Land Rover service/parts across Latin America

[GrandSueńo]

Hello Forum friends,

I'm currently planning a road trip From California to South America. I'm looking into buying a 2006 Land Rover LR3 and do some minor conversions for overlanding. I like the vehicle and I can find one for <10K well maintained with all service records. I've been reading about these cars more online and they seem to need constant maintenance. I don't mind getting my hands dirty and do so already with my current vehicle. What concerns me is if I need to perform serious maintenance and replace parts, such as air suspension calibration etc. where I will need to take it into a LR dealer ( I have also looked into changing out the EAS with springs prior to the trip). Have any of you done a road trip with a LR across S.A. and found adequate service/parts? I know Toyotas are more common in that part of the world. Any tips/advice is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[haven]

Jaguar Land Rover has factory authorized service in just about all Central and South American countries. Looking at this web page
https://www.landrover.com/market-selector/index.html
I see only Venezuela and French Guiana absent.

The Land Rover factory service centers are in the major cities. On the other hand, Toyota products can be serviced in just about any town large enough to appear on a map. Nissan is also well represented. The XTerra and Frontier are popular.

One advantage of Land Rover are the many 4x4 clubs that focus on LR products. Most countries have LR clubs in the major cities. They are usually welcoming to foreign travelers, and can be very helpful with planning and support if you intend to travel in remote areas.

 

[GrandSue&#324;o]

Hi haven,

Appreciate the response. Thank you.

 

[Victory_Overland]

Sounds like a great trip. I'm sure you will find a plethora of things we all will recommend for things to look for on any LR3. Are you planning on driving the vehicle for a few thousand miles to ring out any issues prior to the long travel?

If you are ditching the EAS, many of your problems will go away as long as its dialed in for the weight of your vehicle as others are sorting out now.

My suggestion on your rig (depending on miles and accuracy of the service record) I would replace just about every engine accessory bearing such as pulleys, water pump, idler, etc. Depending on your budget, spare alternator, water pump, appropriate gaskets. Not saying to do all of this, just saying it's the areas where I noticed the most maintenance on just about any vehicle around 75k mileage or more to include my LR3.

New fluids and flush of all gearboxes, diffs, and engine to include filters and coolant. New plugs, metal coolant T-fitting, thermostat, hoses. Honestly, all of this can be done at one time if you bust it down for a few days and take your time. Seafoam clean your throttle body and intake sensors. New pollen, and intake filter.

Buy a Bluetooth GAP tool and you can do anything the dealer can do from the side of the road. At a minimum, it will be able to get you to a dealer if possible and if not, you'll at least know why you are taking it to the dealer anyway as you will have a diagnostic from the tool.

Spares:
Any of the little stuff above you chose not to replace and take a spare anyway if you have the budget.

This is my "smalls" box:
*Water pump and gasket (I only have this because I replaced my old one before it needed it out of convenience and kept it as a spare w/new gasket)
*Tail light bulbs. I still plan to swap to LR4 LED tail lights. If you remove the EAS, not a big issue but make sure you have LR factory tail light bulbs and plenty in your spares if you run EAS as a bulb will leave you stranded on the bumpstops.
*Brake light switch
*Spare belts
*Thermostat
*Spare airline and airstrut fitting for EAS (I happen to have a few feet of this and some splices and fittings so I keep it just in case)

I honestly do not drag around a bunch of spares with me; It's the little stuff that sometimes dealers do not have in stock and with EAS will keep you stranded. I lived in Hawaii for years and it may as well be a different planet because the dealer parts section was worthless. They NEVER have anything to include the smallest and most common parts, hence why I carry all this little stuff around with me. If you break an axle or some crazy thing, I would be going to a dealer anyway as I am not dragging an axle or suspension part with me unless I'm going to be super isolated environments which I have not done or wouldn't go alone anyway. At that point, it's trail repair and limp it to first available safe spot if possible.

I look forward to hearing about your trip.

Cheers,

E