'95 Tdi Disco opinions/buying/towing...

Regarding the comments on the gearboxes, there was a problem with the early 300tdi's ('94+) but I don't think it effected the 200tdi's ('94-) where there was not enough oil getting into the transfer and the mainshaft splines would wear prematurely.

A sure sign of this gearbox problem was a clunk from the gearbox when you accelerated.

I believe this problem was rectified by LandRover themselves in '96 but most of the 300tdi's pre-96 have either been fixed or never had the issue in the first place.

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Originally Posted by loanrangie

You must be kidding, an auto tdi will beat a manual any day, i'm still suprised how well mine does against angry morning traffic and it ****s all over my mates 05 playdo td.

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Well sorry there must be something wrong with mine becasue its a slug towing (even when not towing) a small 6x4 off road camper trailer, ok when at cruseing speed but getting there is a very painful thing......:eek: mind you we have some bloody big hills out in the sticks :p

Dont get me wrong I love our Disco but I would hate to tow anything Like a car trailer , maybe its just getting tried at 265,000km......and as there are no club members out this way I can compair note's and talk too about such issue's :cry: :wallbash:

Also Im driving our new Rodeo man 3L Diesel crew cab around alot now, so when Im allowed to drive the Disco (wife like it more than I do) Im very disapointed.:unsure: but I must Love it becasue I put up with Loads & loads of :toilet: from all the bloody Nissan drivers out here......:ohyes::bat:

Maybe if I come down for that Hard Lid we could have a get together so sombody can take it for a drive and see what they think......:angel:;)

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Originally Posted by amshaw

Dont get me wrong I love our Disco but I would hate to tow anything Like a car trailer , maybe its just getting tried at 265,000km......

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towed several with mine and while it was no speed daemon it performed very very well and had little problems towing at 80+kph even with a complete series ii and a few spares thrown in for good measure.

@ 265000 its just run in.....

Make no mistake I don't expect it to tow like a unloaded truck, but I definately want something that will do a better job than the old Patrol, and be nice to drive while doing it! I also plan to stick with a manual. Not sure if I'd like towing with an auto. I would consider it if they are a proven, tough auto. Don't like the idea of cooking one and ending up out of pocket and stuck somewhere!

All those other little problems aren't an issue for me, as I will rectify them no hassles.

I've got a few localish ones I'm planning on test driving, so I'll see how they go. The one I test drove I really couldn't hear it spool up at all. Can you normally hear the turbo spooling up? I did really try and give it the works to get going but as I mentioned it was no quicker than the mq and almost a worry at a busy intersection (1. it was slow, 2. well I wasn't used to it either)

That power upgrade sounds awesome. And I would expect I would have money for that sort of thing if I buy a Disco.

Thanks again for the insights!

The auto in the discos is a well proven unit, and very tough. The auto would be a more reliable option for regular towing than the manual. When using a manual the clutch is the weekest link. You dont need to worry about slipping the clutch to get past the turbo lag in the auto. An auto is by far the best option for towning. Matt

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Originally Posted by incisor

towed several with mine and while it was no speed daemon it performed very very well and had little problems towing at 80+kph even with a complete series ii and a few spares thrown in for good measure.

@ 265000 its just run in.....

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Yep no dought it will do it , but I wouldnt have time or patients to be driving around at 80km , ie if I got a car from melbourne, 4-6hr drive (depending where of course) then turn around for a drive home at 80km........not for me Im affraid, ok to Ballarat but after that its a single lane all the way home with heavy truck usage.......

G'day SevPP :)

The other choice to look at is a V8 on gas using under floor tanks, that would give you the added power and with an auto the best of two worlds, as for the 300Tdi Auto Disco and towing, I was with Incisor when he was towing that Series and parts on a heavy rental car trailer through city traffic, and the only thing that kept us down to 80 on the highway was the safety factor with Sunday Motorists:(


cheers

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Originally Posted by amshaw

Yep no dought it will do it , but I wouldnt have time or patients to be driving around at 80km , ie if I got a car from melbourne, 4-6hr drive (depending where of course) then turn around for a drive home at 80km........not for me Im affraid, ok to Ballarat but after that its a single lane all the way home with heavy truck usage.......

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you took that the wrong way or i said it wrong..

i regularly towed up to 2.5 ton at 110 kph for hours and hours on end...

and it pulled up fine as well...

long slow hill will have you back down to 80kph but apart from that no problemoes...

I have a race car that I tow with my Disco. All up car and trailer are only ~1500kg. It seems to pull it with no problems at all. I fact the first time I towed it I was very impressed.
The thing I've noticed with the Tdi is that they are slow without a load and not much worse with a load. Travelling at 100km/h while towing shoudn't be a problem, might take a while to get there though.
Mine is a manual and yes it is hard on the clutch. If you are doing lots of towing through traffic, I'd definitely reccomend an auto. I do everything I can to avoid a hill start when towing, just to save the clutch.

Overall, the Disco is great to tow with. I've towed my race car with other vehicles and the I feel much more comfortable and confident with a big load behind the Disco than in any other car.

A final point is that not all Disco Tdi's drive the same. I drove one other before I bought mine and it made lots of turbo noise (mostly waste gate) but wouldn't go. When I drove the one I now own for the first time, I expected the same. I was pleasantly surprised when it took off once the turbo spun up.

Id go a tweaked tdi300 with a pyro pushing an r380 but only cause Im biased against autos... taking off is easy with the tcase lohi shuffle...

should be more than enough for the paltry 1800kg you want to pull...

how fast it'll tow just depends on how much fuel you want to use.