One Year On, Owner Report.

[Bohica]

I've the the Disco for just over a year. I've learned a lot. Like don't buy a Disco if the water pump leaks. Because you don't know what could cause the leak. :( ;) Three days after I bought it, I had to add over 2L of coolant. :o
I took the car to Ritter for a look see and a quote. Head gasket gone, blew the water pump seal. So new water pump, head gasket and a few other bits and pieces, including loc-tite on the oil pump bolt. I would get into a bit of a nervous state when I saw liquid under the car. Although for that past few months this has lessened. (My therapist says I am doing well :D) I just have a look and see where the liquid comes from, air-con or run off from rain.
I've changed the engine mounts, air filter and centripetal oil filter, gearbox and transfer case oils. Renewed the head liner and rear map pocket elastics, changed the boots on the gear levers and and brake and added a leather steering wheel cover.
Things to do is change the full flow filter, the brake fluid, check the diff oils, although I may as well change the oil while I am under the car. I also need to grease the UJ's I have to buy a grease gun first.
I've driven 20,000kms over the year. The coolant level has not changed. The oil had a mystery drop, I'm not sure why. That was over the summer. I've had the car down and dirty and loved it. The 4wd course I went on was quite an eye opener. It's quite a nice cruising car, a lot quieter than my Toyota Echo. And the Disco has cruise control! I average a touch over 10l per 100k, not bad for a car that large that does a lot of short trips. When I bought the car I did not have any torque wrenches, now have three, a 1/4, 3/8 and a 1/2.:D
There have been a few other "niggles" and the help from this forum has been excellent. In some ways I am almost an expert, due to the information I have gained in this forum. Problems that I am clueless on one day, get solved over night.

Cheers

Julian

p.s. yeah I know I was a bit of an idiot to buy the car, without a pre purchase inspection, so no need to mention it.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

You've done really well.
replaced the correct parts when needed, have a maintenance plan to replace more and now own 3 T/wrenches.
sounds like love to me,,:cool::D

[AK83]

Hi Julian.
Good read, but! . (one slight correction)
You said ...
don't buy a Disco if the water pump leaks

But the general consensus is that you would be weary of ANY CAR!! that has issues .. pump leaks or whatever.

It seems in this instance, you just 'lucked out'.
It could easily have been just the water pump or seal .. but it wasn't.
Sorry to hear that.

Secondly, I used to live in Willy(went to school there(North Willy PS and WHS) and we moved out in late '87 up to the bush(Hurstbridge).
Not knowing your workshop setup, just an FYI, there is a bloke out in Wiltona(off Korroit Ck Rd) that has a massive workshop setup that you can rent to work on your vehicle. IIRC cost is about $40/hr, and has just about every(non specifoc tool) you could ever need.
air tools, car hoists(4 I think) .. etc.
Have plans one day to use it to do some niggling issues with my newly acquired D1 Tdi too.
If you want, I can get the exact details of the workshop(let me know).

Thirdly, owning any Rover vehicle is the absolute definition of 'resilience'.
I think the entry for that verb in every dictionary should be updated to reflect this, more accurate description.
I owned a RRC(2dr '79) many years ago that I eventually abandoned and offloaded more as a wreck .. reluctantly.
But(and including that car) I've owned about 20-odd Rover vehicles over the course of about 15-ish years .. mostly v8's.

My experience is that of all the types and brands of cars I've owned, the vast majority of my Rovers were all about the most reliable .. in the sense that they never let me down.

Anyhow, good to read, and happy travels .... Oh! and stick with it irrespective of your therapists eventual conclusion :p
... and maybe assess your therapists attitude towards LR products before you accept all their advice.

[Rok_Dr]

Nice read Julian. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

I can so relate to your comments of paranoia with leaks and dropping fluid levels. Between the discovery, GTV6 and jaguar, their various incontence issues have redlined mine on occasion.

I always find the first year of new, second hand car ownership to be an expensive one getting on top of the inherited problems. It sounds like you are on top of yours now and so the second year should be less fiscally traumatic.

Look forward to the year 2 report next year :):)

Cheers

Steve

[Nomad9]

Hi Julian,
Agree with the other comments, good read and yeap I align with a lot of the comments you have made. I'm coming up to twelve months ownership of my latest D2 soon, this one has lasted quite well actually, I did buy this one broken, head gasket gone so I knew what I was up for. Gave me a datum point to work from.

Serviced the head (properly), replaced the water pump, all the hoses, all the studs in the exhaust manifold and also replaced the engine to oil cooler gasket on the L/H side of the engine, it was leaking slightly. EGR valve went together with the cat convertor.

Since all this work has been done all fluid levels are good, and to date no problems at all. I have a bit of an intermittent knock on the drivers side which I have looked for but not found, something suspension ish....... Had a three amigos episode, replaced one sensor (front N/S) nothing since.

Great D2 this one, it is the ES version, very comfortable, suspect I might keep this one for another year whilst I fix the gearbox on the manual D2 I have in the shed. I went back from a 2.7 TDV6 D3 to this D2, not really that sorry about the decision, especially when the rear door catch broke whilst trying to sell the vehicle.

Cheers Marty.

[Mumfy1973]

I think the first year after buying a used car is correcting all the problems can be expensive but love all my landies i have had, and to be a sucker looking to get another!!

Put it this way after buying a $40k landcruiser within 13 months i had a new gearbox!!!!!!

Landrover's are no worse than Pootrols or cruisers

[AK83]

Yeah, same experience here.
Dad bought a 62 series diesel cruiser .. T/C to gearbox leak.
Then injectors all played up(300K klms on the clock).
In the end rust killed it, just before he could.
Brother bought a 99 Ti Patrol.
Supposed to be bullet proof.
Had 250ish K on the clock.
On a trip up to Mitta, it boiled over all the way.
He was towing a trailer(about 500kg)
We replaced everything from radiator to the water pump, .. basically as much as we could physically see in front of us. Pressure tested the engine, mechanic reckoned pressure were all ok.. not head!
Damned thing still overheated with the trailer.
I had to tow the trailer the last 400klms to Mitta in my old .. old bomb Frontera that is about to blow itself up soon(just dunno when).
it's done 360K klms.
On my old Rangie classic, I did 500K klms(ended up with just over 600, as i got it with '115K' klms. The odo only reads 5 figures, so it could easily have been 215K, or 315K.
Only thing I changed was the LT95(diff blew up) for an LT77+LT230.
I also changed the front and rear diffs trying to chase a bad vibration, but the the ones I took out were fine!(splines a bit worn, but still OK).
Engine was totally original other than just the pathetic dizzy(changed for an ICE) and a couple of front seals in those 500K klms.

My take is that they aren't any less relaible than the Jap stuff.
Just my experiences.