Looking for a D2 - What to watch out for

Hi,
I am probably going to be buying a Discovery 2 (1999 - 2000) td5, there is a lot of talk of air suspension being problematic and sunroofs is there anything else I should be looking out for ?

cheers
Gary

rot and rust

ACE, Electrics, head gasket, door locks.

There are loads of threads on here giving more depth answers.

Watch out for the one that i sold, the chassis was salt water rotted.

everything then :hysterically_laughi:behindsofa:

Main thing is to keep an eye out for stuck freelanders but they will usually be in the mirrors so don't worry too much :laugh:

Definitely watch out for rot on the off side rear by the fuel tank on the chassis

3 amigos. Abs tc etc. Head Gasket, air suspension bags sinking. Water pipe under radiator rotting, sunroofs leaking, suspension bushes.

These are the things that went wrong with my 1999 Td5. Lovely car to drive and own, especially if you are handy with spanners, but it gets dear if you need the garage to do the work and re set the fault codes.

Maybe I am a bit negative after my experiences, and now have a Defender, with no electronics.

The ABS module was the final straw with mine, £1200 just for the module without labour, so it was sold on.

Otherwise I would still have it now.

Thanks everyone, I have been a Landy owner since about mid eighties, I have had most models over the years (never had a forward control or series 1) and the newest has been a 300tdi.
I drive an escort diesel van for my work vehicle (own company) because I was fed up with cheaply made substandard electronic crap dropping dead and costing a kings ransom to replace, so I brought something with 'sod all' electronics on it.
Now thats the bit that worries me about the TD5's, they seem to be full of electronic bits.

Now I am handy with a spanner and have quite a few specialist LR tools that you tend to collect over the years, but when it comes to a sealed electronic box of trickery........you're stuffed.

If I can find a decent 300tdi or a defender for the money I have then I think that may be the way to go, trouble is we are in the 'poxy' London Low Emission Zone, which means I have to buy something newer than 2002 which has doubled the price, as the filter is £1800 + vat and has to be changed every three years............Don't think so.

Are there any 300tdi's out there that still have a solid chassis ?

Gary

MuddySparks said:

Thanks everyone, I have been a Landy owner since about mid eighties, I have had most models over the years (never had a forward control or series 1) and the newest has been a 300tdi.
I drive an escort diesel van for my work vehicle (own company) because I was fed up with cheaply made substandard electronic crap dropping dead and costing a kings ransom to replace, so I brought something with 'sod all' electronics on it.
Now thats the bit that worries me about the TD5's, they seem to be full of electronic bits.

Now I am handy with a spanner and have quite a few specialist LR tools that you tend to collect over the years, but when it comes to a sealed electronic box of trickery........you're stuffed.

If I can find a decent 300tdi or a defender for the money I have then I think that may be the way to go, trouble is we are in the 'poxy' London Low Emission Zone, which means I have to buy something newer than 2002 which has doubled the price, as the filter is £1800 + vat and has to be changed every three years............Don't think so.

Are there any 300tdi's out there that still have a solid chassis ?

Gary

Click to expand...

I thought the emmisions was on commercial cant you get a 7 seater and remove the seats if you need space when I had my 300 tdi had a letter from Dvla saying its was E/ zone friendly so I assume its the van body's that get restrictions ???

OK, This is what I have done........ I went off and brought a D2 - TD5 'S', so avoided the leaky sunroofs by not having any, air suspenion has been replaced by coils already (not sure if I am altogether ok with that, I might put it back to air), It was a private sale and came with 12 months mot, 6 months tax and it is a 2001 (Y reg) 7 seater manual (and it was very cheap).
On the 520 mile drive home, it was faultless and effortless, a joy to drive.

It has a number of small issues that will all be sorted over the next few weeks........ the three amigos ABS - TC - HDC lights are on (so a quick by pass fix to the sensor switch is on the cards) I know the ABS still operates perfectly as it was needed once on the way home so I assume the other two (TC & HDC) still work too.
The key / fob locks the central locking (as does the switch inside on dash) but it does not unlock the central locking, so you have to unlock the drivers door and start the car to kill the alarm and I assume the key is read by the immobilizer and allows the engine to start.
What else...... the feul pump in the rear offside arch is 'bloody noisey' and will need sorting.
The two rear (in boot) seats seem to be locked in the down position, after you position them on the floor, why can't I stand the back rest up ?
And the only other two things are, the front passenger seat belt height adjuster on 'B' post doesen't move / slide, and the drivers seat has a missing 'knob' that you turn to adjust the back of the seat.

All in all a very cheap car (helped mostly by seller remote location) that needs a little time and tlc to bring it to a good standard again.

Oh and the MoT garage waxoiled it too.

i have just bought a TD5 gs with 120000miles.
for starters its running smoothly but the again i suspect at this age theres a few things i must gaurd against.
kindly advise what i should look forward to

On the electronic side of the td5 check for oil in the plugs, the red one in particular connecting to the engine management controller.

Plenty of threads on here about the injector harness letting engine oil run back into the plug.

The fuel pump in off side arch , is the fuel filter the pump is in the fuel tank , dont ' know wot the noise can be.

If it is a noisy pump in the tank it is a relatively easy job to get to: through the access panel in the boot floor and I would advise removing it and cleaning out the gauze/filter as that seemed to help with the noise from mine and also improved the starting and running (but mine was very blocked up)