Hi Everyone!

Having moved to the BVI for work, I decided to purchase a used Range Rover (I have always loved them) "for" my wife to drive here since the roads are not the greatest, particularly where we now live. I bought a "cheap" 2010 "Range Rover (L 322) 5.0L supercharged with nearly 200,000 miles on it because the move was an expensive one and I was trying to be thrifty. This has already turned out to be the most expensive vehicle I have ever (and will probably ever) own. In summary, the car lasted 8 miles, it overheated coming off the boat from the U.S. where I bought it, and this was the beginning of the end for the car (and potentially for me). From the shipyard, I took the car to a local garage where they replaced a radiator valve (for $400 no less). They returned the car "fixed". It then failed the very next day on the way to registration and that mechanic has washed his hands of it. Apart from scream a bit there is not much I can actually do to address this realistically.
Having moved the car, I received, a few days ago, confirmation from my mechanic (who has been praised for his understanding of RRs by a few people I know on the island but could potentially be the worst mechanic in the world for all I know) that the car needs a new engine because of the heat damage. He tired to replace the heads but cannot get the bolts to tighten which he says is a terminal engine problem. Without any sarcasm, he also quoted me $15K for to source a secondhand engine, which is far more than the car is worth. On the other hand, if I don' t purchase a new engine, I have created a very expensive paperweight and emboldened my very pissed off wife - she though that purchasing the RR was stupid to begin with (since there was no dealership here) and is not about to get off that horsey....
Today, however, a light at the end of the tunnel, a friend of mine explained to me that Range Rover used Jaguar engines in 2010 for the supercharged version of the L322 and that it would therefore be possible to swap my Range Rover supercharged engine for a Jaguar 5.0L supercharged engine (XFR, XJ, or XKR made around that time to enhance compatibility), get a new engine harness to connect it in, tighten a few screws, and, magically, find myself back on the road for a 50% discount.... Given my recent experience this sounds too good to be true. Can anyone comment or offer advice? From what I can tell, and to my utter astonishment, my own research seems to confirm the fact that the engines are similar, possibly the same (not sure across what period this holds true) but I don't believe the swap is straightforward. Am I correct? If someone could take the time to guide me with this they would have my eternal gratitude. I am about the turn the Range Rover into a car shaped reef which my wife is encouraging, I expect because she intends to plant my feet under said reef so that I too can sleep with the fishes. What do you guys think? Is there hope ...?

All the best,

Oliver
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First, roll the Range Rover off a cliff and be done with it. Second, buy the cheapest used car available with a remaining factory warranty and call it a day.

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums Oliver,

Good to have you with us.
That may be sage advice from Michael!
Otherwise head over to the tech section https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xj-x351-53/ and ask the members there.
Enjoy the forum.

If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.
If you need help with getting around and using the forum follow this link for some help Forum Help

 

Welcome to the forums Oliver,

You have my utmost sympathy for this predicament. However, I strongly recommend you cut your losses and bail out of it now. Even if everything goes absolutely faultlessly, you will have poured more money into the vehicle than you can ever recoup. There is also a world of difference between the three levels of replacement engine:

1. engine fits
2. engine is compatible
3. engine is a direct replacement identical specification

Anything less than (3) is going to have compromises requiring technical knowledge and probably additional parts. However, the biggest risk is that a used engine is a complete unknown. Probably sourced from an accident write-off, it could be perfect but it could just as easily have been overheated or otherwise stressed. Warranty isn't much help as failure would entail another shipping and fitting charge.

Graham

 

welcome to the forum

 

Hello, Oliver,
I'm sorry your Range Rover is giving you such trouble, but I have to agree with Michael, Norri and Graham above.
Cut your losses, chalk this up to Bitter Experience and move on.

Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')

 

Welcome aboard Oliver.

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

I would say part out the rest of the Range Rover a piece at a time, selling over ebay. Generally the sum of the parts is worth far more than the car as a whole. Over time you might could get all your money back. I don't know what shipping would be from there back to the continent, but I suspect that there are people trying to fix broken Range Rovers, needing parts, on the islands too. And as we've discussed in another thread, parting it out yourself, you'll get 50% more value out of it than the salvage yard will (an much more than they'll pay you for it), because salvage yards notoriously sell parts in the order of first come, first served, rather than carefully planning the order in which the car is dismantled. For example crash parts are always in high demand so they'll sell a door before they've sold the nice leather seats and then when somebody comes for the seats, too late they've already been ruined from exposure. No, you sell the whole interior first, THEN the doors and windows. It drives us crazy because here on forums like this one, we're trying to "restore" old cars, typically have some emotional attachment that makes us willing to pay more just for the paint job than our car is worth, yet there are no parts sellers to take advantage of our insanity because none of them took the time to carefully salvage ALL the parts in the first place. But whatever you do, DON'T make reef out of it. Those fishes don't need the parts, but somebody on a Range Rover forum somewhere does.