Ah Sam, thank you. Your reply felt like a shoulder to cry on

You echo my feelings perfectly. I have had a look at newer LR / RR models with the idea of swapping. Mainly 4.4. tdv8, and L405s - but to be honest, Im just scared.

Having fixed so many things (mostly niggles) on my own car over the 3.5 years I am very aware that if I did change it I might end up in just the same situation again or worse. I think my worst bill was the peltier cells for the two front seats, which is not too bad really.

My RR was sold as one owner/full main dealer history and was originally Mayfair Stratstone's demo Vogue SE, so it has a remarkable spec due to it being targeted for a Mayfair clientele. It lived in Mayfair, then Wimbledon and had a cherished life....but with issues as it got older and this might have been the same point you reached, whereby the previous owner had had enough Which is where I came in, and I fixed everything, or paid for it to be fixed.

(NB: Turned out it had 2 owners and the last service was indy. Lying dealer I bought from).

I do like the D4 and think they look great. Good to hear you are getting on well with it. Do you think it is a better made car than the L322? I love the LR cars, dislike the company and their approach to their customers, I have never known such an unhelpful manufacturer or main dealer organisation.

Maybe time to engage drive and let it go over the cliff. Or in reality, put it on Autotrader.
Mark

Hello Mark, yeah it does eventually get like that. I think if you only use your car locally and like the challenge of keeping it all together that's one thing, but for me personally my main concern was it letting me down far from home (Middle of the Alps springs to mind....), and I just couldn't relax with it anymore.
Been over the D4 thoroughly, belts were done only 18 months ago, and as well as the full main dealer history I've changed the fluids in the axles, box, and transfer box. Don't really think there's much more preventative maintenance you can do. But so far so good. This particular car really got my attention due to the low miles, solid history, OE spec matching tyres all round (Tells you a lot about the owners attitude towards maintenance), and, I really liked the colour combo; dark metallic green (Aintree?) with tan interior.
Regarding whether it's better built is difficult to say, though the L322 was an '07 and the D4 is half that age, so you'd hope LR had learned a few leasons over the intervening years. We'll see....
Loving it so far and even the Mrs has got comfortable driving it. She wouldn't drive the L322 as she thought it too big. D4 is hardly any smaller though! Just as soon as lockdown is over we're loading up and b@ggering off on an adventure.
Back to yours though, only you can decide if it's time to move it on, but if you've lost confidence in it, it sounds like you're were I was a few months back..... If you're going to change it, just try and buy the best you can afford.

This might be useful for those trying to align the gear:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwhICgcxv7Y

I am at the end of my wits. I admit defeat.

Having removed and dismantled and fettled there seems no way to get the motor working consistently with this new gear. It works whilst dissembled and then every time I refit, it fails to work.

I have two of these motors and have just spent a cold 5 hours trying to assemble in a way where by the gears mesh properly. Trying both motors with the new gear. The centre hole of the cog was so tight a fit, that I did not believe the motor would be able to turn the cog and thought that might be why it was unable to turn at all. So I used sand paper and very slightly sanded out the internal diameter of the centre hole. It now fits well, but when the worm gear turns it displaces the cog just enough for the worm to not mesh with the teeth on the cog. Maybe the cog should fit so tight and perhaps I should not have used sand papered to increase the internal diameter, even thought it is still a snug fit.

Working with the door open, and testing the motor has just flattened my brand new battery as well.

Battery on charge. Cuppa made. Leave it alone. Think about ordering another cog and maybe having another go without sanding out the internal diameter of the cog. That is all I can think of to do now. Otherwise, it's just game over man.

Thanks for your support everyone.
Mark