2007 Discovery 3 XS Trials and Tribulations

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LUKBENPHI

LUKBENPHI

Well-Known Member
Posts
2,150
Location
Peak District
Right so here we are with a project thread for my newly acquired Disco 3 XS Auto on the advice of @gstuart

It won't be having many ways of mods and she's been run on a tight budget which will mostly be allocated to maintenance so will be more of a blog of the comings and goings as we start our time together

IMG_3595_LI.jpg


91 k on the clocks pretty much every receipt from the second and third owners, ( 1st was a dealer and it was their demo car) and so far were all good bar the lack of receipt for the all important oil pump :( so currently she's sat as she is in the photo awaiting funds to be able to book in for the front and rear belts along with the oil pump replacement which isn't helped by the company I work for pushing back our pay date from the 15th to the 28th of the month so this months disco funds will mostly involve keeping food on the table! :mad:

Happy I ain't but moving on...


She's had the compressor changed, handbrake module shoes etc, front bearings etc etc so as far as I can tell all the important stuff has been done, I'm sure I'll find something that needs doing but for now I think once shes had pump done we should be ok for a while

Condition wise there is a very slight amount of rust creeping on the bottom of the rear arches on the passenger side but having been underneath with a torch the sill is intact and I cant see any undue crap built up behind the shields but I will be taking them off to have a proper look and waxoil/dinitrol at a later date.

Anyhoo more updates to follow as and when
 
Nice one mate , looks really nice

one of the basic mods I done was change the interior bulbs for led ones, made a lot of difference , as a side note u can turn them off by holding the middle button on the front overhead lamp for 4-5 seconds and will come up on the display that you’ve turned them off, as if u leave a door open for ages it will flatten the battery

If u want any links for owners / workshop manuals plse give me a shout and will send them over to u
 
Nice looking disco. Good to see LR carried on the disco tradition building in rust traps though.
 
gstuart said:
Nice one mate , looks really nice

one of the basic mods I done was change the interior bulbs for led ones, made a lot of difference , as a side note u can turn them off by holding the middle button on the front overhead lamp for 4-5 seconds and will come up on the display that you’ve turned them off, as if u leave a door open for ages it will flatten the battery

If u want any links for owners / workshop manuals plse give me a shout and will send them over to u
Click to expand...

Thanks mate, much appreciated on the offer

Knappster said:
Nice looking disco. Good to see LR carried on the disco tradition building in rust traps though.
Click to expand...

wouldn't be a landy if it wasn't!
 
started her last night just to keep the battery topped up and had her running for 5 mins, transmission fault and specials settings not available flashed up so its obvious the batter is slightly lower than it wants to be, but went out after 20 seconds or so

it was recovered into its former owners place of work for a new alternator not long ago and when asked the battery was just charged up so that may want replacing soon, might stick it on a trickle charger to keep it topped up while i wait to use it
 
First proper run to work this morning in the disco over 45 miles, uneventful really averaging 25.7 on first go and thats with using command shift to force it into 6th instead of 5th on the flatter bits , will see what the return journey shows up

things I've noted

1) the driver's seat would be a bit better if it went back an inch or two more and had a longer squab
2) it wants its tracking doing as pulls to the left slightly
3) sits nicely at 70 with the cruise on
 
105,000 mile service booked in at Infield 4x4 next week including cambelt x2 oil pump and all filters and oils in diffs, boxes etc quote comes in at £901

Not bad deal really considering cambelt x2 and pool pump is £816 for the lot so I'm getting a full service for it £85
 
first little issues have reared their head with the new acquisition

firstly "special functions not available" appeaked on the screen this morning when starting it,only for a split second before disappearing and it was a bit lazy turning over so suspect its down to low battery charge as the alternator was replaced a few months ago but the battery wasn't "only charged up " was the line from previous owner so he shall be know from now on as half a job Bob... :rolleyes:

@gstuart any recommendations on battery requirements ?

Secondly, introduced the mrs to a bit of green laning :D

low range, hdc on mud and ruts mode and the suspension at full height and it copped admirably on the lane

Nice b.o.a.t, light blue are the bits of broken tarmac stones and rock red bits is full on ruts with standing water should of walked the route first really and won't be going that way again till it drys out a fair bit

Untitled.png


Long and short of it with the suspension at full height there was a bit of a knocking noise from the rear, doesn't happen in low or normal but will get it looked at all the same


In other less expensive news pumping the tyre pressures up to 33 front (found them at 28!) 42 rear ( kids buggies etc in the boot and god knows what other crap I seem to haul about with me, The mpg has risen to a more respectable 28.8 mpg on the dash lie-o-meter this morning

sadly @freelance still it pulls to the left so that wants sorting
 
Hiya

Personally just bought one from halfords , the yuasa 019 900Cca 90 Ah , can also have the alternator tested at the same time, if u do fit that one, check the small charge window on top of the battery is green

Plse also have a quick look on what make of alternator was fitted

Indeed have a look at the rear wishbones / Arbs , could just be the harmonic weights by the back bumper

May i ask , what did u think of it off roading in comparison to other landies you’ve driven plse

that’s a good price and will be good to get that oil pump cover replaced

hope that helps mate
 
Almost forgot what volt readings u should have

12.6-12.8 Vdc standing
Around 14.5Vdc with engine running with everything turned on @2,000 revs

also the small cig lighter plug in volt meters are very good, so u can see straight away then what ur volts are

I fitted a set of gauges on mine , also the Aux socket which I tried to blend it in as much as possible, the centre gauge is the inside cabin temperature

A7A3FD18-1EF7-4A65-8C05-BF8C5359A440.jpeg
 
This was the first cig lighter plug in I got before installing panel, shows volts and inside cabin temperature

plus the D4 steering wheel mod, inc the D4 stalks

BA462A98-DCDC-4DFF-B367-05A276999CEC.jpeg
5B5444E4-01FF-4D24-A753-909ABAED03D1.jpeg
 
johnlad said:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/191792348430
ive just bought one of these batteries for my D3, good price and appears a good product
Click to expand...

please don’t throw anything at me, lol, bought an exide 3 x years ago and was one of the worse batteries I ever bought , just replaced it with the yuasa

hopefully they’ve improved the exide, the yuasa is a 019 whilst the exide is a 017

this time I made sure I bought it from a local shop so that if anything went wrong would be a lot less hassle of getting it changed
 
gstuart said:
please don’t throw anything at me, lol, bought an exide 3 x years ago and was one of the worse batteries I ever bought , just replaced it with the yuasa


hopefully they’ve improved the exide, the yuasa is a 019 whilst the exide is a 017

this time I made sure I bought it from a local shop so that if anything went wrong would be a lot less hassle of getting it changed
Click to expand...
I checked the reviews prior to purchase and all were positive unlike the ones from Halfords where some people have been sold batteries that weren’t charged.
At the end of the day, it has a four year warranty so shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
 
gstuart said:
Hiya

Personally just bought one from halfords , the yuasa 019 900Cca 90 Ah , can also have the alternator tested at the same time, if u do fit that one, check the small charge window on top of the battery is green

Plse also have a quick look on what make of alternator was fitted

Indeed have a look at the rear wishbones / Arbs , could just be the harmonic weights by the back bumper

May i ask , what did u think of it off roading in comparison to other landies you’ve driven plse

that’s a good price and will be good to get that oil pump cover replaced

hope that helps mate
Click to expand...

Will check alternator, are there brands to avoid?

off road wise chalk and cheese is best way to describe it

my old freelander td4 wouldn't of got though the rutted section due to clearance issues however coming from a car background jump in and go no issues whatever the surface given the limits of its design and no messing about with settings low range etc

my TD5 disco, more agricultural in feel but also simpler just whack it in low range and off you go but never had full confidence in it as was running cheap chinese ditch finders so most it got exposed to was 1 rutted lane where i ****e myself incase i got stuck :rolleyes:

the disco 3...

A Faff if im honest setting it (stop, neutral, select low range start of again , ) up but it did it well once it was set up but I had read the cheat sheet on T'other forum , fitted with all terrains pirellis so no worries with thinking would i get suck on that surface even with the ruts, a sense of it was just squashes things rather than ride over them given the weight didn't feel any wider than the old td5 or freelander as fit though some narrow gates

hdc is very quick to cut in even at a snail pace but understand you can adjust that with steering wheel controls
 
New issue time, appear we may have a sticky caliper on the nsf, fine up to 60 then shakes your fillings out but doesn't do it all the time so that rules out tyre balance plus that wheels getting quite warm so will **** it with a big hammer at lunch and see how it fares better on the way home, osf has recently been replaced so no idea whey they didn't just do the pair :rolleyes:

Half a job bob strikes again :rolleyes:
 
Hiya

ref alternators the D3s should be fitted with denso , if a cheap make is fitted it can create all sorts of issues

also a quick diode test , set ur meter on AC volts , engine running , put test leads on each battery terminals, u should ideally see 0Vac or under 0.5

hope that helps
 
Will check the alt when I get 5 mins thank you for that.
£1021 later we now have a new cambelt, oil pump and 105k service and a new caliper on the nsf as the old one was seized solid!! They even washed it for me which was nice


brakes slightly spongy but that may be due to the pads resettling so will see in a day or two and if its still the same take it back for a rebleed

overall I've not been very impressed with the braking power of the disco so may look to upgrade the pads and dics at some point and may look at the v8 upgrade size discs and carriers as well
 
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