Thread: Things you don't want to hear from a Landrover 'mechanic'

Unless it has Zeuss timing gears (run away if it does - they were worse than a belt), then it has a belt.

If so - either run away as fast as possible, or try to get the cost of the full timing upgrade kit and a belt off the price (about $3k IRC).

Belt should have been changed at 70k and again at 140k - would be very thin if it has one...

Originally Posted by footprint

Long time since i've posted.....

Just spoke to a mechanic in NSW who has been in charge of servicing a 98 Disco Tdi i am possibly looking to buy. When asked about whether it has had the timing belt done recently, he said "it doesn't have a timing belt"....

The current (second) owner who i had spoken to just prior said this place has been servicing it since they took ownership with 58k on the clock. It now has 149k.

Am i way off my info here or does this mechanic know something i don't.

Also, if anyone knows how to post a word doc on here so everyone can look at it, then that would be most beneficial. Have some Disco info to share.

Big Cheers

Well unless it has Zeus timing gears in it...........and if it did you would want to remove them as well and replace it with the belt.

Dunno about a word doc, you could scan it and save it as a jpeg, or if you have adobe you can convert it to a pdf.

If you can't do either - send me a pm with your email address and I'll respond - you can then send it to me - I'll convert it for you and send it back. Hows that.

Don't know how to post a Word doc, but cut and paste the text should be easy

Or attach as a file using the advanced features "Go Advanced"!?

Don't own one, but AFAIK you're right, he's wrong. That's why there are (dud) gear-driven replacements...

EDIT: - yeah, what the smart people said

Originally Posted by footprint

Long time since i've posted.....

Just spoke to a mechanic in NSW who has been in charge of servicing a 98 Disco Tdi i am possibly looking to buy. When asked about whether it has had the timing belt done recently, he said "it doesn't have a timing belt"....

The current (second) owner who i had spoken to just prior said this place has been servicing it since they took ownership with 58k on the clock. It now has 149k.

Am i way off my info here or does this mechanic know something i don't.

Also, if anyone knows how to post a word doc on here so everyone can look at it, then that would be most beneficial. Have some Disco info to share.

Big Cheers

They do have a belt. I think some people call it a cam belt. The Td5 has a timing chain. The mechanic might have been confused or did not know what he was talking about.

About the word document, I don't know any way other than cut and paste, or if you have a home page you could put it there and post a link.

Admin will know more info. Maybe they could place it in the files section on this site.

Thanks Ben.

Sounds like i should probably steer clear from this one then. Very good price but if the bloke who is in charge of the servicing doesn't know what he is on about, then it would be risky. I was pretty sure i knew the major risks with these Disco's but his comment knocked me for six.

This particular beast has also been used as a tow vehicle for a horse float...

Another question, if a head gasket has been blown on a tdi, is the only way to be minimise future risks is to get the whole head done i.e new head as the alloy one cannot be shaved back into line??

Both cars i am looking at have apparently done head gaskets in the past....both apparently have had their heads done.

If the job is fixed properly, should it be a big concern going forward??

Thanks in advance.

PS I'll try and attach a list i compiled a while ago about all the things i found out about series one disco's

Ladas, Scrambler and BarryJ...you're too quick for me. Thanks for the replies.

I'll try and attach the doc in a new post...it's a fair few pages long.

have'nt seen that model landcruiser before

Originally Posted by footprint

Long time since i've posted.....

Just spoke to a mechanic in NSW who has been in charge of servicing a 98 Disco Tdi i am possibly looking to buy. When asked about whether it has had the timing belt done recently, he said "it doesn't have a timing belt"....

The current (second) owner who i had spoken to just prior said this place has been servicing it since they took ownership with 58k on the clock. It now has 149k.

Am i way off my info here or does this mechanic know something i don't.

Also, if anyone knows how to post a word doc on here so everyone can look at it, then that would be most beneficial. Have some Disco info to share.

Big Cheers

Footprint, I found this in the FAQ section on this site;

The administrator may allow you to use the attachment feature of this forum, which gives you the ability to attach files of certain types to your posts. This could be an image, a text document, a zip file etc. There will be a limit to the file size of any attachments you make.
To attach a file to a new post, simply click the [Manage Attachments] button at the bottom of the post composition page, and locate the file that you want to attach from your local hard drive.
After posting, the image attachments may display a thumbnail, depending on the forum settings. To view the contents of the attachment (if it is not already displayed) simply click the filename link that appears next to the attachment icon.


Hope this helps.