1993 Range Rover Classic County Lwb on 2040-cars

Up for sale is my 1993 Range Rover Classic County LWB with 172,XXX miles, slowly increasing because I drive it  ~ 150 mi a week. I have a TON of additional photos of the engine bay and underside of the truck, but I can't figure out how to add the photos to my Photobucket account (just won't upload the photos). If you request them, maybe I can .zip-file them to you.

I’ve had this truck for 3 years and put almost 20k miles on it. I have a STACK of receipts for service done on it by the previous owner. This guy took it to a dealer for every sniffle, but that also included all regular maintenance. One of the photos shows a list compiled by the PO of major work done and the date, but there was a lot of little stuff done not on that list. I shipped this truck to CT from Idaho; there is NO RUST OR ROT, footwells are solid, any visible rust spots in the pics is surface rust and would scuff off with emery cloth.

Some of the biggies replaced by the PO: Heater core (heat will cook you out), center diff viscous coupling , conversion to coil suspension, brake accumulator, distributor.

What I have done since I’ve owned it:

Changed existing coils to 2” OME lift with New Bilstiens

Swapped seats to pristine ’95-model seats

Did the classic GM ignition-amplifier swap, look on-line for info on that.

Added Bottorf Fab (remember them? Owner is probably in jail now) winch front bumper.

Added AWESOME Federal Couragia MT tires, LT235/85R16. I DO have a full-size AT-tread spare. Although they are VERY aggressive tread, they ARE NOT excessively loud.

Added aftermarket stereo head with ipod jack/mount

New brake pads all around, new muffler, pass-side cat, new rear lift hatch.

All fluids maintained, no massive leaking anywhere, engine and driveline are tight, quiet, and smooth.

The interior is in great shape, but the headliner is starting to sag, hence the thumbtacks in the back part. They work pretty well. I intended to use this as a REAL sport-utility truck (which I happily did), so I removed the ridiculous decorative storage compartments in the back, and converted the speaker box to a tool box. The speaker, CD changer, and amplifier had been dis-connected by the PO anyway, and I spliced in the remote speaker boxes you see, but the upper factory speakers are still in place and do work (just dis-connected). The truck has a really cool-looking dark tint on the windows.

I drive it every day, and it has never left me stranded. It rides like a dream, drives tight, and is the most comfortable thing I’ve ever driven on the highway. It is slow, though. The tire size contributes to that, but they also achieve 15-16 mpg on the highway. Just takes a while to get there. No wandering, stops straight, no shimmy, tires balanced great, no driveline vibration or whine.

But there ARE issues, most visibly the body dings, which I’ve tried to capture in the photos. The driver’s-side rear door crunch was like that when I bought it, and I initially looked for a white replacement door, but then gave up after a while because I just didn’t notice it anymore. The deformation somehow does not include the sealing surface, and the door closes perfectly with no leaking. Tree crease on the left side roof, and left side rear quarter below the cargo window. See pics.

ABS and Traction Control lights turned on about a year after I got it. I tapped and twisted each wheel sensor when I did the brakes recently, but the light is still on, and I have not diagnosed it further.

Cruise control never worked since I’ve owned it. Replaced the vacuum hoses under the hood, but it still doesn’t activate.

Seat heaters don’t work (no big surprise there).

The seat control ECU went haywire; it worked initially, but the remote mirrors and driver’s seat began moving on their own, so I un-plugged the seat harness. Used a jumper to manually move the seat to fit me, then just left it alone. Passenger seat works every way except the seat-back won’t move forward. Driver’s window has begun to move VERY slowly, I suspect the motor needs replacing.

A/C does not work because the compressor seized, and this is documented in the PO’s paperwork. He merely un-plugged the compressor harness. I have not replaced the compressor.

DISCLOSURE: The upper rad hose had a habit of blowing out right at the bonded-in sensor for the A/C dryer. I replaced this hose (3) times and it still blew out; I caught one hose just as it failed, wrapped it with that stretchy pipe-fix tape, and it held fine after that. But I recently just un-plugged the lead and zip-tyed it to an adjacent harness (don’t need it anyway since the A/C doesn’t work), and installed a straight upper hose with no sensor boss.

THERE IS NO HEAD-GASKET LEAK OR EVIDENCE OF EXHAUST GAS IN THE COOLANT. I had this checked, suspecting a blown head gasket was pressurizing the system, but the check came back negative, and the W-pump and thermo all checked good. Never any evidence of overheating. I have no idea why the upper hoses continued to fail, but with my repaired hose (and now with the straight hose) it has not failed in 10k miles.

DISCLOSURE: Almost since I owned the truck, it has had a habit of randomly “shutting down” as if the ignition was turned off, except for maybe 3 or 4 cyls. Basically, the engine quits, whether at 70 mph on the highway, in my driveway, or in a parking lot. The recovery procedure is to shut the key off for MAYBE 10 seconds, no joke, then start and drive normally, sometimes for months, before it happens again. I initially suspected the ignition amplifier (which is an Achille’s heel on these trucks), so I did the typical GM-amplifier remote-swap, but it still does it occasionally. I have never been able to figure it out, and it’s no use taking it to a shop to diagnose, since it will start and drive just fine…Maybe 2 times since I’ve owned it the CEL came on with a code 44, which means left bank 02 sensor (I think), but I re-set it and it hasn’t re-appeared now since I can remember. I don’t panic anymore when it stalls, because it always recovers and drives fine, but still, I wish it WOULD just die completely so a shop could have a place to start looking.

Truck has a ton of character and my kids love it, but it’s not the right time in my life now to own something like this.