Discovery II td5 Advice

Hi, I am new to the forums. I am starting to look for a 98-2000 reg Disco II with the TD5 engine. Is there anything I need to be wary of when buying. Any advice or tips are very welcome!

Thanks, Dave

Have a good read of threads on here about what to look for (basically everything :doh: )
Just keep looking until you find the best one, 1 question to ask, other than the normal service history etc. Do the sunroofs leak?

Oh forgot to say " Welcome to the Mad house!! "

A couple of things:

Check the oil level on the dipstick - if it is very high, it could be a sign of diesel in fuel - either cracked head or leaking injector seals. (obviously, the seller could avoid the evidence by draining some out...)

See if it has had the air spring to coil conversion if it originally had air springs - this may affect your insurance premium if you tell them about it (direct line tried to up my premium by £200 - uh.. NO!)

David

Thanks, Much appreciated

wheel bearing noise on test drive will hear it most when cornering (£170-£200 each + fitting) if it has ACE check for leaks and the condition of the pipes (each pipe is £70-£120 = fitting) also not real easy to check is diesel leaking around the starter/bellhousing is a leaking fuel pressure regulator (£100 + fitting)
give you a link to urban panzers web site may be of some help www.discovery2.co.uk thanks to UP

Make sure that the three lights - ABS, TC and HDC - come ON with the ignition, then go OUT and stay out when you start the engine. This fault is endemic and a bu**er to fix - ones of this age may need an updated SLABS ecu. The seller may have taken out the bulbs, so check they do come on. They are prone to cracked heads but that's hard to spot - there would be steam in the exhaust if it was very bad. You can look for leaks but tbh if it's got sunroofs they will leak. Leaking alpines may show up as water staining on the load cover. Give it a reasonable rev while driving and check there's no misfiring. If the stereo has been driven hard the back door speakers may rattle and CD auto-change (if there is one) may be jammed. Check low ratio box works. Look for off-road damage.

Wipe your finger on the inside of the back brake disks. If there is any oil present, this would likely mean a hub inner seal has failed and a new hub will be required, about £200 for the part.

Are you handy with the spanners? A TD5 will more than likely develop a catalog of niggly faults. Especially true with an older car. I have had about 10 things go wrong on mine in the 2 years I've had it. Thankfully I've been able to fix all but one myself so have saved a small fortune on repairs. Parts are suprisingly cheap usually.

Avoid main dealers like the plague! Power fold mirrors are nice and the curry hook is pretty useful

Cheers, Andy

DavidTillyer said:

Hi, I am new to the forums. I am starting to look for a 98-2000 reg Disco II with the TD5 engine. Is there anything I need to be wary of when buying. Any advice or tips are very welcome!

Thanks, Dave

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Hi Dave, to save a packet on road tax ensure the vehicle was 1st registered new before 01/03/2001. Mine was Feb 2001 by pure chance!

David, I have a 2004 TD5 Discovery Pursuit, which I've owned since July 2007. It's had one previous owner and had just 33K on the clock when I bought it and over the last 2 1/2 years, I've increased that to 62K miles.

It is an absolutely brilliant machine. It will carry all of my diving gear, tow my boat and get me through the worst winter weather that has come this year, and that's been a lot over the last month. The only problem is reliability. So far, it has let me down one time per year;

2007: Plastic air pipe to rear air suspension chauffed on chassis causing the rear air suspension to fail at around 38K miles.

2008: Starter motor failed at around 50K miles

2009: Boxing day. High pressure fuel line chauffing against electrical harness caused fuel pipe to leak, causing major diesel leak. Dealer repaired it and returned it on Jan 4th.

Now that it's been repaired, it's back to being a brilliant vehicle. Problem is, I don't know what's going to fail next, where and when. Good thing about the basic Pursuit model, is that it doesn't have a sun roof, so sun roof leakage problems aren't an issue.

Still a great vehicle though and I would recommend it for it's "get you anywhere" performance.

Hope this helps.

Ian Rolo Rover said:

Hi Dave, to save a packet on road tax ensure the vehicle was 1st registered new before 01/03/2001. Mine was Feb 2001 by pure chance!

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! too am looking for a td5, and have worked out that the pre march 2001 are cheaper to tax etc. however that huge leap to £435 was as of last year, there has been a revision, but go to dvla direct gov site and check. you need the co2 ref letter, on log books from 2001. if its WAS k or higher, (td5 yes) it WAS going to go up to £435. however, there is now an asterisk, on the 'K' column, and a footnote saying that 'k' or higher vehicles will go up to £245 ish (from memory) and that is up to 2006, when it goes up properly to 450ish. but check the site. DVA - Vehicle Licensing - Changes to Vehicle Tax from April 2010

look for the asterisk on the k band and then this line in the text:

*Band K includes cars that have a CO2 figure over 225g/km but were registered before 23 March 2006

however you are right that pre 2001 ones are cheaper at £205 per year. compared to £245 (2001- 2006) but no need to tow the muck speader to the DVLA tax office reception area yet lads.

other third party sites have some slightly misleading figures, like 'parkers' etc.
i want a 2002 ES model, not one of those facelifted 2003 ones that are tons more money, and have the oil pump issue?

p.s. what is a curry hook please. -is it something to hang your take away bag in the passenger footwell, to stop it staining your seats?

TD5 lots of issues but what car doesn't!

Seats 6 and 7 only fold down when they want to (which drives me insane!!!!), Air suspension bags developed holes and needed changing, fuel pipe rubbed on the chassis and leaked, drivers door doesn't unlock with the central locking, i've just had to get the dual mass flywheel and clutch changed and now it looks like the coolant is leaking but.....I love it!!

The combination of a Haynes manual and advice from this forum should see you right in keeping it running!

I have upgraded from a 300tdi to an early TD5 and (touching wood) everything has been 'OK'. its a 2001 version with 100K on the clock and apart from replacing the XYZ switch on the automatic gearbox, and the interior lights do not come on when opening the doors, everything is brilliant. I have bought it to tow a large twin axle caravan which will happen in the spring. I hope it bucks the trend on here which seems to be that the 300tdi is better then the TD5. Driving and noise level wise the TD5 is far superior and the turning circle is better. It does suffer from the same old problems of leaky sunroofs, clogged up EGR valves, and the fuel consumption is not as good as the 300tdi, well mine isnt. but I am still driving it in sport mode a lot of the time. The TD5 is quite a nice motor and well worth the money, and of course hassle.

Get yourself a good toolbox with lots of kit in!!!!!

Hi all,

All of the probs you have mentioned, are totally valid and ones that I have experienced and fixed!!!!!

Mine is going up for sale imminently and has had all of the problems mentioned here fixed, even the sunroofs!!!!! it is a 2000 plate, if you are interested send me a mail, and I will rip out the full spec, just for info, it is TD5 ES and has only got 79K on it!!!
Good luck in your search!!!

A few things to also check, are the front roll bar bushes on the ACE system, they generated a knock when you turn, also heated screens tend not to work, unless they have been replaced!! Check the climate control works, normally the feed pipe rots, and hence dumps all of the gas. Oh, yeah, heated seats, where fitted, don't normally work on the drivers seat, due to the pad being damaged, replacement pads are easy to fit with patience, and have been changed in design to prevent it happening again!!

Dave

DavidTillyer said:

Hi, I am new to the forums. I am starting to look for a 98-2000 reg Disco II with the TD5 engine. Is there anything I need to be wary of when buying. Any advice or tips are very welcome!

Thanks, Dave

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Rather go for the facelift D2 - a lot of Td5 niggles were fixed during the facelift.