Dear fellow Fatties!

***see below - we have a new L322 owner in the club!***

Tomorrow is the day I might finally become the proud owner of my first L322 (TDV8 4.4 of course!). I've done my due diligence. I've spent the past couple of weeks reading forum posts, swotting up on all the things to watch out for, preparing myself for ordering O-rings, oil cooler gaskets, IID tools, silicon hoses... You know the score...

I've looked at a few decent cars over the past few months, but finally I've found one that ticks all the boxes. Good colour/interior combo, lots of toys and appears to be well looked-after.

I'm not going to say too much about where this magnificent specimen is yet - let's limit the radius to mainland Europe for now... If I go ahead and get it, you'll be the first to know more! First registered 2011, around 195k km on the clock.

It's been sitting in a dealer's showroom for a couple of months evidently not attracting much interest (the dealer appears to be more "exotic" than RRs) and I'm assuming the car was a trade in on something faster/lower/sportier.

It's had a fair amount of work done on it over the past 2-3 years judging by the bills. New brakes, new tensioners/belts, DPF clean and regular servicing.

The underside trays have a few scuffs indicating a fair bit of offroad use and there's evidence of (hopefully only) surface rust on some of the suspension arms (particularly the rear). Possible boat use? Tomorrow's inspection will reveal more.

Over to you: you're the experts. What else should be on my checklist for the car?

I really want this one to be "the one", but want to make sure I'm not buying a bad-un with a litany of work to be done.

I'm perfectly happy wielding a spanner or two and intend to do most of the work myself, but I would like to enjoy the car as much as possible too!

Looking forward to your replies! Thanks for reading!

FMG

Last edited by fmgl322 on 3rd Aug 2022 7:10pm. Edited 2 times in total

Oil change…..oil change & oil change is the key! As long as ALL the oils have been done she should be fine.
At 121k miles (195k km) I would expect the oil cooler to have been changed, if not it won’t be long, starter motor tends to go around 80-100k miles, alternators about the same. If you’ve got lots of invoices hopefully the above has been sorted.
The gearbox ought to have had a minimum of oil & filter change at that mileage, in an ideal world perhaps two changes.
When out on a test drive and only when up to temperature, take the old girl up to 3k rpm this is when the second turbo comes out to play, any smoke out the back means there could be oil sitting in the turbo. First blast may just clear sitting oil any more bursts with smoke may mean something else.
The 4.4 is a glorious engine & will go on to 300k miles (500k km) with care & maintenance.

The above is purely my thoughts & experience & in no way portrays that I know anything about anything, because I don’t😂 2012 Orkney Grey Westminster 4.4TDV8 with Ivory interior.........nice!
Alfa Romeo Giulietta
Just one Montesa now, 349 White Wonder
Austin A40 Farina MK2
1975 Morris Marina 1.8TC
1973 Honda CB250 K4

Thanks for that Fox! That's good to know about the starter/alternator etc.

Regarding the turbo mod - the VIN is on the list of suspects, so I'll have to see whether it's been done, or if it's been driven properly. As far as I gather, it's very hit and miss with the smokescreen issue.

I recall seeing something on the forum about being able to tell visually if the mod has been carried out. Must see if I can find that again.

Wish me luck!

I had Restricted Performance message came up in the early days, decided to be a smart arse & boot her away from the lights, got to 3k rpm & ‘bong’ RP message, stopped, lock the car, unlocked the car & back to normal. It was the second turbo actuator that was stiff, indie stripped it & alls fine now. I’m lucky that mine doesn’t smoke at 3000rpm and hasn’t had the drain mod. The drain mod you can see if you look upwards from the road, there’s a secondary pipe from the turbo back into the sump. There loads on here about it, just needs a little research.
Also, these girls are very ‘battery temperamental’ in other words, if they’re left unused & need a jump start or battery charge they can bring up all sorts of messages & failures, don’t be put off, they’ll all probably clear with a good run.
If it’s got heated AND cooled seats, check to see if the little fan runs under the seat & keeps running while on heated setting. Bit of a weird ‘cooled’ & ‘heated’ set up on these but easily rectified if not working.

Gut instinct will play a big part in your purchase, if you think it’s a good ‘un & affordable, just go for it!

Let’s us know how you get on, we’re a nosey bunch on here!😂 2012 Orkney Grey Westminster 4.4TDV8 with Ivory interior.........nice!
Alfa Romeo Giulietta
Just one Montesa now, 349 White Wonder
Austin A40 Farina MK2
1975 Morris Marina 1.8TC
1973 Honda CB250 K4

Well, as fate would have it, the RR was an absolute shambles! On the surface, a great looker - interior like new, exterior tarted up to look like new too, but underneath... Oh boy. The entire suspension would need re-doing. Rear Diff leaking from all corners, gearbox whine (that's a new one on me on these ZFs),oil leaks from everywhere you could see... The test drive was lumpy at first then smoothed out eventually, but the gearbox was not a happy puppy. Changes were erratic to say the least. I guess it spent its entire life hauling boats around and driving them into the North Sea, never once visiting a dealer. The receipts for work had no VIN indicated anywhere... Hmmm.

I offered the guy €12k for it, no questions asked, no guarantee required - asking price was over €20k - he (thankfully!) declined.

However... On driving away, the Mrs checked the net and lo and behold - a new car popped up, only 50km away. Called the guy, going to see it this afternoon. Maybe the trip won't be a waste after all.

This one: 2012 Vogue with all the toys except cooled seats. 180k km, good service history. "serious" owner (I love it when they say that. I'm anything but serious, but look after my cars better than any main dealer would!) and it looks like it's never seen anything other than Autobahn use... Similarly priced to the last one.

Wish me luck!

Gut feeling came into fruition?
The other one seems/sounds far more promising…….keep us in the loop! 🤣 2012 Orkney Grey Westminster 4.4TDV8 with Ivory interior.........nice!
Alfa Romeo Giulietta
Just one Montesa now, 349 White Wonder
Austin A40 Farina MK2
1975 Morris Marina 1.8TC
1973 Honda CB250 K4

Well, I am rather happy to say, I am now the proud owner of my first L322!

The car was rather nice indeed. Everything was in fine working order, it drove perfectly, NO smoke on hard acceleration (had a lot of fun testing it on the Autobahn!). Interior looks like new. Exterior is in very very good shape except for a little ding on the front passenger door. No rust anywhere. Tailgate like new, straps shiny, wheel arches clean as a whistle.

Now the "needs doing" department: it needs 4 new tyres, new brakes all round and all fluids changed. The front tyres were a bit more worn on the outside, so I guess there will be a couple of arms to replace along the way too. After a good thrash there was only the tiniest wisp of oiliness from within the engine bay (first thing I checked after stopping the car), difficult to say whether it came from around the oil cooler itself, or the legendary double-O pipe to the back of the engine. There were a few drips of oil where the car was parked from standing, but nothing serious. Oil level was bang on after the run. We did have to top up the water a bit before starting the car, but after the rund the coolant was "normal" pink and there was no oily odour or film in the expansion tank. He had the car sitting for a few weeks without a run. The spiders's webs confirmed that!

What do I need on my shopping list? (I think I'll post a separate thread for that!)

So there we have it - not a perfect car, but a solid, well-priced, well-spec'd car with a bit of tinkering required to get it ship-shape...

I'll be picking it up / registering it in a couple of weeks - after our short summer holiday. Pictures / videos coming soon!

Sounds fantastic, looking forward to the pictures! 2011 Vogue 4.4 TDV8
2009 D4 HSE
2003 Freelander
2001 D2 TD5
1963 Series 2a 109 Truck Cab

Gut feeling I reckon! 😂😂😂 2012 Orkney Grey Westminster 4.4TDV8 with Ivory interior.........nice!
Alfa Romeo Giulietta
Just one Montesa now, 349 White Wonder
Austin A40 Farina MK2
1975 Morris Marina 1.8TC
1973 Honda CB250 K4

fmgl322 wrote:

- after our short summer holiday. Pictures / videos coming soon!

Can't say I'm looking forward to your holiday pictures and video !!! be nice to see some of the Rangie though, it sounds like a nice one and glad to see you gave it a proper test drive, far too many folk just pootle around for 5mins and think it's fine...

Welcome to the club...  Pete
I now have permission from the boss to use Y.O.L.O. Enjoy life
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2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Alright then - one photo for now. Once I pick her up after our holiday, there will be a much more detailed walk-around for you - including the dirty bits up front - I’m excited what you’ll spot that needs doing!