Bought another Disco.

After the utter disaster that was my purchase of an auto 300tdi that was supposed to be imaculate and in fact has a fair amount of rust as barely runs with a lot of coaxing into life :mad2: I've now gone and done the sensible option of buying another one albeit a manual this time for 1/4 of the price of the first. :crazy: We shall see if that was a sensible decision soon.

Anyway some more about her she is green.





















Ok yes I do know more than that. Its an N reg 300tdi manual and it was advertised as spares or repair due to severe rust. So I thought ok the engine might be good to get mine working so went to have a look. It was then that I realised that the "terminal rust" was a rotten boot floor and frilly arches and nothing to serious at all. The engine pulls like a train, sounds sweet and doesn't smoke and the gearbox and transmission are good from the test drive. To be honest I think the seller did herself a disfavour by advertising it as spares or repair because its perfectly driveable and has a long MOT and a fair bit of tax. As well as 5 nearly new A/T tyres.

In fact im now in two minds where to go this ones body is really not a lot worse than the Autos but I really do want the auto box so im now wandering what is the easier job. Engine from the manual into the auto or autobox into the manual car? Anyone here done either and able to shed light onto it.

anyway this is the car and i'll take some proper photos when I go to pick it up.

Landrover discovery 300tdi 5 door spares or repairs | eBay

I hope you have better luck with this one.

At last I have a disco that is actually reasonably pleasant to drive!

Ive done about 60 miles in this today since picking it up and it didn't miss a beat.

Started first time every time with no excessive cranking.

Sounds really sweet and tappets are silent even with windows down. She pulls well although I think she'll pull even better after an oil and filter change as they all look quite old.

There are a few issues but for £540 and advertised as spares or repairs I expected some. Issues are a diff that starts to whine above 50mph not severe but noticeable, im hoping changing the oil in the transfer box and axles will improve that and the gearbox is a little bit of pot luck as the lever doesn't self centre. Other than that the indicators don't self cancel and the rear interior light doesn't work.

Rust wise the boot floor needs replacement and the arches are frilly but it looks mainly cosmetic certainly its already been fixed where it could be an MOT issue. Oh and the interior is tatty.

Cars done 164k and has reams of service history and old MOTs. To be honest im feeling a little guilty about the idea of breaking it for spares as its seems to be a viable car and possibly better than the one I bought it to try and save.

Changing all the oil in diffs, boxes etc is the first thing to do with any disco as people tend to forget these and it cures lots of funny noises. The indicators not cancelling is usually the plastic ring around the binnacle has worn away, I remember looking once and struggling to find one (maybe try a breakers) you get used to cancelling them quite quickly anyhow and the gear lever not centering is down to a spring iirc. The answer to that can be found on here if you do a search for it.

Good luck with the new one.

The gear lever is an easy fix. It needs a new bias plate, about £5.00 on Fleabay, but you need a pop rivet gun to put the membrane back after changing the plate. The self cancelling is again an easy fix. There is a chappie on Ebay in Barnstaple (I think) that makes a replacement bow tie (that is what it is known as) out of aluminum for very little money and he is very helpful.

Personally I would keep the manual if at all possible as the auto needs the electronic engine control to output more power so as to offset the losses in the gearbox.

Over all the disco looks good, too good the break at least........... yet.

The problem is I am awaiting surgery on my left foot. That is why I went for an Auto in the first place. As soon as I have the opp thats me off driving manuals for 6 months.

photos as promised and as you said I think you're right it is too good to break. Im seriously considering breaking the other one now as this looks to be a much better car if less pretty on the face of things.

ust keep the manual and get mum to drive, much easier.[/quote]As its so nice today and I had ten minutes I decided to have a look with my own eyes to see just how bad the rust is and and as such pulled the boot carpet and arch carpets. To be honest who ever told the previous lady owner that the car was suffering near terminal rust should be shot! As actually the car is really quite solid and I don't forsee any issues corrosion wise getting it through the next MOT with more than about an hours work.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves but sufficet to say having realised just how good this spares car actually is im not going to break it in fact im going to break the very expensive auto car that is bodily in worse order and most definatly mechanically. The only other issues ive identified is the need for a new rocker cover gasket, some worn bushes, and a leak from the rear diff.







and some close ups of the not so good bits.



I don't for see an MOT fail there.



or here for that matter



Apart from the obvious badly done repairs on the tail edge that boot floor looks pretty solid to me and in fact far better than the one in the auto! As far as whether it would fail or not it depends how the tester interprets the manual on body mounts, personally I don't think its a fail as the manual says something along the lines of corrosion within 30cm of a body mount making the body insecure or liable to move. This body is not insecure. But I go and do those patches properly, and that is pretty much the whole extent of rust issues on the car.



She has 4 of these AT tyres all with similar tread albiet one is on the spare.



A wad of invoices for parts and work and several previous MOTs.

And the issues in the interior are a hole in the drivers seat fabric.



saggy headlining



and a curling dash.

TBH that is a very good disco, I have seen a lot worse and the rust on the rear wheel arch is approx the same as mine which has gone through two MOT's. Mind you it is lathered in Waxoyl. You have done well with that one. Why not get something disposable and automatic. I have some land in Spain and the chap in the next finca has a Micra that he uses up and down the rough roads. It seems to cope without falling apart. Most of the Spanish farmers in my area use ancient Renaults and the like on the rough tracks. Very few have 4X4's. The newest vehicle they use is the Berlingo MK 1

Yeah I think ive really fallen on my feet with this one and have come to the decision im not going to break it im going sort out the issues and use it as I think id struggle to get a better D1 than this could be with a little bit of work.

As for the auto we will see how much it takes to get that working again and run it until I can drive a manual again before selling it on. Failing that better pull my finger out and finish the DAF

That doesn't look in too bad a shape, looks like you got yourself a real bargain. The wheel arches and boot floor look like cosmetic, a good rub down and re-paint and you should be good for a bit. Good luck!

mick