Access on a TD5 is dream compared to many modern vehicles.
TD5 have actually been one of the most reliable Land Rover engines. Most people perception of 200 and 300tdi reliability is based around the fact they are simple with no electronics and only a live feed to the cut off solenoid(unless you are talking about electronic pump 300tdi) but back the early days they had problems too. The one major difference is the engine parts tend to be cheaper. I think a lot of people ran a beat up old 200/300, never changed the oil or looked after them then went to a TD5 an found you couldn't treat them the same way, to me that doesn't make them unreliable.
Most of the common TDS issues are actually cheap to fix. Injector loom costs £25 an takes 30mins to swap and if you buy a TD5 I would recommend swapping it even if the previous owner says it was done. Starter motors can mess about but it's normally only the contacts that fail and they cost £10, pulling the starter isn't too bad but the top bolt can be a bit fiddly to put back. Fuel pumps fail but often that is not helped by people driving them round low on fuel. I proper OEM VDO unti costs £200. In a Disco it's pretty easy to get at once you've stripped some of the interior, pain in the **** on a Defender unless you cut the floor. ECUs generally don't fail unless they get oil in them.
My TD5 has 185K on it, it's mapped and it was my wifes daily driver, we went on holiday in it, it would sit at motorway+ speed all day long. It dragged 3.5t trailer on many occasions. It's had the usual TD5 bits but it's downfall is a rotten chassis.
There is one other we need to consider with regards to perceived reliability compared to a 200 or 300tdi, when 200/300 was in it's hayday only geeks had internet. By the time the TD5 arrived internet had become common and with that came the publicising of every little issue and that's not a Land Rover issue that's all cars from that era onwards. If you pick any vehicle you be hard pushed to not find a forum/web page that will give you the impression every one of them is a load of rubbish and that's because 95% of people don't join a forum because their vehicle is running well they join because they've got a poblem. If you browse the Discovery 3 forum before buying one you woukd scare yourself silly and think you woukd end up having to sell you house but the more you look you also see loads that have had since new and done 200K+ and still on original engines and gearboxes.
Once you understand them Td5 are actually pretty easy to fix and some of things that can cause issue are totally preventable and cheap.In my experience more often than not the people who have a downer on them don't understand them and/or have never had one. It doesn't matter what you buy whether it be a car,a TV or holiday you will get bad ones but that doesn't mean they are all bad.
TD5 have actually been one of the most reliable Land Rover engines. Most people perception of 200 and 300tdi reliability is based around the fact they are simple with no electronics and only a live feed to the cut off solenoid(unless you are talking about electronic pump 300tdi) but back the early days they had problems too. The one major difference is the engine parts tend to be cheaper. I think a lot of people ran a beat up old 200/300, never changed the oil or looked after them then went to a TD5 an found you couldn't treat them the same way, to me that doesn't make them unreliable.
Most of the common TDS issues are actually cheap to fix. Injector loom costs £25 an takes 30mins to swap and if you buy a TD5 I would recommend swapping it even if the previous owner says it was done. Starter motors can mess about but it's normally only the contacts that fail and they cost £10, pulling the starter isn't too bad but the top bolt can be a bit fiddly to put back. Fuel pumps fail but often that is not helped by people driving them round low on fuel. I proper OEM VDO unti costs £200. In a Disco it's pretty easy to get at once you've stripped some of the interior, pain in the **** on a Defender unless you cut the floor. ECUs generally don't fail unless they get oil in them.
My TD5 has 185K on it, it's mapped and it was my wifes daily driver, we went on holiday in it, it would sit at motorway+ speed all day long. It dragged 3.5t trailer on many occasions. It's had the usual TD5 bits but it's downfall is a rotten chassis.
There is one other we need to consider with regards to perceived reliability compared to a 200 or 300tdi, when 200/300 was in it's hayday only geeks had internet. By the time the TD5 arrived internet had become common and with that came the publicising of every little issue and that's not a Land Rover issue that's all cars from that era onwards. If you pick any vehicle you be hard pushed to not find a forum/web page that will give you the impression every one of them is a load of rubbish and that's because 95% of people don't join a forum because their vehicle is running well they join because they've got a poblem. If you browse the Discovery 3 forum before buying one you woukd scare yourself silly and think you woukd end up having to sell you house but the more you look you also see loads that have had since new and done 200K+ and still on original engines and gearboxes.
Once you understand them Td5 are actually pretty easy to fix and some of things that can cause issue are totally preventable and cheap.In my experience more often than not the people who have a downer on them don't understand them and/or have never had one. It doesn't matter what you buy whether it be a car,a TV or holiday you will get bad ones but that doesn't mean they are all bad.