Discovery TD5 - help please

Hi,

I'm considering buying a TD5 disco GS, of 1999 or 2000 or pre march 2001. does anyone have any advice on key things to look out for in potential purchases?

Also, this may be a dumb question, but i can't seem to find an answer online, do all the GS models have air suspension? if so, is this something that tends to go wrong and should be avoided or should i not be so scared of it??

any advice greatly appreciated

fee

thought they had air suspension unless they were the commercial ones.The disco section will know for certain tho

flloyd said:

Hi,

I'm considering buying a TD5 disco GS, of 1999 or 2000 or pre march 2001. does anyone have any advice on key things to look out for in potential purchases?

Also, this may be a dumb question, but i can't seem to find an answer online, do all the GS models have air suspension? if so, is this something that tends to go wrong and should be avoided or should i not be so scared of it??

any advice greatly appreciated

fee

Click to expand...

To my knowledge all Td5's have rear air suspension, GS or otherwise. Occasionally the rear would drop down on mine but always re-inflated and sat level. I've recently changed from SLS to rear coil springs for a number of reasons.
There are some horror stories out there of air springs continuing to inflate until they burst! Not something you want happening whilst driving.

When doing the conversion on mine I did notice that when releasing the air from the compressor one of the unions was only finger tightened. This may well have explained the sagging rear end from time to time. In saying that, springs do exactly what they say on the tin, air bags don't for a multitude of reasons.
When air bags are working well they're great and offer a softer ride plus more stabiltiy in handling but when they play up it can cost lots of money either by air bag replacement, compressor faults, sensors etc. With springs you know just where you are.

Check the roof lining and carpets for stains (water), chassis rot, rear suspension system working properly , reverse gear,sport and drive modes and manual lock ups, idiot lights, temperature (take a long drive), ball joints for scoring/leaking, unusual noises from the power steering, all electric windows and door locks. All of the above are bargaining points with the exception of chassis rot. If the latter is the issue then simply walk away! :doh:

keep an eye out for head gasket failure/cracked cylinder heads, diesel in the oil and oil in the injector loom on early TD5's.

If it is a seven seater and unless it has already been converted to coils, it will have rear air suspension.

hey, thanks for the advice - was useful when looking at discos. Am now the proud owner of a 2000 Discovery 2 Millenium model.