Its an 03 with the M62tu in Adriatic Blue over Ivory.
Danny, I was inspired by your experience to do it as I had heard the "horror" stories similar to our BMW "horror" stories that made me wait a long time to do it. I will get some pictures tomorrow. If you recall on Bimmerforums, I started a thread about this and someone posted the add from Grand Rapids for this one. I ended up buying it sight unseen, and I took the 35 minute flight up there to pick it up. I was a bit disappointed in the exterior as a few things should have stood out in the pictures, but I can't be sure if he photoshopped them at this point since the ad is gone. He seemed like a stand-up guy though. So I just assumed I missed the blemishes. Usually, I would go with the nice exterior and assume I have to do some mechanical work. This time it is the other way around. Overall, its mechanically sound so I should be good. It's getting tires tomorrow along with an alignment.
Here are the issues I have to address:
1. SES light came on with a P0021 code. Since he has driven the truck for 40k since the rebuild, I am assuming it is not due to the timing being off. I'm going to swap around some Camshaft position sensors to see if one is bad.
2. All three tail lights are missing the lenses. I'm going to swap out the third light and hope I run into some inexpensive tails eventually.
3. The headliner is loose, but its unnoticeable. I will get around to it one day.
4. The front right corner of the bumper is all scratched up. I have to get that sanded and repainted or else my head will explode.
5. The driver's door interior handle is scrunched up like every single one I looked at. I'll have to source a door card for that.
6. The DVD headrests and CD changer aren't working so I have to figure those out.
7. There's a tiny bit of rust starting on the rear hatch so I have to address that as well.
8. The right side of the hood is not latching completely so I have to fix that.
I think that's about it. I'm banking on not having to do any mechanical work so I can address these issues. Once I'm done it should be pretty sweet! I will post pictures tomorrow.
Oh, hello from Bimmer Forums then! Glad to see you scooped up a Rangie for a good price! Honestly the BMW Range Rovers are my favorite, I prefer their designs and mechanically they make a lot more sense. Sure they have their common issues, but they're extremely well-documented and quite easy to fix. I trust BMW engineering a lot more than I trust Ford/Jaguar engineering haha.
I doubt the seller photoshopped the pictures, as most people don't have the technical proficiency to photoshop an image in a convincing manner. It's far more likely that the pictures were low-resolution, combined with less than ideal lighting (sums up most pictures on CL). You have to remember that most people aren't busting out a DSLR and Lightroom for Craigslist photos.
Now regarding your issues:
1. The P0021 code can certainly be caused by a bad cam sensor, but more than likely whoever did his engine rebuild didn't set the cam timing wheels correctly. The M62tu is weird in that it can have perfect camshaft timing (aka the important timing) and a slightly off camshaft timing wheel which will throw codes. I had to adjust my cam timing wheel clockwise like 5º to correct an intermittent P0021 code. The seller might have known about this code and just cleared the codes before you came to look at the car.
2. If you plan to change the taillights, spring for the 2006+ taillights where the turn signals are clear. They're plug and play and make the rear of the Range Rover look much more modern. Combine that with clear side markers and you'll have a sweet-looking ride.
3. You can always use thumbtacks in the meantime if it's really bad. Fixing the headliner shouldn't be too hard of a job, you have plenty of room to maneuver it around.
4. Might as well repaint the whole bumper since they generally see a lot of abuse.
5. Repairing the door handle might be a better bet, since the messed up driver's door handle is something that I see on virtually every Range Rover. There's no guarantee that a used door card will be any better. Though you could get craft and source a passenger side one from the UK and make it work.
6. The DVD head rests aren't working in my Range Rover either. I can't remember the last time I saw them functioning in any Range Rover, to be honest.
7. You might just be better off ordering a replacement hatch in a matching color from a southern car.
8. You should definitely fix this first before your hood either flies open or gets stuck closed.
