In my attempts to obtain a repair to the corroded bell housing on the Warn winch and a replacement bonnet mounted G4 decal, I was told by a customer care representative that nothing fitted by 'Special Vehicles' i.e. any G4 part or the Tangiers Orange paintwork is covered by the LR warranty as they were not fitted at the factory!

I explained that G4 vehicles were built at the factory and factory upgraded to G4 spec at 'LR Special Vehicles' and as such WAS built by LR...

She reiterated that as the parts were not fitted at the factory they were not covered by the warranty!

At this point I realized that what she meant was the parts don't show up on the build sheet (this was confirmed by the fact that my vehicle was painted Black, which they all are then sprayed Tangiers Orange by SV). If it ain't on the build sheet, it ain't covered by the warranty!!!

I asked to speak with her supervisor or Special Vehicles direct and was told that 'they aren't customer facing'! i.e. she is my only point of contact...

This is a major issue for all members if it is true and people bought ex-2009 challenge vehicles thinking they are fully covered under the 3 year warranty, especially the paint warranty!

Does anyone have details to the contrary and if so can we seek a 'blanket' statement from LR on the matter?

Cheers,

Vic

I was under the impression that most of the cars were painted Tangiers on the production line, but that some ended up being registered as black ?

I know my 2005 car was only ever painted orange, just from where the paint's been worn away inside one of the door shuts...

Like as mentioned above mate, i have a 2005 G4 D3 and it was sprayed Tangiers from the start.  As proven by the id plate under the bonnet with the chassis number and Tangiers paint code etc(and every nook and cranny over the D3). You may well find yours was squared away by Special Vehicles(sprayed) as it was already built and sat in storage or the like.  It does seem a little strange and i can see why you are frustrated by LR having said your vehicle may not be covered under warranty, however you would of thought it would be as it was made by LR for LR? And you may well find that not ALL 2009 event vehicles were a different colour and then resprayed, some may well of been special factory builds(for the event)so therefore their paint work will be covered as they would of been tangiers from birth.  Again Alan Edwards is a very good point of contact but you can also try Adrain the Technical Officer for the club.  I seem to remember having a conversation ref vehicles being tangiers from the start and others being resprayed with him a while back.

I would of thought that ref your winch housing corroding that it may well be better to take it up with Warn themselves.  Mine is a little corroded but i have took it on the chin as it gets abuse from being taken off road and through green lanes in all weathers it was also in Bolivia on the salt flats. The free wheel lever is also a little rusty but they can be purchased from ebay for about 15 quid. I'd put it down to wear and tear and save some heart ache unless you can get LR to square you away.

Good luck,

Sweep.

looking back over some old forum posts, some members have had the their hella floodlights repaired and even reconnected on the 2008/9 vehicles under warranty at LR dealerships, sounds like a case of some dealers will some dealers won't.

Re colour, my vin plate states tangiers as original colour, and as Sweep states they must have stripped the vehicles right back to basics before re spraying, as I've found tangiers behind the dash and inside the roof liner, all places I'm sure wouldn't be re sprayed just to look good and get thrashed

Rich

just an after thought, Vic, there aren't many 57 plate 2008/9 vehicles, and Belguim selections where in May 2008, whereas my D3 was only registered in May 08, maybe G4 LRV was prep'd prior to the factory run of the remaining 08/09 vehicles to get ready for early selections and/or media work. Hence black to tangriers rather than just tangiers. Just a thought.

I was under the impression that they were sold without warranty -- reason why sold at auction to 'trade'.

To ensure type approval certain items were removed as not 'type approved' or tested -- MTR / Rock sliders+steel Cubby box, and to ensure no liability on winches -- ropes removed.

The new LRX range rover presently has 200 pre-production mules under test around the world .... all will be scrapped at end of testing so why bother taking the risk of warranty claims on G4 vehicles that have had a 'hard life' prior to release in to the public domain.

      Looks like I opened a can of worms on this warranty issue!

FWIW, my D3 came with the roof lights connected, the MTR tyres intact brand new on new alloys and two brand new extra 'spares' with MTR's fitted, plus the winch line intact!!!

The only thing I had to do was sign a disclaimer that the MTR tyres would not be used above 100 mph!

There seems to be a wide discrepancy as to what people get with their vehicles when they buy them. I bought mine to order from the disposal auction by Duckworth Land Rover at Market Razen, Lincs. Ben Duckworth there bent over backwards to help me get the vehicle and I have nothing but praise for him and the company. Problem is that my local dealership is hopeless, and the LR customer care department is less than knowledgable... the girl there had never heard of the G4 Challenge for goodness sake!

The bonnet decal and winch issue I can deal with, it was the paint work and corrosion warranties that I was concerned about?

Vic

I ended up sending a number of photos with date stamps etc and after a couple to letters my V5 now states Tangiers Orange. I have since been told both my car ad the sister car where taken from the production line completed and then sent to an external bodyshop for trims off respray and G4 equipment fitment before being shipped out for reece early 2005.

Mine was seized when i got it, quite an easy fix if the teeth are all still okay. Have a look here for info and pics on the winch, but i doubt the winch would be covered under any warranty really.

Ant

Farnell's customer service and advice was top notch - and as they are part of the Co-Op they told me to join and i got a £4,000 dividend at the end of the year! 

I don't think the car had been used in anger as there was scarcely any dirt in the engine bay (I saw it the day it arrived from Solihull).  It had done 2,400 miles.

It was definitely originally black - you can tell this from the engine bay - but overall it has a paint job of the quality you'd get on an Autobiography.  It shows in the original log book a black Vogue SE.  I was told by my local repair guy, who used to work at Land Rover, that the P38 paintshop was more flexible that the L322 one.  Any Autobiogrphy in a non-standard colour (and I assume - but he didn't know - G4s) were sent off to an external paintshop as completed black cars.  There must have been some serious disassembly going on.  I guess this also explains why my 1998 P38 in AA yellow (bought when we lived in the US and still with me) has a thoroughly yellow bodyshell, even in the engine bay.

Thanks Ant.... I could not get to that section; however, I ended up removing the housing form the winch and let the ring gear sit in a anti-seize product called "PB Blaster" for a few hours. I drained the unit, flipped it over, placed a piece of wood on the top and hit it with a hammer a few times and the ring gear popped out. Wet sanded everything, reassmebled and used a lot of machine oil and all is good now.