REAL newby

Hello all, introductions first I guess;

I'm Richard, I'm from lincoln and as you've probably guessed I'm a lorry driver. I'm new to the whole world of four wheel drive and need to learn a lot BUT, I'm not daft, I can probably get by with some common sense.

Right, I'm into alsorts of outdoor persuits and, frankly, though I don't usually have much need for 4wd - a car's not really suitable for some of the places I go either.

I'm in the process of getting a disco on the cheap, it's a '92 pretty standard but has what the seller describes as "up-rated suspension" whether that's raised or just some how "better" I don't yet know but from the pic's I've seen it's in pretty good condition. This is for a trial to start with, if I don't like driving it or it's too expensive to run I'll have a re-think.

Now it gets a little complicated I guess. I used to be a mechanic so can solve most problems but what should I keep an eye open for when I go to see this disco? (always worth asking people who are "in the know")

I also need to get to grips with "mild" off-roading as I intend to get dropped off when I buy it, chuck my camping gear in it and disapear for a weekend away (established campsites, around worcester I think). I'd like to have a bit of an idea what I'm doing if I end up driving somewhere a bit trickier than expected.

I gather disco's are permanent 4wd so I should be o.k. without the diff lock most of the time (it's only a grassed field after all), I take it if things start getting slippery I'd be better off locking the diff until I'm on solid ground again - at what point would you go for the low box?

I would also like to experiment with some green laning, ignore the legal side for now - I'm doing some reading up on it. I'll be keeping it easy to start with but would like to have a go. I've got a friend who'll probably also be up for it so won't be alone. Where would you start? I'm on a very tight budget at present so will be on a/t's at best. What advise can you give to someone having a go but not going o.t.t.?

:doh: I feel an expensive new hobby coming on..........

tip the rear seats forward , roll back the carpets and have a good look at the rear floor as this is where they go , if you can see your petrol tank it aint good news and you've got some welding to do , check the sills down the side / underside of car and also the inner wings can rust badly and they are a **** to replace timewise very fiddly on all accounts
you didn't say what engine was in the motor you are going to look at , DON'T buy an mpi engine they are ****e i know because i have one they have the power of two standard issue post office elastic bands ...
check for smoke from engine blue white black , take oil filler cap out and look at oil it should not be milky white which would point to dodgy head gasket , take expansion cap off and check for sign and smell of fuel in water etc etc but if you used to be mechanic you know all that better than me , rust is the biggest killer of discos ...
hope this helps , someone will be along that knows more than me to let you kinow of anything i haven't mentioned , good luck.

Thanks for that, That's the sort of info I was after - i.e. the boot floor. it's a 200tdi, assuming he's still got it and it's not knackered I'll be getting it in the next few days. 130k miles iirc, looks to have been looked after but I'll be having a nosey around to make sure it's not a scrapper.

Not that I'm expecting too much at that age, it's just to give it a go really and if it's for me I'll be after something more expensive.

Disco TDi 200's are good motors, but as has been said rust is their biggest enemy.

Looking from underneath, always start from the back end as this will be the worst (front end of the chassis wil almost certainly be bathed in oil due to oil leaks - good thing!!).

1. Rear crossmember, this is a difficult welding job to replace, check at each side to see if the body supports (6" x 6" square boxes) are in good nick;

2. Check the rear chassis for holes/rust;

3. Check the inner and outer sills for holes;

From up top,

1. remove the boot floor carpet and sponge sound-absorbing mat to have a thorough look at the boot floor. If you have to, these are not too bad to replace - £60 for the floor panel and another £60 for the three crossmembers underneath;

2. Rear inner wings - rust/holes here are common, lift the carpet covering the area where the seatbelt anchorage is and check for rust;

3. Bottom of the "A" posts, where the front doors hinge, low down near the sill, another popular rusting place;

4. Inside the engine bay, the front inner wings will almost certainly have some rust. As there are brakes components nearby, this is mot-able, new panels are about £40 a piece.

Mechanicly, they are generally very good, check for replacement cambelts.

If you buy it, give it a good full service, with new oils in the engine, gearbox, transfer box and axles (axles are often forgotten!!) and all new filters. Disco are very air hingry and need new air filters regulalrly.

Paddocks do a full filter kit for a TDi 200 for about £16+vat.

Take out the fuel sedimenter and given it a thorough clean.

Hope that helps, the Disco will fit your lifestyle perfectly - just be warned, it's easy to get hooked !!!!!!


Cheers
Dave

As above really. im a newbie myself but i know that unless you are going to do serious off roading or mud plugging but for green lanes then a standard disco should get you just about anywhere if you use it properly.
They have a fair ground clearance so unless you are going over the rockys you should be ok. If its just grassland and boggy fields then i would thing ATs would be ok.

Im sure someone with more experiance will correct me if im wrong.

thebiglad said:

Disco TDi 200's are good motors, but as has been said rust is their biggest enemy.

Looking from underneath, always start from the back end as this will be the worst (front end of the chassis wil almost certainly be bathed in oil due to oil leaks - good thing!!).

1. Rear crossmember, this is a difficult welding job to replace, check at each side to see if the body supports (6" x 6" square boxes) are in good nick;

2. Check the rear chassis for holes/rust;

3. Check the inner and outer sills for holes;

From up top,

1. remove the boot floor carpet and sponge sound-absorbing mat to have a thorough look at the boot floor. If you have to, these are not too bad to replace - £60 for the floor panel and another £60 for the three crossmembers underneath;

2. Rear inner wings - rust/holes here are common, lift the carpet covering the area where the seatbelt anchorage is and check for rust;

3. Bottom of the "A" posts, where the front doors hinge, low down near the sill, another popular rusting place;

4. Inside the engine bay, the front inner wings will almost certainly have some rust. As there are brakes components nearby, this is mot-able, new panels are about £40 a piece.

Mechanicly, they are generally very good, check for replacement cambelts.

If you buy it, give it a good full service, with new oils in the engine, gearbox, transfer box and axles (axles are often forgotten!!) and all new filters. Disco are very air hingry and need new air filters regulalrly.

Paddocks do a full filter kit for a TDi 200 for about £16+vat.

Take out the fuel sedimenter and given it a thorough clean.

Hope that helps, the Disco will fit your lifestyle perfectly - just be warned, it's easy to get hooked !!!!!!


Cheers
Dave

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Id second that, I intentionaly brought 92 20tdi, it was a 500 quid scrapper, Put in new boot floor patched inner front wing patched hole in rear arch on end of sill cost £150 all in to get through mot including oils filters and cost of mot! Thats cheap landying!
This year i have to do both sills and a body mount but hey thats nothing to complicated replace sills with box section and get a prefabbed body mount online!

Thanks all, I'll give the guy a ring in a bit - unless anyone else wants to sell me one, must have t&t and the most I can stretch to is about £700.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for some good off road tips please - no point in having 4wd if I haven't got a clue what I'm doing with it.

TT where are you ? if you're local then you can come out when we get our arses in gear ! you'll meet boomer who not a thin trucker !

Disco71 said:

TT where are you ? if you're local then you can come out when we get our arses in gear ! you'll meet boomer who not a thin trucker !

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not far from skellingthorpe, lincoln. Will do once I've sorted myself out, need to keep things cheap and simple to start with though.

Edit; Ah, just spotted where abouts you are! lol

Which would you go for:

1991/2 (J) 131000miles, reasonable condition no known problems apart from a couple of minor faults (driver's door handle's a little temprementle) and a little rust but not serious. £600 ono (red) 2 mnths tax, mot till sept.

Or this; 1996 LAND ROVER DISCOVERY TDI BLUE on eBay, also, Land Rover Range Rover, Cars, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 16-May-09 21:24:21 BST)

1996, 187000miles. "smokes a bit on startup but stops when warm" sounds like it's o.k. mechanicly, I've offered him £700 for it mot till feb next year and taxed until the end of next month - Just found smoke's black/grey so doesn't sound too serious.

Doesn't matter, just bought the 300tdi after some reading up sounded the better option.

Sooo, Everyone welcome me to the turbulant world of landrover ownership!! lol

F***k that!

Went to pick the landy up yesterday, fired it up and there was a little smoke - which got worse to start with but died down before I set off. Hmm, not too bad then probably just down to it's mileage......

Set off down the road and can honestly say I couldn't see my brother 50yds behind me!! Gave it 10mins to warm up some more but noticed engine oil dripping out of the exhaust! took it back and got my money back, minus £50 to keep him sweet (he could've told me where to go after all).

Soo, not a good day out, I'd hazard a guess the turbo leaks oil into the exhaust when it's sat (which wouldn't be the end of the world) but I wasn't willing to risk it. So, still looking for a decent disco with tax and test for £800 or less.

He's on about re-listing it on ebay so if you're willing to risk it, might be a bargain but at least you'll know the smoke's a lot worse than he told me it was!