are disco's that bad???????

I've had my 300tdi now for 3 years and now major problems other than routine serviceing etc. Its now done 120k and would not swap it for the world

hughesy said:

What is recycled chip oil if it isn't veg oil??

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it's recycled into bio-diesel, which is NOT the same as veg oil off the shelves of Tescos (or Waitrose if you've got a Range Rover, I suppose). See the very many threads around this site for more! Most things will run on bio-diesel, but it can damage pump seals (see recent Top Gear - the 24 hour race one) so it may be good to dilute it. Common rail engines shouldn't be run on Tesco's cheapest because, they say, the tolerances are too fine and it gums things up. It's not WHETHER it will run, it's how long it will go on for and what it will cost. See the url I gave earlier for more details. Whichever, don't forget to change your fuel filter after a few hundred miles as both the above clean the muck out of your system.

PASTMASTER said:

Most things will run on bio-diesel, but it can damage pump seals (see recent Top Gear - the 24 hour race one) so it may be good to dilute it.

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that's a bit miss-leading as they'd added some rocket fuel to the mix in order to boost the rating

Sean said:

that's a bit miss-leading as they'd added some rocket fuel to the mix in order to boost the rating

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Ah - I missed the beginning of the show. They were talking about ethanol, which IS added to bio-diesel, but presumably in lower quantities than they were using. Sorry to mislead. Even so the advice of the man who makes my biodiesel supply is not to go above 50% in my car ('99 TD5). He has customers experimenting with 100% on various vehicles, but there doesn't seem to be any definite long-term evidence yet. The bottom line is still, in my opinion, biodiesel good, ordinary veg oil also good, but NOT for common rail engines. If I had a rusting sherpa worth fifty quid I'd be straight down to Tesco's! But their cooking oil is not going in my just-rebuilt engine.

I have 97 300tdi, no problems - bar occasional flat battery ( never tracked down why???) but great car and if round here anything to go by ( mid Wales) japs have a long way to go before they replace the Land Rover, as the jap trucks struggle with the local mud

I live in Spain and purposely bought a Disco 1 for it's simplicity. Out here you can drive for 20 minutes out to the campo and park for a weekend and not see another soul! With this old girl you throw away the battery, alternator, starter undo the fuel stop and with a quick push off it will go. Try and do that with Jap machine that relies on half of the computing power of a nuclear sub just to start up!

I tell no lies you will have to 'fettle' it every now and then but it depends on your way of thinking, if you do not mind topping up the transfer box once every three months or so and greasing the props whilst your under there then get a Disco.

Less is more when it's the difference in getting home or not, mine starts everyday without fail, will sit on the motorway at 120 kph for two or three hours and then find itself halfway up a mountain in thick snow. 45 minutes later it will be on the beach (and I mean 'on the beach').

I love it to death and incidently as its quite old it has to be MOT'd every SIX months and has yet to fail!

regards

Dave