SITREP = oil cooler now out of warranty, apparently the latest leak noted on the MoT at the end of Jan is from the first stage turbo...

I'm presuming I'm just enjoying the age-related deterioration of seals on a nearly 12 year old car which has done nearly 120k miles. Looking forward (not) to whatever bill comes next.

It's a damn good job I love this car or it wouldn't be on my drive any more. 2012 L322 TDV8 Vogue SE: Buckingham Blue
2005 Defender TD5 110 XS: Cairns Blue - Gone but not forgotten

Wipe it off every so often and enjoy the car 😇 Gone to a good home: 2011 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue with Ivory and clear glass = "Rory"
2025MY Defender D350 90 in Silicon Silver on coils
1974 Series 3 Lightweight = "Millie"
Many, many other Landies over the years
My preferred specialist: www.glenrands.co.uk
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A long overdue update which I mainly attribute to the fact that on the whole, the Rangie is faultless.

However, I have had to take the annual risk of presenting an older Range Rover to an independent "specialist" for service and MOT. This seems to be an excuse to invite me to pay for their next all-inclusive five star holiday, new car and/or house regardless of which Indy I select.

This year I went to my very local, recommended by a friend, garage who previously were very helpful to me when I had my Defender; Safari Engineering in Eversley. Their diagnosis was that the rear subframe bushes all needed doing, along with the rear offside hub bushes, top and bottom, and a piece of steel brake pipe on the rear nearside chassis rail (I know it doesn't have a chassis, but for want of a better phrase) before it meets the flexi hose. Along with 13th year service and MoT I was quoted near enough £3k plus VAT and they couldn't accommodate me until a month after the MoT expiry.

I tried my usual shop - Tom Lenthall at Finchampstead. They were similarly booked up.

I turned to forum favourites Glenrands down by Liphook. They aren't top of my list because it's much further from me and I had my confidence in their abilities severely knocked by the inability to diagnose correctly an oil leak I had a little while ago. They were, however, able to book me in for Tuesday of this week, so I drove the car down, checked the list of things requiring work and that it was for service and MOT then they kindly ran me to the station so I could get to work on the train.
Imagine my surprise when I rang them just before the close of play to find that apparently the rear suspension of my car is, as far as they are concerned, fine. This despite the advisory on the MOT last year. Instead, apparently, the front suspension is shot and needs wholesale replacement - in fact, they had put my car through the MOT and failed it on this. At no stage was I consulted, I have not been able to speak to them today to find out what is going on and they haven't contacted me either. To say I am currently not happy would be something of an understatement. 2012 L322 TDV8 Vogue SE: Buckingham Blue
2005 Defender TD5 110 XS: Cairns Blue - Gone but not forgotten

An update.

Chats with both Andy and Ross at Glenrands have solved the issue - they apologised that their technician had not formed the opinion that the front suspension needed work. The MoT guy they usually use is away and clearly the stand-in is more particular...

Ultimately the only failure was one of communication and the replacement, with genuine parts, will hopefully last longer than the 30k miles managed by the Meyle pattern parts which had been put on by Tom Lenthall in Feb 2022.

Ross picked me up from the station (in his rather nice '06 4.2SC) and was careful to listen to and address my concerns. Certainly that was the right way to deal with customer questions. 2012 L322 TDV8 Vogue SE: Buckingham Blue
2005 Defender TD5 110 XS: Cairns Blue - Gone but not forgotten