Urgent Landrover/4x4 mechanic in Southern Spain
 

Friends of us just started their big trip through africa and reached Tarifa with mechanical problems.
They have to make major decisions about an engine-swop, revised or new, which model and all the pro's and con's and last but not least the amount off money involved with the different sollutions.
Anyone knows a good mechanic/workshop with the knowhow and facilties for such a major overhaul in this region in Spain (or even Portugal) who also can provide a new engine (2.5 N/A, 200tdi, 300tdi or 2.8 TGV)?

The Landrover, a 110 diesel, can ride but as it appears isn't up to the trip to South-Africa and beyond.

Thanks!

mechanic
 

Contact these guys and they will let you know about a mechanic in Alicante. Long way but may be useful. he's British and ex army mechanic I believe. They themselves don't do repairs. When I spoke to them last year they spoke good english.

CIBEX 4x4 S.L.
Polígono Industrial Cabanillas 2 Parcela 3 Nave 1
Cabanillas del Campo
España
19171 Guadalajara
Phone: +34 949 20 10 04
Fax: +34 949 20 31 36
Email: info@tiendacibex.com
http://www.tiendacibex.com

Researching Defender engine swaps at the moment. If your friends are considering a TGV they should be aware that the jumbo torque is known for punishing weak elements in the drive chain.

Prins Maasdijk in the Netherlands do good prices on brand new 300tdi's and TGV's. They could probably deliver almost as quickly as a Spanish supplier.

Good option if any of the ancillaries are looking tired as well.
http://www.prinsmaasdijk.nl/landrove...ame300tdi.html

Or, if they are looking for an economical option and have some extra time – I have a good 300tdi with all ancillaries which will be available at the end of the month (27th). :-)

Allow 2 full days labour for a straight swap, longer if any conversions are required.

Damn! if i had not got a puppy, i'd have been in Tarifa this week on holiday!

There are a couple of backstreet garages in Tarifa, that always seem busy whenever i'm there.

I don't know the names of them, but can give directions that you can pass on to your friends.

If you come down the steep hill into Tarifa (past the Lidl's supermarket) you hit the traffic lights. on your left, back up the hill by about 80 meters, is a "Taller" (workshop) and they quite often have 4x4's in there. the owner owns the 109" santana that is often parked across the road.

another one:

continue down this road,called Avenida de Andalucia, (towards the sea which you see in front of you), the "main" road take a 90 degree left turn towards the port, but if you continue straight on, then take the first side street on the right (there is a clothes shop and a shop that does paper/pens/office stuff on the RH corner) (and that building is called Andalucia plaza, thats where my flat is in!), down that street on the next LH corner (about 100 metres) is another workshop.

If your friends don't speak Spanish, i have a good friend there who may be able to locate a decent mechanic. His name is Hugo Komari, and he runs the local gym, go back out onto the Avenida de Andalucia, and carry on down the road as if you were doing to head towards the sea, there is a chinese restaurant on the LH side, and about 6 doors down is the "Fitness Estudio de Tarifa", Hugo is a Chillean chap, about 5'4" and musclebound! but he's really helpful.

Failing these options, there are two that i can think of, but involve a bit of travelling:

1) there is a Land Rover agent in Gibraltar. could be costly though

2) that garage that is on Sky TV, called "the garage", based just outside Malaga, all English speaking and english staff (run by a scottish chap).

never been there, only know it from TV: English Mobile Mechanics

Hope that helps!!!

Jamie.

I've only been in the Gibralter landrover to get spares and it was in late 2001 so could have improved but at the time they were next to useless. I only wanted service items like a spare air filter etc for a 300TDI and I had to get their computer system and find my way to the numbers because inspite of the vehicle, they didn't seem very switched on about find what I wanted. Other problem with Gibralter is accomodation is expensive, cheapest hotel that we could find was about £50 a night and there wasn't any camping. Also can't easily get back across the border as the Spanish make it difficult and keep you waiting for a couple of hours so not so easy to try and find accomodation in Spain and come backwards and forwards. Garage may have changed, improved by now.

Just remembered there was a big landrover garage in Jerez. Very helpful. We went in there to get some bits for another landrover we were travelling with in 2003. Quite a decented sized operation and seemed very helpful. Again just getting parts but seemed pretty good.

just back from Tarifa since yesterday

as Jim says,planty of smaller shops who carry out decent work.
Go to Hostal Alborado and the youngest son will point you to a good garage.

TGV is not recommended ad clutch will blow and hardly spares available for this engine.

Go for a 300Tdi/200Tdi,
Contact LRG in Belgium with my regards and he can DHL almost anything to you within days from new to second hand.He's a living legend on LR's and usually knows the problem when told over the phone and knows exactly what parts you need.

www.lrg.be (Robert)

Ain't this community great !
 

Everybody thanks for those swift responds and suggestions!

Please keep them coming as I don't know where they are exactly at the moment. I'm sure they will check-back here as soon as they find an internet-access (they have been regular visitors before they left, lurking for al sorts of information).

As for the technical suggestions, they are very aware of the pro's and con's of the different engines-types, the costs and consequentions/modifications.

thanks again, regards

Can you find out what actually is wrong with the engine?

I'm not questioning their technical knowledge (they may be fully trained LR mechanics for all i know!) but it may be something that can be fixed, it just /sounds/ like the engine needs replacing.

If you post the faults on here, a lot of us may be able to suggest a cure.

diagnosis
 

As far as I can tell and translate (from a distance, not being a real mechanic) the symptoms are:

The engine is starting to consume an alarming amount of oil, 1l in 300km.
After lifting the head it's clear: the oil is burnt, piston-rings leaking and cylinders are grinded oval. Not ideal for a trip to SA and back.
The engine has run about 300k, has been overhauled 1 time before (don't know when) and their trip is gona be anything between 50 and 80.000km.

The dilemma: existing engine, complete overhaul, expensive operation which leaves them with the same, slightly underpowered engine (2.5 N/A), propably worn-out again at the end of the trip (leading to the same dilemma).
New engine, more expensive, more power, more peace of mind and in the end they are left with an engine which is just run-in and can easily go for another detour.

I'm sure they are contemplating all this, somewhere on a nice camp-ground with bbq, fresh fish and cerveza.

That's why I mostly asked about known and recommended mechanics/workshops, instead of technical advice (which is really, don't get me wrong, totally appreciated!!).

regards, will keep you posted

If they have a 2.5 NA diesel at the moment, the easiest way would be to fit a "same" engine in place.

the could drop in a 200Tdi defender unit, if tey could find one, as the engine mounts are the same, but there are a lot of other different bits... exhaust, radiator/intercooler, air intake system etc.

The 300Tdi will need different mounts welding to the chassis, and with a bit of modification will fit the LT77 gearbox (i'm assuming they have a standard engine & gearbox?). exhaust and radiators are again different from the 2.5 NA (and the 200Tdi)

Not really the sort of job you want to be doing half way around the world. fortunately the 2.5NA is a popular engine, getting a short block shouldn't be too difficult.

you say the cylinder are ground oval? do they mean they've measured the bores or they can see "oval" marks on the cylinder walls? the oval marks on the walls are usually the honing marks from when the engine was built.

obviously, if the cylinders are "oval" then it's pretty much knackered! but it could just be broken piston rings, which would make it use much oil. easy(ish) to change with the engine in place, espcially as the head is already off... if they drain the oil sump, they may find broken bits in there.... the piston rings will be easily identifyable.

Hi all,
I’m the landrover overlander that Bart started the post for.
First of all I’d like to thank everyone for your reactions, tips, and suggestions.
I’ll explain what’s happened and what we have decided to do to solve the problem.
Our car a 1986 Landrover HCPU converted to a camper has a 2.5 Normally Aspirated diesel Engine. Power 67 HP. Total mileage now 303000kms
After discovering the course of our problem, a very high oil consumption, worn out pistons, rings and cylinders, we thought it not worthwhile to overhaul the engine again.
The engine had a total rebuild 75000 kms ago. After the rebuild it lugged a 2800 kg landrover around Africa.
Any way… Doing a major overhaul on the engine wasn’t in our opinion worthwhile.
When we get back from our journey the engine will have done another 50 to 70 thousand K’s. It will still be an underpowered old engine.
When Bart started the post we were in Estepona in the south of Spain. I’m sorry to say that the Landrover garage there was not very helpful but we did meet up with a couple of other Landrover specialists/garages who both had a number of solutions available.
We discussed fitting everything from a TD, a 200TDI, a 300 TDI and also the International 2,8 TGV.
We also started communications with Holland to see what options we had there.
To cut a long story short we have decided to go really radical and we are having a new 2,8 TGV fitted. Not just the engine. The whole drive train is going to be adapted/replaced with a new one. We having the job done in Holland. Our insurance with our automobile association covers our breakdown. They will transport the Landrover back to Holland and in the mean time we can travel to Holland with a courtesy car. I know it’s a round trip of over 6000 km’s but with a bit of luck I’ll be able to sell the old engine, radiator etc. to cover the costs of driving back and forth.

It’s an enormous investment but we think it’s worth it.
Once again thanks for your interest, tips and advice.
As soon as we are back on the road to Africa we will post an update on the website.

Regards
Ian and Jacqueline

www.overlanding.nl

Hi Ian.

Glad the outcome of the story was a good one! better to break down in a busy place like Spain (or even better, in Tarifa!!) than in the middle of the desert!


I can vouch for the 2.8 engine. a mate of mine here in Bristol has one in his 90, he did the Malasian rain forest challenge last year in it (he won the diesel class too!), it's a great engine. he has got propane injection on his too.... plenty of power there!

Just make sure that Prins install a new gearbox. an R380 is what they should be fitting (it bolts right up to the 2.8) and is stronger (just) than the LT77. in standard form the engine is just on the limits of the gearbox though, so an additional oil cooler on the box might not be a bad idea.
i can dig out the part numbers for the oil cooler pipework if you need it, its the same as the military Wolf LR's have... a proper little radiator in front of the main water radiator, not a silly little pipe like the civvy Euro oil cooler.

keep us all informed on how the conversion goes! pictures too! :-)

cheers

Jamie

Jim,

Where can I find out the part numbers for this Wolf cooler - is there a publication of some sort ?? It may be an idea to use one in my 300tdi as on changing the oil in Djanet after some 1000km of dune bashing the colour was distinctly odd, possibly from running too hot ?

Thanks,

Andrew.

If you hand on a few hours, when i get home i'll get the part numbers off of my PC there.

I've not got a wolf parts catalogue (yet!) but i'm working on it, although i've managed to get hold of a few nuners for stuff.

you can buy a "RoW" (Rest of World) oil cooler kit form LR, it is the same adaptor that bolts onto the R380 as the military version, but insetad of the proper little radiator thing, it's just a loop of pipe.... Ashcrofts did have a special on them a while ago.


Ian.... i had another thought today too...

I'm assuming your venicle was "standard" with an LT77 gearbox and either 1.6 or 1.4:1 transfer box? (a lot of the 2.5 NA's had the 1.6 which will give you a top speed of about 65mph flat out!)

Well, with the extra torque of the 2.8, you'll easily be able to bolt on an ex discovery/rangerover 1.2:1 transfer box, this will give you a slightly higher "high" range (although all low range ratios are the same across the board), so your vehicle will gain longer legs! either better economy, faster speed or quieter driving.... or a little of all three, depending on your driving style! :-)

I don't mean to preach.... tell me to shut up if you are technically genned up on LR's, i just didn't know if you knew the options available, or of your knowledge.

regards

Jamie