Hi All,

Had the Range Rover in at my excellent local indy today (White's in Edinburgh) getting the corroded brake pipes replaced. They discovered worse news than brake pipe corrosion, however... The subframe at the front below the engine is badly corroded, and there is a hole in it.

It's beyond welding and the subframe has to be replaced. Apparently these are £780 + VAT from Land Rover, and then circa 8-10 hours of labour (engine out etc). My estimations place that bill in the region of £1475......

The indy said they've never seen this before on a Range Rover and have never carried out this work - apparently it's not common to be this bad.

Fortunately, I put some money aside from the sale of the Discovery for any unexpected bills. This exceeds what I had in mind for an unexpected bill but isn't going to ruin me fortunately, so the RR isn't going back on the market (yet).

Just wanted to hear people's thoughts - anyone else had this?

Thanks,

Chris 2002 Range Rover Td6 Vogue

Ouch, note to self .....get the paint brush out tomorrow as it's a nice day and paint mine!  If it dont work.......burn it!

If the IId tool cant fix it.......burn the FF.

If the FF cant be fixed......buy a Land Cruiser!

If the LC cant be fixed..............................................BUY a horse !!

Sorry to hear of your woes. Try to locate a second hand subframe from a breakers yard. I am sure you could pick one up for around £100 or so.
It might be possible to fit it without removing the engine. A good indy might be able to advise on this. It certainly wont be impossible to do this way.

Steve. 1968 Series IIA Pastel Green, nearly there project

You don't have to remove the engine to replace the subframe, it's not a very big job at all...

There are lots of second hand ones available at a cheap price, add in about £100 to get the replacement shot blasted and powder coated...

Really not too bad at all, sounds to me like the garage are trying to make money out of you..... Pete
I now have permission from the boss to use Y.O.L.O. Enjoy life
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2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Sold
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Has it always been in Scotland? Rust seems to get worse the further North

So! Why not replace the subframe with a good used unit from a breakers (preferably south of the border so LESS RUST!)

I have only ever changed them due to accident damage and they are really quite straight forward to change! I did a 4.4 TDV8 one in an afternoon recently... If your indy has the right engine bracing kit then 2 men 5 or 6 hrs should see it done

After I put the deposit on mine, I got my hands on the MOT. Advisory on front sub frame corrosion starting. I said I wasn't buying a rust bucket so they removed the subframe and had it cleaned up and powder coated. No engine out and no rust 4 years later.....

 2011 Range Rover Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8

Previous cars :
2003 Range Rover Vogue TD6
1999 Discovery Td5 ES
1995 BMW M5 3.8 6 speed
1992 Range Rover 3.9 Efi Vogue
1992 BMW M5 3.8
1988 BMW 735i SE
1989 Ford Sierra XR4x4 2.9i
1981 Ford Fiesta Supersport

As Craig said Scottish Land Rover seem to rust a lot quicker than those further south. I have seen quite new D4 from North of Scotland with severe rust under the rear end.

I think more care and probably waxoil immediately after purchase is the best policy.

I'm not surprised cars from up here suffer more than those 'darn-sarf' - We get so much salt grit put on our roads during winter that it isn't funny.

As an example, I live in the TD9 region and this is controlled by the council headquarters in Newtown St Boswells. If anywhere within their region (all of TD) there is a forecast of freezing conditions then everywhere gets gritted. It is very common to see them gritting in the rain

Having lived in Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders for twenty odd years I would agree, the use of salted grit in winter seems to be excessive. As a result I would honestly not buy a car from Scotland if you wish to keep it for a few years, the risk of corrosion on the underside of them imo is too great. I know I was endlessly greasing the underside of our cars when there to avoid corrosion, much to the amusement of my neighbours.
By coincidence Last weekend I checked the subframes on my car and although the original paint is all intact I decided it was time to cover them in grease for added protection. Took me about half an hour, suffice to say they won't corrode anytime soon. Well worth doing.

My previous RR, 2002, had rust on the front subframe so I cleaned it up and it got a regular coating of waxoyl.

I have already waxoyled the current one.

Ian

Interestingly, I only bought the car in January and collected it from Brighton (from a forum member on here) - I believe it lived most of its previous 13 years down on the south coast! So Scotland can't be blamed for the corrosion this time - not sure why it's so bad then...

Very interesting to hear that it can be done without removing the engine and that it's not as high labour a job as I'd imagined. I'll have a chat with the indy - he's never done one of these on an L322 before so was estimating time.

Not sure I'd be able to find a scrap one but would certainly be interested if it was in good nick.

Thanks for the insight all - off to sell some body parts for cash

Chris 2002 Range Rover Td6 Vogue

plenty of decent looking frames on ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40...p;_sacat=0 You can paypal direct using - www.paypal.me/duckworthparts
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FYI, All the subframes will fit your car sir... The engine & body mounts for all models are the same! The 4.4TDV8 subframe for instance, has extra exhaust hangers attached but is fundamentally the same subframe (engine & body attachment) So would fit a TD6 or old type petrol for example... The only difference is the front cage (bumper attaches to it) 02-06 then 06-09 then 09> so 3 different front cages! Yours may well not be written though? Bolts to the subframe using two bolts

This being the subframe (pic 1) but the add includes the bumper subframe (pic 2)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Range-Rover-Vogu...4ae82941d8

This being the bumper frame (look closely you will see the two bolt holes where it bolts to the subframe)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RANGE-ROVER-L322...2a4eab04f1

CY wrote:

Interestingly, I only bought the car in January and collected it from Brighton (from a forum member on here) - I believe it lived most of its previous 13 years down on the south coast! So Scotland can't be blamed for the corrosion this time - not sure why it's so bad then...

Very interesting to hear that it can be done without removing the engine and that it's not as high labour a job as I'd imagined. I'll have a chat with the indy - he's never done one of these on an L322 before so was estimating time.

Not sure I'd be able to find a scrap one but would certainly be interested if it was in good nick.

Thanks for the insight all - off to sell some body parts for cash

Chris

Wouldn't buy a car from the seaside neither sir

We went to Tenby for a weeks holiday and there were 12 & 13 plate Defenders on the harbour side that were ROTTEN!!! & i mean chassis blown apart with rust! Bumpers with holes in!

^ That's why I'm always coating the undersides of my cars with grease. The corrosion can be kept at bay but it takes time and effort.