Thread: Nearly bought a 2001 D2...

Just had cracked windscreen replaced on my 2000 td5. I woke up in the morning to find it had cracked sometime overnight.

The windscreen bloke rang me when the old screen was removed: rust had caused the screen to crack from the bottom drivers side upwards.
Also revealed was rusty hinges, and holes of rust around the window area, all up would have cost $1500+! So, out came the tools, filler, welder etc and done it myself in a day. Not a perfect job, but commensurate with the age and general condition of the vehicle, its my workhorse, not a show-pony.

So, that is where the water was getting in onto the drivers side floor this last year!

You will have many other expensive problems crop up with your Disco, this forum will be invaluable to you. I have kept mine on the road largely due to help from this forum, despite DIY has still cost many thousands, but also saved heaps from labour costs.

Keep the Disco, and join the long-suffering ranks of fellow LandRover tragics on this site.

Made me wonder though, just how much of the Disco body is in fact aluminium?

Originally Posted by Wasa57

Just had cracked windscreen replaced on my 2000 td5. I woke up in the morning to find it had cracked sometime overnight.

Ouch, that sucks. Do you get really cold nights? It could be water freezing. I've heard that happens in Canberra if a windscreen has a stone chip in it.

Originally Posted by Wasa57

The windscreen bloke rang me when the old screen was removed: rust had caused the screen to crack from the bottom drivers side upwards. Also revealed was rusty hinges, and holes of rust around the window area, all up would have cost $1500+! So, out came the tools, filler, welder etc and done it myself in a day.

Seems to be the thing, everyone is rather good with their hands. I'm a total failure, I don't even think I have a full set of tools in the shed, just a mish mash of odd items.

Originally Posted by Wasa57

Not a perfect job, but commensurate with the age and general condition of the vehicle, its my workhorse, not a show-pony.

It's better than anything I could do! Well done.

Originally Posted by Wasa57

You will have many other expensive problems crop up with your Disco, this forum will be invaluable to you. I have kept mine on the road largely due to help from this forum, despite DIY has still cost many thousands, but also saved heaps from labour costs.

I'm getting a real sense of this now. Which to be honest I'm not sure how to take it. I was really just looking for a 4wd that would get me to the Brindabellas ( out the back of Canberra ) for weekend camping. I can see I'm either going to be rather broke, or I learn more about mechanics than I ever thought.

Which reminds me of someones signature block on this form "Land Drover teaching drivers to be better mechanics", or something like that.

Originally Posted by Wasa57

Keep the Disco, and join the long-suffering ranks of fellow LandRover tragics on this site.

Seems to be the case.. I'll do just that. I'm also going to take myself off to the ACT LRO club next month.

I have to say I think the D2 is a rather cool truck, but having gone out on my maiden voyage yesterday only to overheat ( cooling system has some issues clearly ) I was really depressed with my purchase.

I guess nothing that spending money on won't remedy.

Originally Posted by Wasa57

Made me wonder though, just how much of the Disco body is in fact aluminium?

I think I read somewhere it's the roof and from reading through various threads on engine issues/rebuilds, it's also the head.

Not quite what I thought.. I thought the big thing with LR's is their aluminum bodies.

Originally Posted by winaje

Good work. I'd suggest your first purchase is a workshop manual, assuming that you have mechanical skills. You'll find that a lot of the work that needs to be done can be handled with reading and time taken.

Have a look at http://www.aulro.com/afvb/good-oil/ for lots of info

Thanks winaje, I have no mechanical skills, but I do have the RAVE CD/DVD and a workshop manual.

I've already had a problem show up, the truck over heated, well, not quite, temp went through to nearly red, I pulled over let it cool and drove back to Bredbo and had a drink at the pub I've always driven past and wondered what it was like.

Sigh.

So once it cooled down I put nearly 5.5 litres of water in it to get me home.

I doubt much of it is left, but it stayed cool according to the temp gauge.

The only place I see where the coolant is coming out is through the plastic tank.

I'm going to call Capital Motor Works ( the one in Mitchell ), which most people have indicated is a good workshop to take it to.

I also spoke to a guy in Woden who knows about Land Drovers too..

I'm not too upset, I was speaking to a guy who bought a 1995 LandCruiser and he said it had nothing but problems...

I'd suggest Canberra Motor Works, in Mitchell. Used them a few years ago and found them very knowledgeable and fair priced

Originally Posted by winaje

I'd suggest Canberra Motor Works, in Mitchell. Used them a few years ago and found them very knowledgeable and fair priced

Thanks Will. That's who I meant.

Hi again, Plaven

Don't want to sound like the Discovery-Harbinger-of-Doom, but I hope the overheating is not from a problem with the cylinder head.

Mine cost about 4.5 G's with head repairs, and associated cooling system parts renewed, including the radiator. This was at about 220,000Km in my td5, now at 280,000 with no further coolant-loss problems. (Hope I haven't cursed myself by mentioning it!) It was one of the few jobs I baulked at doing myself.

Despite the costs, my Discovery does everything I ask of it both on and off road, and is easily the most versatile and comfortable 4WD, amongst many, I have owned. Also fuel economy is excellent, which goes some way to make up for exhorbitant maintainance and repair costs.

Originally Posted by Wasa57

Hi again, Plaven

Don't want to sound like the Discovery-Harbinger-of-Doom, but I hope the overheating is not from a problem with the cylinder head.

Me too.

I bought it knowing that there maybe some additional costs. It's a case of seeing what they are.

I'm waiting for the LR shop to open again in August to get it in and checked over.

Disco 2's are very rust resistant when hosed down and cleaned properly post beach. I have seen a number of Disco 2 though in the last year when helping a mate look for one that had rust in the chassis and one was perforated right through such almost top to bottom in one area that it was downright dangerous.

Cheers