You Told Us So…Our Brand New Land Rover Defender Is Already Broken: Video

In less than 200 miles, we already have a check engine light

Just a few short days ago, the TFL team took delivery of a brand new 2020 Land Rover Defender. Its arrival was something we’ve all been hugely excited about — we custom-ordered the least expensive Defender you can buy right now. This model is about as basic as you can get with a Defender, sporting a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine and steel wheels.

So, Roman and Tommy thought, what better way to welcome the Defender to our team than to give it a proper off-road shakedown? Among several other tests, that was the one thing we were most keen to do as soon as the Defender arrived. And…yeah, after our first adventure with it, and just 167 miles on the clock, our brand new Defender threw a check engine light.

Fortunately, the guys were able to make it back to the TFL base in Boulder, Colorado from the recent mountain adventure. Thanks to a handy OBD-II diagnostic reader, we were able to see the Defender was throwing two different fault codes. The engine control module put out codes P219E and P219D — “Mixture control, cylinder 2 (and 3) – value out of range”. The code signals an imbalance in the engine’s air to fuel ratio, which could come about from a variety of issues in the intake or fuel systems.

Given the anecdotal evidence surrounding Land Rover reliability, it’s a development that’s not too surprising to many folks out there. Since the car is brand new (and importantly, under warranty), we set up an appointment with the dealer to have the issue diagnosed. We’ll report back with exactly what the technicians were able to determine. Stay tuned for that and for our first off-road video with our new Defender!