'13 LR4 Pending Purchase

[stone4567]

Morning everyone,

I am new to LR and plan on purchasing a '13 LR4 with 93k miles from a local seller tomorrow. The price is right, the truck checks all my boxes (and more importantly, my wifes boxes), and it has been maintained by the same mechanic I use since 62k miles so I feel pretty good about things. That being said, I will be hitting the following items right off the bat and wanted everyone's input on any items I may have overlooked:

• All fluids/filters (diff, trans, coolant, and engine)
• Battery
• Coolant crossover pipes
• Spark Plugs

My 3 biggest questions are:

1. From what I have read the 5.0L in '13 got the revised timing chain guides and this truck has 0 noise with a tight chain. Is this still something I need to monitor or have the '13's shown to be significantly more reliable if the engine oil is changed every 6k miles?
2. Do the water pumps fail catastrophically/suddenly or is it a slow leak that I can monitor and replace when it is needed? From what I have read it is the gaskets that fail but I may be misunderstanding. The belts were replaced at 80k and I see no signs of a coolant leak at the front of the engine or underneath but it is still on its original pump.
3. Are there any other items beyond the crossover pipes that are known to fail spectacularly with no warning and brick the engine?

I have previously owned an '04 BMW 330 that I maintained myself from 75k - 180k miles and ran like a top so long as preventative maintenance was performed so I am not going into this with blinders on but I also want to make sure I am not missing any glaring issues I overlooked in my due diligence.

Thanks in advance for any feedback! Also; yes I have searched and have read pages upon pages of information and am just hoping someone can confirm my conclusions or show me the error of my ways.

 

[Troy A]

Morning everyone,

I am new to LR and plan on purchasing a '13 LR4 with 93k miles from a local seller tomorrow. The price is right, the truck checks all my boxes (and more importantly, my wifes boxes), and it has been maintained by the same mechanic I use since 62k miles so I feel pretty good about things. That being said, I will be hitting the following items right off the bat and wanted everyone's input on any items I may have overlooked:

• All fluids/filters (diff, trans, coolant, and engine)
• Battery
• Coolant crossover pipes
• Spark Plugs

My 3 biggest questions are:

1. From what I have read the 5.0L in '13 got the revised timing chain guides and this truck has 0 noise with a tight chain. Is this still something I need to monitor or have the '13's shown to be significantly more reliable if the engine oil is changed every 6k miles?
2. Do the water pumps fail catastrophically/suddenly or is it a slow leak that I can monitor and replace when it is needed? From what I have read it is the gaskets that fail but I may be misunderstanding. The belts were replaced at 80k and I see no signs of a coolant leak at the front of the engine or underneath but it is still on its original pump.
3. Are there any other items beyond the crossover pipes that are known to fail spectacularly with no warning and brick the engine?

I have previously owned an '04 BMW 330 that I maintained myself from 75k - 180k miles and ran like a top so long as preventative maintenance was performed so I am not going into this with blinders on but I also want to make sure I am not missing any glaring issues I overlooked in my due diligence.

Thanks in advance for any feedback! Also; yes I have searched and have read pages upon pages of information and am just hoping someone can confirm my conclusions or show me the error of my ways.

Welcome to LR-land and prospective future LR4 ownership. Sounds like you've done your share of research. I don't have anything to add to your already excellent list. I wish you great success, it sounds like you're entering into this "relationship" with eyes wide open which is great. I love my 2013 which I picked up at 82K miles (and which got the same immediate fixes when I bought it.)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[TrinidadLR4]

13s apparently still have tensioner issues. So do the 14-16 SC V6 models. Best way to prevent this is regular 5-6k oil changes with good oil. 13 is a great year for these trucks!

 

[Jimmy Brooks]

Water pumps will be a slow leak you will most likely noticed it. Had mine done around 81k but noticed it much before that. The 13 still have the guide tensioners problems. Also things to expect will be the LCA bushings as well as the sway bar bushings. Make sure and expect air spring leaks as well as a weak air compressor.

 

[stone4567]

Thanks for the heads up regarding the 13 still suffering the tensioner issues! I double checked the belt and everything seems very tight without a rattle or "odd" noise so I will jsut keep an eye on it going forward. All the bushings were changed last year so they are in great condition at the moment but I know this truck chews through those pretty quick so we will see... I went through quite a few in my old BMW on these rough roads we have in AL so I am pretty familiar with that repair. Either way, I picked the truck up yesterday and am really pleased with things overall and look forward to getting this truck through the next 5 years at least. Thanks again for all the help with everything!

 

[Strizzo]

Like others have said the 13s got the updated timing chain guides/tensioner but you still have to be careful and change the oil between 5-7.5k miles to slow the wear.
Also at that age if they haven’t been done you want to preventatively replace all the plastic coolant pipes. If they let go while you’re driving, it can cook the motor before you know you have a problem

 

[Al Pizzica]

If you maintained that 04 bmw for 100k miles you can do anything on this truck. Do a lot of reading on here about the 13s. We had plenty of warning on our 13 water pump and there are some things you can do to keep an eye on the chain tensioners. Have fun, enjoy the new truck!

 

[gsxr]

As mentioned above, do NOT follow the factory recommendation of 15k oil changes. Intervals in the 5k-7k range for normal service are cheap insurance. Adjust as needed for severe service (city driving, towing, offroading) or light service (thousands of miles cruising on the highway).