Thread: What to do with the faithful old 97 tdi ???

Find a really nice RRC with a tired 3.5, fix the driveline out of the D1 and chuck it in.

Hi,

I’m a 6 ½ year D1 owner, having purchased the Disco early 08 as a ‘heading bush’ vehicle towing a camper trailer, all be it a V8 rather than a tdi. What you ask is the same dilemma I faced over the past year, i.e. do I sell it for ‘peanuts’ or hold on to the old girl? Here’s the way I figure it;

• Like you I have the vehicle set up as I want it. In my case 2 inch lift, aftermarket shocks, on lpg, dual batteries, roof racks set up for our canoe and fishing rods, oil pressure gauge fitted, extra spare wheel, and extra spares (plugs, radiator hoses, serpentine belt, etc. that one carries when outback). So chances are if I upgrade to another vehicle I am going to have to go through that process and expense again!
• I have maintained the Disco well, so although extra issues may (and always do) ‘crop up’ I am confident the old girl is in pretty reliable condition. My tyres are good, 2 of them are new. I have a new centre muffler. I have just replaced the brake pads and cleaned the brake pistons. I have just replaced the tie rod ends. (I did this myself and it was easy enough, although I did have to purchase a $30 fork splitter to do the job. Beats what a mechanic may have charged!? Must also add my old tie rod ends were OK but I just had a couple with split rubbers, so I replaced them with ones with grease nipples…..preventative maintenance!). Purchase another vehicle and chances are I may be purchasing someone else’s problems, unless I buy new or one with a decent warranty? Hey, even new ones can have problems, and there is something to be said about purchasing a vehicle that is a few years old and has had ‘all the bugs ironed out’!?
• I am fortunate enough to be able to undertake most mechanical and maintenance repairs myself. And with a D1 at least there are still a number of things I can do with confidence, i.e. the vehicle is not that full of electronic wizardry that I am rendered ‘incompetent’. So in my case feeling confident that I can get myself out of trouble in most circumstances was a deciding factor in me sticking with the old girl for a few more years. ‘Better the devil you know…?’

Plus my decision to hold onto the D1 is helped by having a later model Falcon XR6 sedan as my daily drive.

In your case, I guess it is a case of such things as;

• What are your upgrade options and how much can you spend?
• How important is air conditioning and central locking to you? You can spend big dollars on air conditioning, depending on what is wrong with it. Personally I hardly ever use it. How did the world survived without air conditioning in vehicles prior to the past 2-3 decades? Well they/we did! Must admit it is nice on the occasions when I do need it! J
• Do you have another daily drive vehicle?
• How much do you love the D1?

Hmmm!....I’m not sure this helps, but I look forward to your decision.

My initial thoughts….if this is your only vehicle then maybe it is time to upgrade (but to what?). If the D1 tdi can fill a position of holiday/bush-bashing vehicle and you are confident it is in reasonable condition, then hold onto it. Maybe the answer is to purchase a daily drive vehicle and keep the D1 as your project car? J

Cheers,

adDisco

Life is too short to drive a vehicle you don't like, I would maintain and keep it, as long as its safety isn't compromised you could do a whole lot worse than a simple reliable 300tdi d1 :-)

Jc

Originally Posted by Bushy049

Looking for some input from some longer term d1 owners. After 5 years of fairly faithful ownership of our d1 tdi got to that age and km 230 000 were you start to have a few of those age maintenance issues for a country car. Recently replaced the alternator, water pump, belts hoses. The tie rod ends need doing, rotors are getting average a few oil leaks that need looking into, it getting new uni joints next week. The aircon is stuffed and the central locking is intermittent. It s been a great truck dragging the family camping , daily driver , trips to the big smoke and every winter dragging tons of wood out of the Forrest. Should I persist and get through this stage that all vehicle this age go through in the hope of a few more good years. Or just cut my losses and sell it for the few nobbles of goat poo I'll get for it. It's got all the accessories I want in a vehicle I like driving it and it's great off road. What's your thoughts people persist or get out?????

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hi bushy,
i have 10 years on my 95 tdi manwell disco, 400,000 km and everything still works. just bought a 96 auto tdi with 200,000 km...keeping manwell for parts and slowly swapping best bits to newer car...
just can't bring myself to upgrade to later computer driven vehicle. love the 300 tdi.

hope this helps?
robbo

Nan & I have a couple of V8 Discos and recently (this week) bought a 97 TDi. It has 418Km on the clock and has had the common TDi work (head, etc.) done and documented over the last couple of years. I put it through an RWC yesterday and all it needed was a A frame ball joint.

As JC said, if you like the car, keep it. You will probably spend a lot me replacing it than you would maintaining the one you own AND know.

Originally Posted by adDisco

Hi,

I’m a 6 ½ year D1 owner, having purchased the Disco early 08 as a ‘heading bush’ vehicle towing a camper trailer, all be it a V8 rather than a tdi. What you ask is the same dilemma I faced over the past year, i.e. do I sell it for ‘peanuts’ or hold on to the old girl? Here’s the way I figure it;

• Like you I have the vehicle set up as I want it. In my case 2 inch lift, aftermarket shocks, on lpg, dual batteries, roof racks set up for our canoe and fishing rods, oil pressure gauge fitted, extra spare wheel, and extra spares (plugs, radiator hoses, serpentine belt, etc. that one carries when outback). So chances are if I upgrade to another vehicle I am going to have to go through that process and expense again!
• I have maintained the Disco well, so although extra issues may (and always do) ‘crop up’ I am confident the old girl is in pretty reliable condition. My tyres are good, 2 of them are new. I have a new centre muffler. I have just replaced the brake pads and cleaned the brake pistons. I have just replaced the tie rod ends. (I did this myself and it was easy enough, although I did have to purchase a $30 fork splitter to do the job. Beats what a mechanic may have charged!? Must also add my old tie rod ends were OK but I just had a couple with split rubbers, so I replaced them with ones with grease nipples…..preventative maintenance!). Purchase another vehicle and chances are I may be purchasing someone else’s problems, unless I buy new or one with a decent warranty? Hey, even new ones can have problems, and there is something to be said about purchasing a vehicle that is a few years old and has had ‘all the bugs ironed out’!?
• I am fortunate enough to be able to undertake most mechanical and maintenance repairs myself. And with a D1 at least there are still a number of things I can do with confidence, i.e. the vehicle is not that full of electronic wizardry that I am rendered ‘incompetent’. So in my case feeling confident that I can get myself out of trouble in most circumstances was a deciding factor in me sticking with the old girl for a few more years. ‘Better the devil you know…?’

Plus my decision to hold onto the D1 is helped by having a later model Falcon XR6 sedan as my daily drive.

In your case, I guess it is a case of such things as;

• What are your upgrade options and how much can you spend?
• How important is air conditioning and central locking to you? You can spend big dollars on air conditioning, depending on what is wrong with it. Personally I hardly ever use it. How did the world survived without air conditioning in vehicles prior to the past 2-3 decades? Well they/we did! Must admit it is nice on the occasions when I do need it! J
• Do you have another daily drive vehicle?
• How much do you love the D1?

Hmmm!....I’m not sure this helps, but I look forward to your decision.

My initial thoughts….if this is your only vehicle then maybe it is time to upgrade (but to what?). If the D1 tdi can fill a position of holiday/bush-bashing vehicle and you are confident it is in reasonable condition, then hold onto it. Maybe the answer is to purchase a daily drive vehicle and keep the D1 as your project car? J

Cheers,

adDisco

Thanks for the thoughts guys addisco has summed up my thoughts , perfectly and I feel I'm in a very similar situation to you a year ago. And getting a second car for the missus is were I come back too. The D1 still Has plenty of things going for it. I have a company 4wd for work with very limited personal use but this pretty much extends to ducking past the shops on the way home. So with that in mind the D1 going to do limited kms and should nt cost too much to keep. I'm reassured at the km on some of the discos on the forum. As somone said life's too short. Thanks for the support. Since posting this morning iv give it wash, new break pads and put a couple of new tires on the front. I took it for a test run and people are right I could do a lot worse. Well the D1 s packed and I'm off to busselton for the weekend

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If the TDi is all you need, then I am another one for ongoing maintenance and keeping it. That's what I have been doing with mine. Can't envisage selling my D1 300 Tdi for a long while as it's perfect for my requirements. Besides which, you don't know what problems you may inherit in a 'newer' 2nd hand car.

230 000 is low kms for this vehicle. Can't imagine getting rid of my TDI. Have had it for 200 000km, now up to 430, had a few issues but its all low tech and easily fixed. I'm constantly replacing parts as they wear and keeping it fresh, not waiting till everything needs fixing at once. I use it for work, day to day use and for touring, best all-round vehicle I have had and not getting rid of it.