Wanted:: Advice for first time Disco buyer

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G

Gary Grainger

Guest
Hi,
I'm seriously considering buying a N or M reg. Discovery. I've never
owned a Land Rover before, and I don't have any mechanical skills or
knowledge. I'd like to know what to look for (that a novice can find)
when looking at a Discovery.
Thanks in advance
G
 
Gary Grainger wrote:
> Hi,
> I'm seriously considering buying a N or M reg. Discovery. I've never
> owned a Land Rover before, and I don't have any mechanical skills or
> knowledge. I'd like to know what to look for (that a novice can find)
> when looking at a Discovery.

Ok, first up let's define the simple bits. Do you want petrol or diesel
(or LPG), and manual or automatic transmission?


--
EMB
 

"Gary Grainger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi,
> I'm seriously considering buying a N or M reg. Discovery. I've never owned
> a Land Rover before, and I don't have any mechanical skills or knowledge.
> I'd like to know what to look for (that a novice can find) when looking at
> a Discovery.
> Thanks in advance
> G

being a relatively new owner myself i'll tell you what i looked for, i am
sure some of the more experienced owners will be along shortly with more
info. we spent about 3 months going around looking at discos before we found
what i felt was a gooden. if you look on ebay there is allot of rubbish
around but also a few bargains. the main area's i looked at were -
if its a four door, open the rear doors and check that there is no rot where
the wheel arch meets the body. this is a common problem
have a good look around the boot floor, inside and underneath for rot
have a good look in the wheel arches for holes or bad rust
check the chassis and basically the whole underneath for rust, take a torch
and get underneath.
have a look in the engine bay for any bad leaks of oil or coolant.
find out when the cambelt was last changed
ask about the service history if its been self maintained i would expect to
see receipts and some sort of record as to what was done when.
take a test drive and listen for any loud clonks, i say loud because i think
most landies have some clonk when you take up drive.
check that the gearbox changes ok, again you will find all the boxes are
notchy to some degree
when braking make sure it does not pull to one side.
i think ideally if you are really not sure try and take someone with you
that knows abit about landies.

if you do get one buy a few tools and have a go at doing some minor
servicing, its not that difficult and will save some cash too.

hope this helps

Paul.


 
EMB wrote:
> Gary Grainger wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>> I'm seriously considering buying a N or M reg. Discovery. I've never
>> owned a Land Rover before, and I don't have any mechanical skills or
>> knowledge. I'd like to know what to look for (that a novice can find)
>> when looking at a Discovery.
>
>
> Ok, first up let's define the simple bits. Do you want petrol or diesel
> (or LPG), and manual or automatic transmission?
>
>
Diesel, manual.
cheers
G
 
Paul wrote:
> "Gary Grainger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>Hi,
>>I'm seriously considering buying a N or M reg. Discovery. I've never owned
>>a Land Rover before, and I don't have any mechanical skills or knowledge.
>>I'd like to know what to look for (that a novice can find) when looking at
>>a Discovery.
>>Thanks in advance
>>G
>
>
> being a relatively new owner myself i'll tell you what i looked for,

Snippage occurs
> hope this helps
>
> Paul.
>
>
Very helpful thanks!
cheers
G
 

"Gary Grainger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Paul wrote:
> > "Gary Grainger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> >
> >>Hi,
> >>I'm seriously considering buying a N or M reg. Discovery. I've never
owned
> >>a Land Rover before, and I don't have any mechanical skills or
knowledge.
> >>I'd like to know what to look for (that a novice can find) when looking
at
> >>a Discovery.
> >>Thanks in advance
> >>G

Watch out for off road damage by looking underneath too. The clutch on the
Disco I can be a little shuddery, especially at low engine revs, that's not
a fault. 1st to 2nd gear can be stiff when cold, again not a fault.
Watch out for stupid little electrical problems - bulbs blown in dash
lights, central locking iffy etc.
If it's a 300Tdi ensure it has had the cam belt modification done.
Check with the seller if it has had grease put in the swivel joints, if it
has it's maintenance free, if not the oil needs changing regularly, or
grease put in instead.
It should start on the button with a good puff of smoke out the back. The
smoke should clear immediately after starting.
They tend to leak via the sunroof and around the rear side windows. The
sunroof is easily fixed usually, dunno about the windows , mine have always
leaked and I've just put up with it.
Have a good look for radiator damage. At that age it may be about to fail
anyway but they are expensive as they are so huge.
I think mine was £250, other parts are often very reasonable, especially
from Beamends Ltd, you will often find Richard on this ng for parts advice.

TonyB



 

"Gary Grainger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> EMB wrote:
>> Gary Grainger wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>> I'm seriously considering buying a N or M reg. Discovery. I've never
>>> owned a Land Rover before, and I don't have any mechanical skills or
>>> knowledge. I'd like to know what to look for (that a novice can find)
>>> when looking at a Discovery.
>>
>>
>> Ok, first up let's define the simple bits. Do you want petrol or diesel
>> (or LPG), and manual or automatic transmission?
>>
>>
> Diesel, manual.
> cheers
> G

excuse the smirk, I said that and bought a v8 auto ;-)

Si


 

"Gary Grainger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi,
> I'm seriously considering buying a N or M reg. Discovery. I've never owned
> a Land Rover before, and I don't have any mechanical skills or knowledge.
> I'd like to know what to look for (that a novice can find) when looking at
> a Discovery.
> Thanks in advance
> G

Apart from rot and general mechanical condition, check for peeling dash as
this age was the peak of the problem, just after they introduced the
modified and retrograde dash design. Also check for the dreaded gearbox
output shaft spline wear. Also you may have a choice at N registration late
'95 when they changed the gearbox model. At around this time they had poor
hygiene at the machining stage and some boxes had much swarf left inside to
the detriment of life. These should have failed at a low mileage but you
never know. If everything works as it should then all should be OK so be
aware but don't worry about it..
The newer gearbox will have reverse opposite 5th while the perfectly good
older model had reverse on a dog leg to the left of 1st.

Huw


 
TonyB wrote:
> "Gary Grainger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>Paul wrote:
>>
>>>"Gary Grainger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>>news:[email protected]...
>>>
>>>
>>>>Hi,
>>>>I'm seriously considering buying a N or M reg. Discovery. I've never
>
> owned
>
>>>>a Land Rover before, and I don't have any mechanical skills or
>
> knowledge.
>
>>>>I'd like to know what to look for (that a novice can find) when looking
>
> at
>
>>>>a Discovery.
>>>>Thanks in advance
>>>>G
>
>
> Watch out for off road damage by looking underneath too. The clutch on the
> Disco I can be a little shuddery, especially at low engine revs, that's not
> a fault. 1st to 2nd gear can be stiff when cold, again not a fault.
> Watch out for stupid little electrical problems - bulbs blown in dash
> lights, central locking iffy etc.
> If it's a 300Tdi ensure it has had the cam belt modification done.
> Check with the seller if it has had grease put in the swivel joints, if it
> has it's maintenance free, if not the oil needs changing regularly, or
> grease put in instead.
> It should start on the button with a good puff of smoke out the back. The
> smoke should clear immediately after starting.
> They tend to leak via the sunroof and around the rear side windows. The
> sunroof is easily fixed usually, dunno about the windows , mine have always
> leaked and I've just put up with it.
> Have a good look for radiator damage. At that age it may be about to fail
> anyway but they are expensive as they are so huge.
> I think mine was £250, other parts are often very reasonable, especially
> from Beamends Ltd, you will often find Richard on this ng for parts advice.
>
> TonyB
>
>
>
Many thanks, very useful!
Any idea about expected price? I'm currently considering a 1995 N reg
200Tdi with full service history and 109,000 miles, full test and 6
months tax, from a dealer (a 4x4 dealer, not a Land Rover dealer) What
should I pay?
cheers
Gary
 
Huw wrote:
> "Gary Grainger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>Hi,
>>I'm seriously considering buying a N or M reg. Discovery. I've never owned
>>a Land Rover before, and I don't have any mechanical skills or knowledge.
>>I'd like to know what to look for (that a novice can find) when looking at
>>a Discovery.
>>Thanks in advance
>>G
>
>
> Apart from rot and general mechanical condition, check for peeling dash as
> this age was the peak of the problem, just after they introduced the
> modified and retrograde dash design. Also check for the dreaded gearbox
> output shaft spline wear. Also you may have a choice at N registration late
> '95 when they changed the gearbox model. At around this time they had poor
> hygiene at the machining stage and some boxes had much swarf left inside to
> the detriment of life. These should have failed at a low mileage but you
> never know. If everything works as it should then all should be OK so be
> aware but don't worry about it..
> The newer gearbox will have reverse opposite 5th while the perfectly good
> older model had reverse on a dog leg to the left of 1st.
>
> Huw
>
>
Again, very useful, thanks you!
cheers
G
 
On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 22:15:03 +0000, Gary Grainger
<[email protected]> wrote:

>TonyB wrote:
>> "Gary Grainger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>
>>>Paul wrote:
>>>
>>>>"Gary Grainger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>>>news:[email protected]...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>Hi,
>>>>>I'm seriously considering buying a N or M reg. Discovery. I've never
>>
>> owned
>>
>>>>>a Land Rover before, and I don't have any mechanical skills or
>>
>> knowledge.
>>
>>>>>I'd like to know what to look for (that a novice can find) when looking
>>
>> at
>>
>>>>>a Discovery.
>>>>>Thanks in advance
>>>>>G
>>
>>
>> Watch out for off road damage by looking underneath too. The clutch on the
>> Disco I can be a little shuddery, especially at low engine revs, that's not
>> a fault. 1st to 2nd gear can be stiff when cold, again not a fault.
>> Watch out for stupid little electrical problems - bulbs blown in dash
>> lights, central locking iffy etc.
>> If it's a 300Tdi ensure it has had the cam belt modification done.
>> Check with the seller if it has had grease put in the swivel joints, if it
>> has it's maintenance free, if not the oil needs changing regularly, or
>> grease put in instead.
>> It should start on the button with a good puff of smoke out the back. The
>> smoke should clear immediately after starting.
>> They tend to leak via the sunroof and around the rear side windows. The
>> sunroof is easily fixed usually, dunno about the windows , mine have always
>> leaked and I've just put up with it.
>> Have a good look for radiator damage. At that age it may be about to fail
>> anyway but they are expensive as they are so huge.
>> I think mine was £250, other parts are often very reasonable, especially
>> from Beamends Ltd, you will often find Richard on this ng for parts advice.
>>
>> TonyB
>>
>>
>>
>Many thanks, very useful!
>Any idea about expected price? I'm currently considering a 1995 N reg
>200Tdi with full service history and 109,000 miles, full test and 6
>months tax, from a dealer (a 4x4 dealer, not a Land Rover dealer) What
>should I pay?
>cheers
>Gary

There's no such beast, 200TDi went out in 1994 ish. It should be a
300TDi at that age. Price is all about condition, but somewhere
around 3-4K seems about right if it's in good nick and not a loaded up
ES.

Having said the above, I must find out who owns the 300 Discovery on a
51 plate that's often parked outside Charlotte's day nursery.... There
has to be an explanation for that.

--
Tim Hobbs
 
On or around Sun, 27 Nov 2005 20:50:52 +0000, Gary Grainger
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>EMB wrote:
>> Gary Grainger wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>> I'm seriously considering buying a N or M reg. Discovery. I've never
>>> owned a Land Rover before, and I don't have any mechanical skills or
>>> knowledge. I'd like to know what to look for (that a novice can find)
>>> when looking at a Discovery.
>>
>>
>> Ok, first up let's define the simple bits. Do you want petrol or diesel
>> (or LPG), and manual or automatic transmission?
>>
>>
>Diesel, manual.
>cheers

don't buy the first one you see, unless it happens to be a good'un, of
course.

There a lot around in that age range, and the key points are mileage and
service history. A full history, with dealer stamped book ideally, is good.
Low mileage is good. On that age you're looking at earlier 300 TDi engines
which have known timing belt issues, so records of it having been modified
are good too.

Also on earlier ones there's still a known transmission problem that dates
back to the previous model - this is fairly expensive to fix. The problem
is of wear in the output shaft of the main gearbox and the input gear of the
transfer box - the splines wear due to poor lubrication design. The fix for
this is called a "cross-drilled gear" and was factory fitted after about
1996 I think, though someone may have an accurate date.

This is only usually a problem on high mileage motors or ones that have done
a lot of heavy towing - especially if they're not maintained as well. Not
too easy to diagnose if you're not an LR expert (or nutter) and so well
worth finding someone who is if in doubt. basically, if you change gear and
hear clanks or clunks from the drive line, it's iffy. Try pulling off
forwards, stopping, then pulling off backwards. any noticeable clank or
clunk is not supposed to be there. Also try driving at about 2000 rpm in
3rd, say, and come off and back on the power rather heavily. Again, should
be no noticeable clanks or clunks - if there are, walk away.

And remember it's a buyer's market for this age discos - there are plenty
around, and it's got to be exceptionally good to make more than about 4000
quid.
 
For what it is worth, I just sold a 1993 200Tdi with 200k on the clock.

I had the gearbox problem (it was replaced at 154k with the clutch).

I can reccomned putting grease in the swivel joints (there is a LR
"kit" for doing that, including a sticker that should stop the local
garage putting oil back in) - it didn't with mine though and I had to
re-grease them again!

Look for corrosion underneath, particularly near to body mounts. My
local MOT tester is getting very "funny" about rot neat body mounts.
They must have this vision of the chassis stopping and the body
carrying on! I had to weld up the floor pan in the load area to get
mine through the last MOT.

I also had corrosion on the rear corner near the bottom hinge - a real
sod to weld up again.

The note about instrument lamps (and in fact the illumination of the
heater controls) is good. They tend to go and on mine replacing the
bulbs in the heater panel is a real sod of a job (to the extent I never
bothered!)

Neither my sunroof, nor windows leaked (I must have been lucky).

I had also recently replaced one of the central door locking units and
the door mechanism, unusually both had gone!

I had a three door DON'T - make sure it's a 5 door!

I also had bubbling in all the usual places, but nothing that really
worried me.

I hope that helps. Enjoy the Disco (whatever you buy).

If you're interested, I didn' change it because I didn't like the car,
there just wasn't enough space in the back load area for my 5 spaniels!

Cheers

Peter

 
puffernutter wrote:
>
> If you're interested, I didn' change it because I didn't like the car,
> there just wasn't enough space in the back load area for my 5
> spaniels!
>

Changed it for a 40ft artic trailer?

Huw


 

Huw wrote:
> puffernutter wrote:
> >
> > If you're interested, I didn' change it because I didn't like the car,
> > there just wasn't enough space in the back load area for my 5
> > spaniels!
> >
>
> Changed it for a 40ft artic trailer?
>
> Huw

No, just a 110 CSW with the rear seats removed :)

Cheers

Peter

 
On or around Mon, 28 Nov 2005 00:00:59 +0000, Tim Hobbs <[email protected]>
enlightened us thusly:

>There's no such beast, 200TDi went out in 1994 ish. It should be a
>300TDi at that age. Price is all about condition, but somewhere
>around 3-4K seems about right if it's in good nick and not a loaded up
>ES.

3-4K if it's low mileage and a 300 TDi...

seriously, the only ones making any sort of money are fully loaded and fully
historied.

I was looking at prices a bit back when we were wondering whether to sell
our M-plate 300, and the ordinary models, as opposed to top-of-the-range,
just ain't making money.
 
On or around Sun, 27 Nov 2005 22:16:04 -0000, "Huw"
<hedydd[nospam]@tiscali.co.uk> enlightened us thusly:

>
>"Gary Grainger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> Hi,
>> I'm seriously considering buying a N or M reg. Discovery. I've never owned
>> a Land Rover before, and I don't have any mechanical skills or knowledge.
>> I'd like to know what to look for (that a novice can find) when looking at
>> a Discovery.
>> Thanks in advance
>> G
>
>Apart from rot and general mechanical condition, check for peeling dash as
>this age was the peak of the problem, just after they introduced the
>modified and retrograde dash design. Also check for the dreaded gearbox
>output shaft spline wear. Also you may have a choice at N registration late
>'95 when they changed the gearbox model. At around this time they had poor
>hygiene at the machining stage and some boxes had much swarf left inside to
>the detriment of life. These should have failed at a low mileage but you
>never know. If everything works as it should then all should be OK so be
>aware but don't worry about it..
>The newer gearbox will have reverse opposite 5th while the perfectly good
>older model had reverse on a dog leg to the left of 1st.

overall, I found the LT77 just as good as the R380 - and early R380s still
have the output shaft problem, AIUI - and in fact I prefer the feel of the
LT77. The R380 gearshift isn't *quite* as good IMHO, although the box is
slightly quieter, and has synchro on reverse...


the R380 comes in along with the 300 engine in late 94/early 95, ISTR. There
are "200" type L regs and a few "300" type, I think - certainly by M reg
they're 300 type.

 
Austin Shackles wrote:
> On or around Sun, 27 Nov 2005 22:16:04 -0000, "Huw"
> <hedydd[nospam]@tiscali.co.uk> enlightened us thusly:
>
>>
>> "Gary Grainger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>> Hi,
>>> I'm seriously considering buying a N or M reg. Discovery. I've
>>> never owned a Land Rover before, and I don't have any mechanical
>>> skills or knowledge. I'd like to know what to look for (that a
>>> novice can find) when looking at a Discovery.
>>> Thanks in advance
>>> G
>>
>> Apart from rot and general mechanical condition, check for peeling
>> dash as this age was the peak of the problem, just after they
>> introduced the modified and retrograde dash design. Also check for
>> the dreaded gearbox output shaft spline wear. Also you may have a
>> choice at N registration late '95 when they changed the gearbox
>> model. At around this time they had poor hygiene at the machining
>> stage and some boxes had much swarf left inside to the detriment of
>> life. These should have failed at a low mileage but you never know.
>> If everything works as it should then all should be OK so be aware
>> but don't worry about it..
>> The newer gearbox will have reverse opposite 5th while the perfectly
>> good older model had reverse on a dog leg to the left of 1st.
>
> overall, I found the LT77 just as good as the R380 - and early R380s
> still have the output shaft problem, AIUI - and in fact I prefer the
> feel of the LT77. The R380 gearshift isn't *quite* as good IMHO,
> although the box is slightly quieter, and has synchro on reverse...
>
>
> the R380 comes in along with the 300 engine in late 94/early 95,
> ISTR. There are "200" type L regs and a few "300" type, I think -
> certainly by M reg they're 300 type.

There was quite a bit of overlap with 300tdi fitted with LT77 etc. Also
there were stocks of these vehicles at central points and at dealers which
explains a late N reg '96 that I know of that had the LT77 which failed and
was replaced under warranty with an R380.

Huw.


 
Just a quicky....a `95 "N" would be a 300tdi not a 200...unless theres something amiss.Good luck anyway....mucky`un.
 
> >
> Again, very useful, thanks you!
> cheers

Gary,
You may like to know the difference between the 200 and 300 in general
terms. The 300 has bigger headlamps than the 200 ( although it is possible
to do a conversion from 200 to 300 only a few people have done it.) I
suspect your N reg is a 300 though.
TonyB


 
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