Jon Ison
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| posted on 4/9/05 at 08:24 PM |
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Landrover Discovery Experts ??
Her indoors is looking for one........
What do i look for.............
Just seen a 96N, 2.5TDi (private sale) drives well, 12months MOT, it the ES version, what does the ES mean ?
£3750, which is what she's looking too spend (ish)
150k on clock but receipted engine rebuild 7k ago.
Thoughts.....
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dave1888
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| posted on 4/9/05 at 09:45 PM |
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After one myself from what i have been told 150k isn't to bad. Check for rust underneath chassis outriggers, lift the carpet in front footwell
and check there etc, body is mostly ali but does tend to bubble at door bottoms egdes etc, Make sure you drive it check for clunking in the gear
change also check low ratio. Check the front hubs if you turn steering full lock check for excessive pitting on the surface (shiny bit)
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Ian Pearson
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| posted on 4/9/05 at 09:56 PM |
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I loved the Discovery from the moment I saw the first ones back in the late 80's early 90's? (memory). I was brought up in Africa on a
diet of Landrovers, and have spent the last year looking at buying one to tow all my various toys from A to B. The more I have looked, the worse the
story seems to be. The following is not necessarilly 100% correct, but here goes.
The Disco is very prone to corrosion due to the mix of aluminium alloy and steel used in the build. The roof is steel, the window frames are steel,
the chassis is steel, but I believe that the rest of the body panels are alloy. It would appear that there is no barrier between the alloy and steel,
so you will find corrosion on almost all Disco's. The main problems that I have been told about along with the visible corrosion that I have
seen time after time is as follows.
1) Underneath the black rubber strips on the doors where the frame meets the doors. The rubber looks as though it is bubbling.
2) Open the rear doors, and at the top of the rear arch, there is often the start of corrosion present.
3) There is almost always some slight sign of bubbling somewhere on the tailgate.
4) The boot floor is a favourite if you talk to garages that specialise in Disco's.
5) Apparently, the steel roof/alloy body join is not that water tight, and so you get water ingress that is not always visible. This leads to a lot of
invisible damp leading to the corrosion.
6) The manual gearbox is unreliable, the automatic is bullet proof.
7) The dash will curl up if not protected from the sun. A fixing kit is available for this.
8)The headlining nearly always drops down. Not sure how expensive this is to replace.
9) The head lining on Disco's with sunroof's seems to fair better as it's held up by the sunroof sorrounds, but apparrently they can
leak a fair bit.
10) The bottom of the doors rust.
11) The sills are prone to rust as well.
The 200 Tdi and the 300 Tdi are virtually the same engine, but the purists seem to prefer the 200 Tdi.
I had my car MOT'd at a Landrover specialist last thursday, and as I arrived, the tester was taking out a Disco for a test run post service.
When he got back, I grilled him for about 20 mins on the pro's and cons, and he prettyy much confirmed all the above. He told me to steer clear,
and if I was set on a Landrover product to go for a classic Range Rover. He basically said that the problem was appalling build quality, cheap
unreliable parts, but apart from that they're a good vehicle!
I have driven them, like them, and if you read any of the Landy mags they rave about them. They are very good off road, very good towing vehicles, but
let down by an appaling build quality.
If you want a good one, there are several company's that specialise in importing 2nd hand Disco's from Japan. I have been and seen
several, and they are nearly all in superb condition. A much higher spec than the UK, all are automatic, but you pay a premium. These guys import
loads of them,but they cost more than a UK Disco.BLACKDOWN4X4
So, having tried for so long to talk myself into buying a Disco, I decided today to spend the money on a Landcruiser instead. She' in mint
condition, has a 4.2 Td and goes like a train, shame about the fuel consumption though.
HTH, Regards, Ian.
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NS Dev
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| posted on 5/9/05 at 08:11 AM |
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I looked into getting one some time ago for dragging the car trailer about. Learn't exactly the above from various sources, which I figured I
could jut about cope with...........then I read the performance figures!!!! No way could I cope with something slower 0-60 than a transit!
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Rorty
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| posted on 5/9/05 at 08:37 AM |
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Landrover Discovery Experts ?
quote:
Originally posted by Jon Ison
Her indoors is looking for one........
I can't claim to be a Discovery expert, but I know a fair bit about cars in general. If she'd raise her offer to £3755 and also
throw in my air fare I'd consider coming over and tending to her needs.  
Cheers, Rorty.
"Faster than a speeding Pullet".
PLEASE DON'T U2U ME IF YOU WANT A QUICK RESPONSE. TRY EMAILING ME INSTEAD!
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britishtrident
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| posted on 5/9/05 at 11:25 AM |
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Discos fetch really poor prices at auction -- in contrast to original style Range Rovers.
Wasn't there also a problem with the camshaft bearings on the 90s 2.5Tdi that caused low oil presure they seized and turned in the block --
result a block only fit for scrap.
[Edited on 5/9/05 by britishtrident]
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DarrenW
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| posted on 5/9/05 at 01:28 PM |
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Whatever you do dont be tempted to buy a freelander.
My mate makes a fortune selling 2nd hand bits for freelanders - they are crap.
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Jon Ison
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| posted on 5/9/05 at 06:18 PM |
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mmmmmmmmm, i thought they where a bit better than that...... maybe should start looking at some other 4x4, it as too be capable of pulling a horse box
no real long journeys just a jack of all trades run around.
Arn't there any disco fans on here ??
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britishtrident
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| posted on 6/9/05 at 06:45 PM |
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If going for a series 1 Disco the 2 Litre Petrol MPi ones are good buys -- the engine was never popular with he Disco fraternity because it
wasn't ideal for off road but is a great unit.
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Andy W
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| posted on 6/9/05 at 08:01 PM |
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I've got a couple of mates that run a garage, one used to be service manager for the local land rover main agent. They love the things, seem to
have no shortage of disco's to repair and making a fortune.
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andybod
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| posted on 7/9/05 at 09:44 AM |
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n reg disco is 300 tdi things to watch out for timing belts break idlers and housing have both been modified injection pump mounting used to bend
timing belt housing ,head gaskets blow and scrap head in the prosess ,oil leaks from any gasket or joint on the vehicle ,manual gearboxes poor auto
boxes are better check prop u,j,s and all suspension bushes and ball joints steering boxes leak badly ,brake discs can wear badly especially rears
check for corrosion on body and boot floor and also check for signs of water ingress from most glass areas. es is top speck model and should have
leather air con c.d multi changer possibly cruise control otherwise normally drive quite well but do take some getting used to reccomend looking at
japanese 4x4,s terrano,s good occasionally gearboxes go check for whining noises from box not that common a problem though, shoguns very good and also
landcruisers, troopers good but make sure the 3.0 litre twin cam diesel has had a injection pump and turbo under isuzu waranty hope this helps if your
not sure on anything or want any advice mail me i have 7 years experiance of 4x4,s and have seen most problems
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