Thread: High km V8 Discos

Read my Post "Disco engine meltdown". l dont think it matters if its high milage or not, you will have to rebuild the thing. Buy a Hi lux, or go on a round the world trip, or put a deposit on a house, what ever you do Dont buy a Land Rover! Ben.

Ben, you are correct that you really should have some mechanical knowledge if you have an older Rover.
Your problem is unfortunate and pretty unusual .
I note that a major issue is that you have been quoted $4000 to fix it!! I assume that it is out of warranty and that you have had a dealer quote.
first , have you gone to Land Rover to seek "policy" on this?

Second, if you are handy with tools, the Rover V8 is one of the easiest engines to work on that there is.

If you could do the labour yourself it would probably cost you about $1000- 1500.
for gaskets say $150, 2xhead reco say $400, new rocker $30, new cam followers say $80, new camshaft $350 , cam chain $150. Unforeseen items eg pushrods, rocker shaft the rest.
I think a specialist should also be cheaper than $4000. I reckon about 20 hours max at $75 equals $1500. Unfortunately its probably not possible to use any second hand bits.
Although Toyotas are very reliable, when they do go wrong they are expensive.
I think an old Rangie/Disco would be one of the cheapest cars to keep on the road ,as the parts are available,and non genuine parts are cheap.

The way to keep a 200K plus on the road is to buy second hand bits to replace the tired ones.
Regards Philip A

buy a hilux?

i think you need to vist a toyota forum..... they have their fair share of problems..

all brands have problems with some models, from time to time.

80 series turbo diesel toyotas, 3.0l tdi nissans, petrol landcruisers and their cracked heads, toyota front diffs, toyota 100 series IFS woes, rodeos and vanishing engine oil.... the list goes on... happens to the best of them.....

Well I have decided on the type of vehicle I want it is just the particular vehicle that I will buy that is in question.

I am quite handy with the tools and will give anything a go.

If the engine did die I would like to put a 4.6 in instead too.

As for buying a Toyota I think some people need some perspective. The closest vehicles in terms of capability in my mind would be a Nissan Patrol or 80 series. Now hands up who thinks you would get a pretty decent Patrol or 80 series in good nick for under $10k after all necessary repairs have been done? :roll:

I also don't want anything the size of a Patrol or 80 series and comfort levels of the Disco are far higher IMHO.

So getting back on topic, am I asking for expensive trouble by buying a high km Disco?

You can rebuild a V8 for the price of a 300 TDI injector pump.

Get a compression test done on it, check out as much history about the Discovery as you can and like buying any second hand car you take your best educated chance :wink:

Sorry, you got Hijacked there by Ben.
I reckon the highest risk is the ZF auto transmission. They are about 3K-4K to reco and they last about 250-300K. If you got one with a reco trans it would be a bonus. Manuals had lots of problems about then but at 200K it would have been fiixed. Diffs go forever.
Motors can run over 400K., with a few headgaskets etc on the way.
Other than that the usual electrical suspects like alternators, starters , power window motors, all of which are painful but not ruinous.

Parts are cheap vs Japs, and there is a thriving specialist scene, with local aternatives for lucas crap etc.
Regards Philip A

Originally posted by NOZ
You can rebuild a V8 for the price of a 300 TDI injector pump.

:

when I researched the possible costs of disco ownership a few months ago I'm sure I heard that you could import a new fuel pump from Paddocks for about 500 pounds therefore $1500 or so Aussie dollars would be the worst case outcome and youd have a brand new pump..or am I missing something??

I have only looked into a pump for the UK a little bit, but from what I have discovered it cost closer to $2500 including import duty.

If you know of the place for around $1500 I would be keen to know