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Before you consider buying a Land Rover DO YOUR RESEARCH!

Land Rover – The Most Unreliable Vehicle (ALL MAKES)

I purchased a brand new LR2 directly off the show room floor, and made the biggest mistake ever. I didn’t do proper research on Land Rover BEFORE I purchased the vehicle. I write this in hopes that I am able to help prevent this from happening to anyone else. If you are having similar issues contact me.

Please help me spread the word – tell all your friends and family:

Almost since day one I have had problems with my Land Rover.  

I have had problems with:

1. The air conditioning
a. The air conditioning filled the entire cabin with an overwhelming odor. It smelled sour or like a dead rodent.
2. The engine
a. The engine stalls and would fail to start. It would run hard, shaking the entire vehicle as though it was out of gas, however the tank was full.
3. The battery
a. The battery would go completely dead overnight sitting in my garage. The battery would be so dead the key would get stuck in the ignition. Land Rover said that they have a special higher brand battery that they wanted to try to put in the vehicle, all the while I wondered why the hell wouldn’t this higher end battery be in this “high-end vehicle” in the first place?? After the battery charging all day long it would go completely dead again within a matter of days. This still is happening as both Land Rover Anchorage and Land Rover Corporate cannot figure out any of the issues and therefore have not fixed anything!
4. The electronics
a. Land Rover service told me not to use the electronics as they may be what is causing the battery (brand new battery) to go dead. In fear of getting stranded again I quit using my radio, iPod player etc so my battery wouldn’t fail on me in the middle of a snowstorm as it had neumorius times before.
5. Economy Mode
a. I am unable to use the economy mode as it causes the engine to have troubles and causes the air conditioning to fill the cabin with over powering odors. So much for purchasing a fuel-efficient vehicle.
6. The windshield wipers
a. Rear windshield wipers would quit working after the system would fail.
7. Most shocking of all I received the WORSE customer service from a “Luxury Brand” Company.
a. Kendall Toyota and Kendall Land Rover treated me very disrespectfully and did not go above and beyond to help make my MANY trips to the service department better. Their service department never knew how to fix any of the problems on my LR2. They would make me bring the vehicle in over and over trying to figure out the problem. Never fixing any of the vehicle’s problems and not once did I feel like I was in a “luxury brand” service shop.
b. Kendall would put me in a Toyota RAV-4 each time my vehicle was in the shop. I am not saying a Toyota RAV-4 is a bad vehicle, the problem I have is when people spend $40,000-90,000 on a vehicle, then they should be placed in a comparable vehicle.

Additional Problems with Kendall:

Do not buy the ‘Crystal Fusion’. It is nothing but $600 Rain-x. They do not reapply the solution unless the windshield is broken and replaced. The ‘Crystal Fusion’ barely lasts for one month. Do not buy it!

Front staff at Toyota Service, the problem here is having this shop provide any type of service to a ‘Luxury Brand’. They do not even meet the standards of a Moped shop. Very inappropriate and class-less front-end staff, these ladies have no idea how to deal with angry customers who have just spent $50,000 on a brand new vehicle that doesn’t work and make payments on a ‘Luxury Brand’ car to be driving a Toyota RAV-4.

The above is only the tip of the iceberg. Land Rover North America is also a terrible company. Their customer service is nearly non-existent. When I asked for names of senior executives they informed me that they are not allowed to give out names or contact information. Hmm that may be why Land Rover continues to find themselves in class action lawsuits.

If you are experiencing difficulties with a Land Rover LR2 or any other Land Rover contact me.  

almost all cars have problems....  of some kind...   so you have to understand that...

finding mechanics... who understand cars is HARD to ***   finding techs who know how to change parts.. easy...

i had a nice pair of land rovers...    early 70's models..  they required normal amounts of work...  when you took something apart.. you had to fix it properly or it would come back and bite you later..



now..   take a range rover.. put all the serious suspension under it..    pile on miles of wiring.. every electronic thing..   then make them controlled by an invisible  computer signal..  that you cannot even see or measure..


do you know why the manufacturers went to computer controlled systems...   it saved them money...  reduced the amount of wires needed by over 50 percent..  sometimes more..  and when things go bad.. they are going to make a huge amount of money selling you replacement modules for the lights..   just think of jaguars lighting relay boxes.. at 350 bucks each.. and each car has 4 of them..  it takes me about an hour each to resolder them to get them working again..  thats 4 hours per car..  and i am probably the one of a hand full of techs who do it..  oh.. and those are relay boxes.. not computerized boxes..  

WOW, I must say i totally agree with you for a luxury brand they just dont care about the customer !!

I purchased a new LR2 in 2009, i must admite i love the car except for one big problem. The battery just dies and the car will not start. I took it in 4 seprate times and they just can not find the problem.

1st time they did some kind of update--no help
2nd time they replaced the battery --no help
3rd time they found nothing
4th time they replaced the throttle body- what this has to do with a dead battery i have no idea.

I contacted land rover corprate, they are absouloutly no help, If we cannot replicate the problem, no problem exsists was basiaclly what they told me. WOW I felt like i purchased a KIA. NOt sure what to do next, in my opinion the car is un safe to drive. Any suggestions  ??  

finding parasitic draws requires a few tools...

probably 40 bucks worth...  

a digital volt meter .. with a minimum of a 10 amp DC rating...


this one is 20 bucks at harbor freight, please read the amp settings before you buy one.. 10  amps minimum.. 15 is better.. try not to get a meter that is auto ranging..


a battery cut off switch....


again.. these are 8 bucks..  but similar versions are sold at most parts stores..


first... lets test the amount of charge on the battery..  set your digital volt meter to 20 volts DC scale..   turn the headlights on for one minute.. then off..   measure the battery voltage..

12.65 is a fully charged battery..
12.45 is a 3/4 charged battery
12.25 is a half charged battery..

if your battery is not at 12.5 volts.. charge it for 1/2 an hour to an hour at 10 amps on a battery charger before going on to the next test...   you can go on to the next test.. but the charging voltage test may not be accurate...

start the engine.. turn on the headlights..

set digital volt meter to 20 volts DC scale..

1.   test the positive battery post to the negative battery post...   14.1 to 14.8 volts is expected..

2.  test the negative battery post to the engine block...    0.04 volts is expected..

3. test the negative battery post to the body...               0.02 volts is expected..

4. test the Engine to the body....                                 0.02 volts is expected..

if you get 0.00 on the last 3 tests... change the meter setting to 2 volts DC scale...  retest the last 3....

please post results..

if you don't get 14.1 volts on the first test.. you might have a charging system problem...  

if you get more than the 0.02 or 0.04 volts...  on the last 3 tests..  you have a ground problem between the parts you got a higher reading from...

please post results by number...


now ... on to the parasitic test...

install the battery cut off switch....

you will need to figure out a way to attach the test leads to either side of the battery switch...  not just touch them to it..

roll down the drivers window...    you might want to unplug the hood light if equipped..

start the engine.. let the engine run for a minute or two...   shut the engine off..    get out.. leaving the drivers window down..

lock the door in a normal fashion..  either with your alarm fob or the key.. which ever you use normally...

look at your watch..   wait 7 minutes..   with the meter properly set to 10 to 20 AMP DC setting and the wires in the proper holes.. amp setting uses different holes in every volt meter...

loosen the green knob... so that all the current flow passes through the digital volt meter..    

a normal reading of 0.030 amps DC is expected...

if you get more...   you can start pulling fuses one at a time till it drops...  putting them back in...     be sure to have some tape handy to stick to any fuse that reduces the load when you unplug it..

this is a parasitic draw test...

this is exactly what i do to cars to verify that they are working properly....

do to the complex wiring on a lot of cars..   sometimes a low amp current clamp/probe is needed..  then you can clamp on around individual wires to see which one has power flowing through it...  

i hope that you get this..  

i do have to share.. that not every mechanic knows how to properly do a voltage drop test..

they should know it..   what is happening inside the wires is a mystery to many...

and when its explained...  the thinking that electrons move from Negative to positive really throws people... as they expect it to work the other way..

if you have a bad ground connection...

you will have things that don't work properly.. as they may not have enough electrons to power that circuit..  but they may partially work. as electrons will try to flow from any circuit thats connected but because they are flowing through a different circuit.. or even a different part..  the will be restricted by that part... so there just won't be enough to do the job they do properly..  

Want to know what type of problem is arising in land rover as I am interested in buying this, but while searching I found your site and study your article. I want to know more on auto repair reviews as I want to purchase some another car rather than land rover.  

@ Gusk123
Great post.  
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