661
Stuff I did today:
- Flashed IPC with MY07+ for pre MY07 firmware => got the clock on the dashboard
- Flashed BCM => 3 Flash Turn Signal enabled, Scandinavian DRL enabled
Also turned on Low coolant and brake pad warnings which were disabled for an unknown reason.
15th Sep 2017 3:07 pm
Reginald Molehusband
Member Since: 17 Nov 2009
Location: West Calder
Posts: 632
Nice! I lust after a V8 but it will have to wait as it's no where near the top of the pile yet ...2016 D4 Landmark SDV6 (Euro6), Zanzibar (late run D4)
2009 D4 HSE TDV6, Bali blue (first run D4)
2007 RRS TDV8 HSE, some blue
.
Member Since: 11 Aug 2017
Location: Helsinki
Posts: 6661
Replaced the (probably) original Land Rover labeled and Exide manufactured 90 Ah battery with a brand new Fiamm Titanium Black 95 Ah one. The old battery was in pretty bad shape according to the ctek charger that was connected yesterday during the firmware updates.
16th Sep 2017 12:11 pm
plocker
Member Since: 14 Mar 2016
Location: Preston
Posts: 828
Welcome to the club 8) 8) 8) 05 V8 HSE Bonatti Grey
Keep an eye on the thermostat housing they tend to crack and leak as they are made of plastic.
Enjoy*D3 V8 SE Blue 2004 on LPG with Rock sliders, roof rack/Ladder, snorkel, 275/65x18 STT Muds, engine/G/box ally protection.
*D2 TD5 Epson Green 2002 Off roader (weekend toy)
*D3 V8 HSE silver 2004 on LPG (Wife's) SOLD
*Maserati Gran Turismo, the Gentlemans cruiser with a V8 soundtrack.
Youtube/trollmanRS
25th Sep 2017 10:59 am
kajtzu
Member Since: 11 Aug 2017
Location: Helsinki
Posts: 6661
Thanks, it's quite a ride.
I've been scrounging the D3 forums for tips, hints and experiences of what can fail and how people notice it 8)
If the thermostat housing fails will it be catastrophic or will I just need to replace it with LR005631 after it happens?
It doesn't seem like there is a suggested maintenance interval for replacing coolant hoses themselves. Atlantic British (they have some really nice videos to watch on how to get done on the D3/LR3) suggest an interval of 105000 miles which translates roughly to 168000 km. Same goes for replacing the engine thermostat itself. My hoses looked fine, the tensioners had some rust on but that doesn't affect how the hose itself works.
25th Sep 2017 12:22 pm
plocker
Member Since: 14 Mar 2016
Location: Preston
Posts: 828
I wouldn't look at suggested maintenance intervals, otherwise no one would replace the oil in their gearboxes as they are lifetime sealed .
If you don't change it, it has been known to fail and loose coolant all over the engine leaving your stranded. For the sake of £5 its just not worth it. 05 V8 HSE Bonatti Grey
26th Sep 2017 12:36 pm
kajtzu
Member Since: 11 Aug 2017
Location: Helsinki
Posts: 6661
Just so we are clear, what part is 5 GBP? the thermostat + housing combos I've seen start at around 60-80 euro on ebay
26th Sep 2017 2:00 pm
Gazellio
Member Since: 09 Jan 2011
Location: Chilterns
Posts: 4130
Must be a hose...
26th Sep 2017 2:11 pm
plocker
Member Since: 14 Mar 2016
Location: Preston
Posts: 828
Sorry. I was referring to the T piece05 V8 HSE Bonatti Grey
My thermostat housing was about £90, but it is a Genuine LR one, you can buy cheaper ones.
Mine had 2 pin holes which were leaking water and letting air in!*D3 V8 SE Blue 2004 on LPG with Rock sliders, roof rack/Ladder, snorkel, 275/65x18 STT Muds, engine/G/box ally protection.
*D2 TD5 Epson Green 2002 Off roader (weekend toy)
*D3 V8 HSE silver 2004 on LPG (Wife's) SOLD
*Maserati Gran Turismo, the Gentlemans cruiser with a V8 soundtrack.
Youtube/trollmanRS
29th Sep 2017 11:03 pm
kajtzu
Member Since: 11 Aug 2017
Location: Helsinki
Posts: 6661
Rear differential oil got changed. The plugs were to open and the fluid itself was really dark almost mud like in color. Plug magnets had a thick layer of gunk on but no traces of metal so the diff itself is still ok.
Front differential oil was changed, too, but it looked much cleaner (able to see through at least) although still quite dark. Sticky gunk on the magnet plug too.
Transmission oil was quite dark, probably original oils as again the plugs were quite difficult to open. The oil replacement was done by connecting the machine to hoses at the right front of the car and fill plug used to verify oil was at correct level at correct temperature. BG cleaner was added and let work its magic for some 15 minutes before the flush procedure itself started.
New oil was BG 312E Universal ATF together with BG conditioner.
AC refrigerant got filled up (had around 435 g, was supposed to be 900 g) and integrity was tested - no leaks.
Also fixed broken heat shield which made some noise every now and then when it hit bottom armor every now and then. Annoying as heck, thought the whole car was breaking down.
Still need to get the transfer case fluid changed, the place that did the transmission change didn't have the Very Special Sauce required.
Also replaced sticky and weird original center console rubber mat (FAH500012PVJ), the one under the stereo, with a new one I got from ebay.
Changed front cup holders to LR087454 ones. Verified to be working by going to Burger King.
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