New to Land Rover's....Maintenance Issues on 06' LR3?!

[mgb2.0]

New to forum and Land Rover in general...
Purchasing a 2006 LR3 HSE with 87K miles on Monday. I'm pretty stoked to get it but have been warned by a few people of maintenance & maintenance costs that have me worried a bit.

What are the most common maintenance issues and their costs of this year model?!

Thanx in advance for any response!

 

[Silmarillion]

I've had my 06 for just over a year and have put 10k+ miles on it and am now at 87k. No major problems have happened since I've purchased it. No service items other than what it started with that was fixed by the dealer. Make sure you get the suspension checked. Mine already had parts recently replaced (control arms maybe).

A parking sensor was crushed by someone that backed into me - that was a $50 fix. I know there's a lot already written here about issues, do a bit of LR3 searching and you will find some problems.

Good luck!

 

[Rubber Cow]

So far I've had the following worked performed on my '07 with 110k miles-mostly by the local stealership:
Control arm bushings twice-$1200
Suspension compressor-$900
Alternator-$700
Tie rod ends-$400
Front differential seal-$400
Front wheel hubs and bearings-$1400
Plastic T fitting in the cooling loop under the engine cover-the one that dies in BFE and can leave you stranded.$35 for the part.
Tailgate struts-$60

 

[whathaway]

Welcome to the club! My 06 LR3 HSE just passed 180K miles! Biggest headache was the suspension compressors. It took LR a few years to get it right. Hopefully the previous owner took care of this because it was over 4 yrs ago that the improved model was available. Give me a minute and I'll check the version with the fix.

Depending on your skills, many of the routine maintenance service requirements can be completed by you. There is a lot of good advice on this forum and parts a pretty easy to acquire.

LR3 is considered as a "high end" SUV which equates to expensive dealer service. Find an independent and develop a relationship.

 

[whathaway]

AMK manufactured compressor is where they finally got it right.

 

[Mister-T]

Hello,
The D3 is a little expensive, and a lot to fragile for an off-roader, but an excellent car and superb offroader.

I bought mine six months ago, HSE tdv6 110.000km.

This is done now by my non official LR specialist:
Distribution: 600€ (LR price 3000€!!!)
Shok absorbers: 1200€
Gearbox oil and filter change: 600€
Fixing the rocjing seats: free, done by myself
To do:
Cleaning the compressor
Changing tyres
Fixing the lock on the fuel reservoir
Cleaning the noizy Airco
Update of the bluetooth sytem

Yu have to know, the car is complex, but all the needed info and manuals are disponnible on the UK D3 forum, they where great and verry helpfull.

Enjoy the ride!

 

[proslambanomenos]

I bought mine--an 07--with 87k miles. I've put another 53k on it, a lot of those miles very hard doing extensive overlanding. Because the dealership charges so much for parts and labor, I generally do the work myself and attempt to find lower prices for parts--usually with great luck. Except where noted, the prices I include in my list are for parts only. I have saved multiple thousands this way.

• $120 Window control switches: driver's and passenger side rear.
• $150: Spare tire winch failed after the tire shop air ratcheted it to death
• $150: exhaust valence (the snake fang looking black plastic think that mounts between the exhaust pipes and the spare tire. I ripped this off by hitting water at high speed when my spare was mounted to my roof rack (i'll attach a pic of when it happened just for fun). lesson learned: if you're going to do this, make sure your spare is in place under your vehicle or that you remove the valence beforehand--i think four bolts.
• $700: Air suspension compressor (replaced with OEM hitachi, chose to NOT upgrade to the newer version)
• $40: both front lower control arm rear bushings.
• $160 transfer case input and output seals, oil
• $268: bearings and seals to rebuild the front differential
• $30: front diff drain and fill
• $40: breather tube for front diff. (there is a technical service bulletin for the breather cap. you should replace it if it hasn't been already. the part costs something like $15. I bought the whole tube and replaced it which came with the updated breather cap when i rebuilt my front diff.)
• $30: broken 3rd row seat belt clip
• $10: hi-note horn
• $20: both hood struts
• $50: serpentine belts
• $160: alternator
• $1100: had the dealer do a tie rod
• $120: brake pads all four wheels
• $25: dealer cleaned and repaired munged keyway for tow hitch
• $500: gas tank front fuel sending unit (had indy shop do this, and it worked for about a thousand miles. now it's even worse)
• $250 (my deductible): heated and rain sensing windshield
• $180: Thermostat housing (including thermostat itself)+coolant. Also replaced the silly plastic breather valve rubber cow mentioned with a brass hose barb. people should do this as preventative care to avoid being stranded.
• $10: Coolant reservoir cap (old one wasn't holding pressure when I tested it).

in the queue:

• rear sway arm bushings
• gas tank pressure/sending unit/fuel gauge problems
• transmission drain and fill
• rear diff drain and fill
• driver seat control switch

 

[Houm_WA]

@proslam-whatever: Why no AMK for you?

 

[proslambanomenos]

@Houm-WA: I'm going from memory from over a year ago, but as I recall, I based my decision on the following reasons:

1. The Hitachi was $100 cheaper, plus the ~$60 dealer ECU reprogramming fee. I have since found it for even less, around $560 (if ever needed again).
2. The Hitachi lasted 120k miles. To me this is a very good service life. Don't know if the new one will again last that long, but willing to give it a try.
3. I kept the old compressor so I could attempt to rebuild it (parts are pretty cheap) and have a spare.
4. My local dealer had recently closed down. The nearest dealer is now 90 minutes away. The new AMK requires reprogramming the ECU since it supposedly draws less power. I've read some people do the upgrade without reprogramming the ECU but to me that's a recipe for premature failure.
5. The new unit requires slight modification to the housing and a new relay. Since I typically do my own work, and since the Hitachi has served me well, I figured if it ain't broke...

I found the pic where I ripped off my exhaust valence

 

[whathaway]

@Proslam

You're absolutely right about upgrading to the AMK without updating the ECU. My (former) dealer swapped it out without first updating the ECU and it created a huge mess. The ECU would not update subsequent to the AMK hardware install. I took over 3 weeks and a visit from LR headquarter's technicians to figure it out. I suspect my LR3 was the guinea pig for discovering this idiosyncrasy.