Hey there Powershift. You've got me questioning my life's choices. Took my 2011 LR4 in for its 150K check up last month. Went to an independent Rover only shop. Asked about the timing chain issue. Fortunately they said they don't hear it in my engine -yet-. I've already had several of the items on your total list done over the years. How much was just the timing chain and related repair cost?
I track my maintenance on CarFax. On my vehicle page they give a trade-in value of just $3000! Did a search on Auto Trader of 2010-2012 LR4s for sale within 500 miles of Seattle. Only 6 came up with a listing price range of $9K (private party) to $16K (dealer). Average about $12K.
Would I be willing to spend $12k for maintenance on a 13 yo vehicle? Or even maybe just $4k for the timing chain replacement? Granted its an excellent machine. But if I got T ***** and totaled after the repairs, what would my insurance recovery be?
Oiy. Win the lottery. That's my plan! lol.
They quoted $8k for the timing chain work. But they also required changing the cam actuators (the parts that connect to the cam to change timing) because they too wear out from long oil change intervals. Normal quotes around here were $7k and nobody else mentioned the actuators. One Land Rover indy said he wouldn't do the chain because the engine could still fail later. I don't think he knew about the actuators going out.
For the actual value of the LR4, yeah it isn't worth spending the money for and that is why people dump them for cheap and how I got mine. I bought mine for $15k, its MSRP was $60k in 2012 and according to KBB I overpaid.
But the way I look at it is I'll need to spend $60k+ for a new 4X4 and even at that price I didn't find a V8 4X4 that I would want to overland in where the seats lay down flat in the back, all leather, luxurious, body-on-frame design, locker, looks 1/2 way decent and a rig that I could drive in a metro area and fit into compact parking garages. Even the new defenders aren't that great because they are unibody! And a V8 Defender was waayy over my budget. I didn't want a car loan. I looked and looked. Even after I bought the LR4 and started questioning spending that coin I couldn't find anything.
The runner up was the Hummer H2, but it was much more expensive to find a decent one ($40k+) that still needed a lot of work having high miles. Its also much bigger and wouldn't fit into parking garages and would also be bigger in width and length on the trails. On the flip side, it could haul more cargo by design. I also thought about pickup trucks but they are too big and the cargo area would need a camper of some sort and I didn't want that.
So while it isn't worth the money I'm spending from an investment perspective, it is worth the money to get a vehicle that meets my needs.
Did I read the earlier message right?
No way, I never reuse gaskets… as I want to avoid touching the component again over something as simple as a leak, that could have been avoided in the first place.
Re-using the intake gaskets? I had to remove the intake manifold a second time right after I installed it, I didn't buy new gaskets and it didn't leak. They are rubber and didn't get hard, cracked or deformed. Its been about 2 months so maybe I should get new intake gaskets.
