Matts Td5 disco daily workhorse. Modifications & maintenance ahoy!

[Matt-Rallye]

Only real horror stories with them are injector looms and rust, the rust is curable / avoidable with care & time and most common issues with them have simple solutions nowadays, worth reading up on the LR forums! some very useful info on there which makes owning one alot easier.

Tell that to the two blokes I've known who have run them and now sold them. The one was a mint ES, lovely truck, all the toys,  he's now trundling about in a Series III which is gaining in value instead of costing him a fortune and letting him down.
Whatever you do, don't run it out of fuel either! If you do, read the manual and follow the instructions, you'll very probably need a spare battery too. They are an utter pig to get going again.

I paid £750 for mine so its hardly going to be a money pit

I know the bleeding procedure for Td5 and although sitting there priming the pump 2 million times and then cranking it for 30 mins seems excessive, for me it still beats having to open the bonnet and start cracking injectors off.

Get a proper 4x4 Rowell, Landrovers are massively over-priced because people think a british marque badge is a good thing lol. Plus they're just awful for rot and 99% on the road aren't looked after properly, even the ones that are just become money pits.

Agreed they are overpriced and under maintained by 90% of the regular owners. As stated before i wouldn't even dream of paying the inflated ebay / dealer prices for one. For some reason Td5's are indeed terrible for rot! Hopefully mines not too bad and i can clean / prevent it some more

There is massive hate for the TD5 online but really IMO its a good engine, which gives little trouble IF you know how it works and how to look after them.

We have had two on the farm, asside from minor niggles given very little issues and covered ALOT of miles...

Lift pump failure, run it out of fuel, and you will kill the lift pump almost instantly, keep fuel in it, and they will last forever....Either way if it fails, replace it with a GENUINE pump, and it will last another 150k miles provided you keep diesel in it, most of the issues here are caused by replacement with cheesy cheap pumps which fail in no time... Oil down wiring harness again is a common issue, however actually causes very little harm and is easily resolved... Only problem I have had, and have since diagnosed / fixed on other TD5's is hard starting / general starting issues..which has been the starter motor, cranks fine, but tired motor interferes with the closely located crank position sensor, giving all kinds of issues starting... In short, all ours has had is a starter, and a lift pump (lift pump never failed though was starter all along) and its used every day in hard farming environment!

I personally think they drive a million times better than the 200/300 tdi, often spend time in both, and its a very noisy, gutless experience getting back in a standard tdi after running a td5 all day!

Just my thoughts as they are tarnished online for being a disaster, which I honestly disagree with. Most of the problems are lack of understanding for the engine (rare design) and just poor diagnosis vs actual problems...

Thanks for the positive and informative input there Darren! Completely agree that alot of the internet hate is just from Tdi owners who are afraid of plugging in a diagnostics kit or don't understand how simple a Td5 actually is! The benefits of that extra cylinder are incredible when compared to a regular Tdi.

I think injector seals are another common issue from my reading up, causing diesel in the oil. Also apparently on early td5's the oil pump bolt was fitted with no thread lock and can work loose so worth whipping the sump off for a look.