Thread: Excited but nervous

Pay special attention if it's an auto, to the transmission - their typical life expectancy is anywhere from 250 - 350 K Km so you're right near the possible end of life, especially if it's been used for heavy towing.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by Southern Cross

Tomorrow I'm going to inspect a Disco 2 td5 with 280000 kms. It looks extremely clean and the ad. of course reads well. I have fairly good mechanical skills tho Land Rover is totally new to me. I'm not sure if I can get it inspected by a mechanic time wise, tho I'll want to see it's service history.
Reading thru this site it seems 400,000kms and still going strong, is easily achievable with good service history.
I hope it's a good one and I don't miss any problems.

Best of luck. I am in the same situation, looking at D2a's. Don't be disheartened if it turns out to be a nail and be prepared to walk away as there are many many more out there, especially with less KM's. Don't rush or you may be stuck with a lemon that leaves a sour taste for the brand.

There are turds rolled up in glitter out there, I've come across a few already They've depreciated so much in a short time that some people are frantic to get whatever they can.

Most of the vehicles I have looked at have service history. Only 1 so far has had detailed notes from the agent and these are what you want. You should know if a head gasket has been changed, the oil pump bolt locktited, the hardness replaced etc... if they haven't then you're probably in for it yourself.

Absolutely get a mechanical pre purchase inspection. If you have never been around landy's too much you really have no idea what to pay attention too. At worst it will save you from buying into a problem car and at best it will give you a legitimate reason to bargain with the seller over things. It will save you money either way.

I am sure you have read up on all the common problems for these cars so just check what you can when you look at it.

Yes, apparently the motors are good for 400 thousand plus BUT it relies HEAVILY on everything from previous owners habbits, service history and agent even the build date matters (or does not matter in some cases). There were quite a few recalls, service notices etc for these vehicles.

If the owner is not prepared to let you have a LR experienced mechanic look over the vehicle walk away.

Good luck with that one mate, an experienced mechanic is the key.
Yes sure some last for up to 450,000kms, but some like mine has just had a total rebulld at 293,00Kms,with recessed valves,broken ring and 4 injectors that were shot, she was well over due.
Do your research on common faults and see if they have been rectified as stated,and even a comp test if you can.If it has no snorkel its fair to say that the motor has probably seen some dust if its been off-road

cheers
Bronson

Southern Cross, how did you go??

I think it's all ok. Yesterday I typed up a fairly lengthy report detailing the inspection at the sellers home and then later my home but when I clicked "send" I got timed out. :angry
I'm very pleased as it is very tight all thru and does not have a single scratch to the underside. Everything works as it should except the drivers window has a bent, therefore inoperative bottom rail. Blows no smoke at all starts first turnover, auto works well brakes all good and pulls up in a straight line.
I have given it a pressure clean at home and will give it another two cleans to the underside as I will later remove both sumps and I'll change all fluids.
The shocks are not good but so far the rest of the truck looks good. I'll do all my own servicing.

Just to add, and not lose my post by being timed out again.
I did the inspection myself which took two hours including a 25 min test run. The service book had two gaps, one was 50000 kms, the other was 30000. This made me cautious and I inspected it in great detail. I note here that I have always maintained my cars and motorcycles since 1968. The fluids look clean and this is always a priority for me. Air filter not new but good and the external oil filter looked newish, reasonably clean.
It also needs two new tyres before it goes for rego end of Jan.2015.
All the lights lit up then extinguished on start-up.
So I think it's a good one for its age the paint and panels not perfect but still looks good, very good really. It's white in colour so easy for me to touch up when I have the time but the small scratches don't overly concerned me.
I have looked at the maintenance tutorials on u tube and on this site and I'm surprised just how easy this Disco is to work on. I intend for this Disco to pull an 18 ft. caravan. I hope it can do the job without too much of a problem.
I do enjoy to tinker.
Cheers and hope you also get a good one too.

Im not that good on car electrics but manage to get by with a lot of head scratching. I spent another few hours getting to know my new to me TD5 auto ,2001
I have the typical oil leak, that has two drips hanging on bolts on the bottom of the bell housing. The underside has a lovely fine covering of oil ( looks mostly old) which Im guessing is Land Rovers method of rust protection.
I have found a few vacant electrical sockets and Im hoping the font of knowledge here can tell me just what they are.
Under the drivers seat there are two sockets: a) a small black socket with red and a black wires. A second 4 pin socket with a black and a brown wire plus a Br/Or and a Bl/ lilac tracer.

b) Under drivers dash: A large built in socket similar to that on a PC. Is this for diagnostics? Also a brown socket just showing on the drivers side kick panel. A 3 pin socket Brown and black plus a Gr/W tracer.
Under bonnet: Between the ABS pump and the guard .A Purple and a black wire plus Red/Wt and Br/y tracer.

Of concern are a pair of wires a yellow and a black that connects somewhere under the turbo, crosses the top of the bell housing and disappears somewhere behind the RHS rear of the engine. These two wires, as with every other part of the under bonnet looms, have the protective shields disintegrating. As a result they must be one micron away from being chafed right thru as they cross the top of the bell housing and shorting out something, but what? Ill have to cover most of the loom tails as they will short out soon. Rubbish cheap shields.
Last, there are two sockets under the bonnet one each side of that "tray" below the windscreen. Cant remember the wire colours.
Can anyone help with these questions?
Many thanks
Brian

Hi Brian. Don't know if anyone has suggested it yet, but if you look at the top of the forum page, there's a link marked "Shop" - follow that and look for the RAVE disk that covers your model. The few bucks it costs goes back into the forum funds (thanks Incisor/Dave). The disk has all you need for home maintenance of your Disco, and more. It includes wiring diagrams, etc etc.
Oh yeah. Whilst you're there, you might want to look at some stickers, and other necessary oddments for your Landrover fetish. Even if you haven't been diagnosed with it yet, you've probably already been infected

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