I have had my TDV8 for 30 months now. It had full LR service history until the previous (brief) owner, who only had an oil change done by an indy. Then mine has been serviced by a LR trained indy with all JLR original parts and oils. Oils changed 6 monthly, I do about 8k per year.
My EGRs failed and were both replaced within a couple of miles (less than 5) of the warning light first appearing. (Stratstone replaced both). Full inspection by them said car was 100% after replacement.

Within a few thousand miles a turbo had seized. According to Warranty Direct who had an engineer examine the seized turbo it was pure wear and tear.....and they did not pay out (I will not use them at renewal).

I know that during my ownership I had not skimped on service, the oil was drained correctly to avoid the danger of sludge, on removal of the turbo the mechanic said plenty of oil supplying turbo. The engine was also flushed each annual change. I always run engine at idle before switching off. I do not believe I could have done anything more to prevent the issue (based on the advice picked up on this forum).

The only thing I do now is to only use Shell diesel, prior to the failure I used whatever fuel was closest. At the time of the EGR failure and at the time of turbo failure the car was running on BP fuel - I have no idea if it affects it or not.

I do believe turbos are very likely to wear out due to their nature, we can only help reduce the failure interval by how we service the car / treat them.

I have decided to keep the car having invested heavily in it and have just replaced all other oils (diff, transaxle etc) for preventative maintenance. I feel the car has benefited from that, currently at 92k miles.

I would add that so far, everything that should go wrong (alternator, EGR, Turbo) has gone wrong. I am now waiting for tailgate rust etc etc. but I still love the car.....

To be honest, I now consider Turbo's as a wear and tear and a disposable item - not too dissimilar to a Water Pump, Timing Belt or Brake Callipers.

The cost has come down significantly, and I am as we speak having a massive Tractor Turbo replaced on a New Holland 7.5 Litre 6 Cylinder Engine - literally it is the size of a bucket, and it makes a RR Turbo look like a home grown sprout!

Oh And the cost of a Genuine New Holland Garrett Turbo - a mere £750 for the Turbo plus fitting - it simply is not worth the risk at that price getting a recon unit or replacing seals.

Why LR think they are so special and can charge what they do for a new Turbo beats me....

Guess its a premium brand - but then again so is New Holland 2021 L405 Vogue SE 4.4 V8 DIESEL ~ #17

Thanks for all contributions so far, some very interesting themes coming out already. Please keep the contributions coming, especially if you can talk to someone in the know at JLR / your main dealer / your independent.

From what has been posted so far my initial feel is:
1. this is far from a common problem
2. driving style and levels of maintenance MIGHT play a part in failures
3. split turbo hoses / failed EGR units SEEM PROBABLE to play a part in failures

obviously this is based on a very small sample so far and I need to do some more reading over on the Sport forum to see if there are correlations. Albeit non-scientific, the problem does appear to be more prevalent on that car.

RRG

Does anyone know if the Sport uses EXACTLY the same exhaust manifolds, turbos, wastegaste settings, lubrication arrangements and EGR equipment?

Do more fail in the winter? Just wondering if the cold oil made much difference?

RRG wrote:

Does anyone know if the Sport uses EXACTLY the same exhaust manifolds, turbos, wastegaste settings, lubrication arrangements and EGR equipment?

Correct, L320 and L322 has different turbos. Exhaust manifold has different part numbers as well.

I think that "incorrect" use may be a big part of the problem. Diesels of old (yes I'm an old fart and I happened to have a degree in Mechanical engineering with Engines being part of it ) always needed time to warm up and cool down due to the high pressure/forces in the engine. The advent of modern diesel engines makes them feel like petrol engines (that also need time to warm up and cool down !!) and I think a lot of people just treat them like that. Hammer the engine from cold and not allowing it to cool down gradually after a long "hot" drive.

Although materials, tolerances and experience have made diesels a lot more "user-friendly" they still, like any piece of mechanical parts that heats up a lot, to be treated with ease when warming up.

Every combustion engine and diesels more than petrol needs time to warm up properly and cool down gently as much as possible to have a (very) long life. Regular oil changes, despite the improvements in oil quality, is also important.

I think if you treat the engine well and maintain it well, it should last "forever"!!

Keep the info coming though, I'm interested as well even though I am a petrol head  MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

I'm convinced that driving style plays much of a part in all this. Oil changes are the big one for me and making sure that your oil gets up to normal operating temperature on a regular basis.

My dad had absolutely no respect for cars, he wasn't bothered about servicing and care and love - he just drove them from A to B and I can't ever remember him looking under the bonnet or spending money on repairs, and that was in the good old days when tolerances were ten times wider than now. He had a saying that has stood the test of time "Drive like ya stole it" and I have a friend with a 911 turbo who says the same and thrashes the guts out of it and has had no engine trouble what soever. I too had an old Porsche a few years ago and I took it on various track days and even the Nurburgring and there wasn't a day where that engine didn't spend most of its time in the red line and I never - repeat never had any engine trouble. I sold it to a guy that had loads of trouble after me and I just think it was his short trips and his poodle-ing around driving style.

I also had a company car stolen a number of years ago and the boss made me have the pool car as a punishment for about a year which was a turbo diesel sierra and I had come from a Cavalier turbo petrol so I really tried to break that car, I didn't bother letting it warm up or cool down, I didn't check oil and I can't remember having it serviced - I did about 30k in it and it never skipped a beat - work that out!

same here, our old LC colorado never had a proper service, but did have loads of oil changes, but went on long runs every day and was long lived!

so was my old 405 GLDT which was ragged senseless by me and my old man for 13 years, never had a problem with the engine at all, sold with 160,000 on the clock and purring like a kitten, lots of oil changed and timing belts kept it happy.

I think new oil seem to be very important. Long life oils are a myth (IMHO) 10,000 miles max preferably less, but 10,000 if a few of those runs have been long (continental 1500miles in one hit) would be my best guess, which is why i bought a boat load of that helix when it was on offer....... There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Vogue wrote:

I have never heard of a 4.4 Turbo going

So here is my point, I am in the process of buying a 2008 tdv8 Range Rover, but after reading all of the posts about this RR, I'm slightly put off by all the posts on here about turbo's, egr's etc. It seems to me that it's a case of Planned Opalescence... So for those who don't know what that actually means, it simply means that manufactures put in on purpose thing that will go wrong with a product at some point !!! So here you have a Range Rover costing anything from 60k to 100k and it's breaking down after 40 to 60,000 miles. I have test driven my RR and it is so nice and comfy, and it purred along to bypass. but after the test drive I went on line to find out more and couldn't believe all the bad info ... The RR has done 103,00 miles and will cost me £11,000, but now I am worried about the 2 previous owners and how they looked after the RR. It has a full service history dome by Harwoods main dealer, but it has a towbar, and I know the second owner used it to tow caravans etc. I am having the RR looked over by my local 4x4 specialist next week before I purchase, so hoping they will do a good job at finding any faults. Never had a RR before, but had plenty of Jeep Cherokee's. So my point again is I cant really understand why a really expensive RR has got so many bad faults....

Welcome to the FFRR club

You need to remember that with any online car forums there will always be loads of negatives about the car, mainly because users are looking for answers to their particular problems. Although we often post nice things about our fattie's its not a daily blog so a trawl through on here will often seem like there are a lot of issues. It just needs to be kept in perspective.

You've already discovered how great your FFRR is and, to be honest, a full service history is a very good indicator, as is overall condition. As for towing, it won't be an issue, as they were designed to pull pretty big loads on a daily basis.

I don't believe manufacturers build-in obsolescence deliberately, they just specify parts etc which have a finite life.

Nobody buys a FFRR because they are cheap to run or maintain. All cars need money spending on them. You could argue you will spend more than on, say, a volume family saloon, but the FFRR is a very complex vehicle. This forum is a fantastic knowledge base and loads of very helpful members, so you're not alone

Finally, I love mine and can't now see me ever driving anything else for the foreseeable........
. 2021 D350 Fifty Edition - Carpathian Grey
2017 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography (2021-2024) - Santorini Black
2012 4.4 TDV8 Westminster (2016-2021) - Santorini Black

Something you have to remember as well. Next time you're sat in traffic count the LR products around you, I very often see 4 or 5 just in my queue of traffic, and perhaps 2 Japanese of different makes. This means you're going to hear more horror stories, there's more vehicles.
As an aside one of the lads who works for me gets a lift home with me every evening, so we started counting LR's V japs on the way from the factory to his house. Didn't count Freelanders or small 4x4's, just full size. We counted 32 LR products and 3 Jap (different makes). So that's 10 to 1 against all others or 32 to 1 against Toyota, or Mitsubishi etc.

That's why so many horror stories.
That and the fact folks buy junk cheap but won't admit they're cheapskates when it breaks

The one issue that put me off the Sport was the turbo issues so frequently mentioned. A couple of weeks ago and 70,200 miles on my Tdv8 FFRR and the left bank turbo failed. Thankfully this was within half a mile of leaving home, the car went straight into limp mode and my wife managed to crawl back home with it. We've got damned good independent lads within a mile of home and thankfully all is sorted now.

At last they didn't have to take the body off to get to the turbo.....