My Disco 2 - story so far.....

Just go our Disco so thought I would post my newbie experience so far and seek a bit of advice as to what needs doing next!

Car was advertised on autotrader, 2001x 143k miles MOT Dec and taxed till end of May. Advertiser turned out to be a retired trader (DING DING alarm bells ringing already!!!)

Anyway, we went to look and since it seemed in good order and ran OK we paid our £3000 and drove home without incident. (£3000 was rather below what we had seen others for, it had 4 new tyres and the only real issue seemed to be the oil leak from underneath)

then the trouble started!

holding the clutch down resulted in a nasty grinding noise, so off to 4x4 solutions expecting at least a £500 bill - and I wasnt disappointed!!! Oh there was vibration at 60 "its a wheel out of balance" (my arse....)

Anyway the following has been done to get the car into decent running order:

Flywheel, clutch, spigot bearing, master and slave cylinder, prop shaft coupling and UJs and centre bearing on front shaft (which was the cause of the vibration)
Total bill £1625, which I didnt think was too bad, although I do a lot of work on our cars, this was just too much to take on at this time.

Some pictures:







Much work still needs to be done to get the beast where I want it, remaining problem is some wheel wobble from the front under braking, it needs new discs/pads which may be the issue, I may also replace the steering damper, any other things to look at that might cause this?

Planned work:

I have realised that owning a landy is more of a hobby than anything else!!!

Paint the chassis, especially at the rear
New discs/pads all round
Oil and filter change
EGR removal
New air filter (is it worth getting a "performance" filter?)
Replace CD player that isnt working properly
high output headlamp bulbs and LED sidelights to save the hassle of replacing them again!
replace viscose fan
Possibly replace the steering damper

Best things so far

- its a basic spec so no air con or sunroofs to worry about
- Its got more street cred than the Foutraks we were looking at and it has 4 doors
- We have in effect paid £4600 for a good working car, not a bargain, but not a disaster either
- it remains in the £215 tax band

Worst thing:

- Filling with diesel £122!!!

Any suggestion as to other worthwhile things to do to the car and cure for the steering wobble welcome! It will be used primarily for towing a horsebox and getting to thestables if we get any snow......

nice looking car
you wouldn't have the air suspention or ACE system, that will save you loads.
check your front brake calipers too, they stick. only £38.00 from LRDirect.
clean MAP sensor on inlet manifold, contact cleaner works well.
do this after EGR removed.
and then there's all the mods you can do

"I have realised that owning a landy is more of a hobby than anything else!!!
more of a life style, hours on fun covered in grease oil and muck, under the thing LOL

EGR removed yesterday - well worth it, made a very noticeable difference to low down pulling and the engine is far smoother.

Have also changed the gear and handbrake gaiters, so its looking much tidier. Steering wheel is pretty manky so that is next on the list - have bought a leather cover which the wife is going to sew on later.
Being shortarses the wife and I have had to have the seat uncomfortably close to the steering wheel so we can get the clutch fully down. I have made a separate steel plate the same shape as the clutch pedal and fitted this on top of the pedal spaced 1/2" up. This brings the clutch pedal up to the same height as the brake and we can now move the seat back a bit to a more comfortable position.

Its only 1/2" but it makes a surpring difference )as the saying goes!) Once it stops raining its onto the oil change, fit a new camshaft sprocket access hole bung, and then get to work on the rustproofing...........

m500dpp said:

EGR removed yesterday - well worth it, made a very noticeable difference to low down pulling and the engine is far smoother.

Have also changed the gear and handbrake gaiters, so its looking much tidier. Steering wheel is pretty manky so that is next on the list - have bought a leather cover which the wife is going to sew on later.
Being shortarses the wife and I have had to have the seat uncomfortably close to the steering wheel so we can get the clutch fully down. I have made a separate steel plate the same shape as the clutch pedal and fitted this on top of the pedal spaced 1/2" up. This brings the clutch pedal up to the same height as the brake and we can now move the seat back a bit to a more comfortable position.

Its only 1/2" but it makes a surpring difference )as the saying goes!) Once it stops raining its onto the oil change, fit a new camshaft sprocket access hole bung, and then get to work on the rustproofing...........

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You've bought yourself a very smart looking DII there mate, very nice.

As for owning DII's, preventative maintenance is defo the way to go.

I bought my discs and pads from Paddocks, just the cheapies but they've always worked for me and I've done a few different DII's with them now.
Very easy job to replace as well - 1 hr per axle tops.

Dave

Begining to enjoy this thing now!!!!

Oil change today, (first car I've had that didnt need jacking up so you can get underneath it!) and the TD5 is running really sweetly, the big surge of torque from 1800 - 3000 is fun!!!! Amazingly the cruise control works as well!!!!!

Am finding the clutch quite heavy and the gearbox is "agricultural" but am managing to adapt to "Landrover" speed ........replacement viscous fan and "performance" air filter on order then I'll look at the brakes later in the year, there's enough meat on the pads for the time being, but I'll do the whole lot
before the winter. If it ever stops raining its painting the chassis next and maybe take the side steps of to take a look - the outriggers are seriously rotten!!!

As for owning DII's, preventative maintenance is defo the way to go.

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Convinced that is spot on, it's amazing the difference removing the EGR and doing an oil change has made to the car, it's far smoother now. I do think keeping on top of the general maintenance will pay big dividends.........

Yep, keep on top of that mainenance.
Looks like a nice D2 you have bought, despite the initial mega bill... bloody car traders!

The body work looks tidy and you have all the kit on there... light guards, a bar etc.

Keep an eye on your tyre pressures, they go down quicker than what you'd expect.

Jim

if your towing a lot of the time it maybe worth looking into a remap

Time for an update!

Have now become accustomed driving at Landy speed, and the car is going far better after the EGR removal, oil and filters changed and cleaning the MAP sensor - all simple stuff.

Other problems continue however! Have bought a horse box with a recently replaced wooden floor - there go the alarm bells again!

All in all seemed pretty sound, but there was a short in the electrics that I couldnt easily find, so gave in and bought new lights and rewired it. All went well taking the wife's horse to andfrom the vets (saving us £170 in transport costs!) but on Thursday after getting back from an evening show with my daughters horse on board, I got in the trailer to fix a couple of minor things only to find a soft spot in the floor! Oh well nothing that £800 wont fix but this time with an aluminium floor, moral if you buy a horse trailer avoid the wooden floor at all costs, there is no knowing when they will fail and the consequences could be (and have been) catastrophic for the horses.

I find the car tows fine by keeping the revs between 2000 and 3000, max speed (that I want to do with 2000 kilos on the back!) being 50 and this is easily achieved. Quite hilly in East Sussex, but havn't had any problems as yet, there is the confidence of knowing that the Landy will cope.

All in all we are pretty pleased with the purchase, the alternative we looked at (Fourtrack) had only 2 doors, and far less space in the back for saddles and all the other clobber you end up taking shows!!!!



Picture below of Landy and trailer in a wet field (it tipped it down) This is what we bought it for and it is doing exactly what we want of it.

Reversing the trailer back up the slope I stalled it, so just to make it easier, put it in low range. It pulled off of the field with ease, just a hint of the traction control kicking in at one point.

Is that an Ifor Williams 505 trailer? They are really great and tow beautifully - I particularly like the fact that they have a galvy chassis.

The TD5 manual is a cracking towcar, even with two large horses on board.

Use low range 3rd or 4th in grass fields and you'll not go far wrong.

PS If not already done, consider replacing the catted exhaust down pipe for a non-cat SS one - cost about £55 from the normal suppliers. Engine efficiency is improved showing 10% better mpg and better responsiveness.

Cheers
Dave

Yes its an Ifor W 505,and the trailer guy reckons its about 20 years old!!! He also reckons it's worth keeping it going as the new ones only last about 5 years as they are not as well made. Either way, once the floor is done it will serve equally as well as a new one and we will be in for £2200 - not a disaster, you can always get £1500 for one and at least we know 100% it is safe!

I do find it much harder to reverse than a single axle caravan, but now have an adjustable tow hitch so will try lifting the nose up to take the weight off the front axle when reversing, and see how that goes.

The downpipe still has the cat so will look at that in the near future. What you have suggested so far Dave has worked really well, it's surprising the difference a few tweaks have made, even the wife noticed it was much better after removing the EGR!!!!

Oh BTW I am getting around 29-30 mpg including an amount of towing, pretty damn impressive for such a big beast!!!!

m500dpp said:

Yes its an Ifor W 505,and the trailer guy reckons its about 20 years old!!! He also reckons it's worth keeping it going as the new ones only last about 5 years as they are not as well made. Either way, once the floor is done it will serve equally as well as a new one and we will be in for £2200 - not a disaster, you can always get £1500 for one and at least we know 100% it is safe!

I do find it much harder to reverse than a single axle caravan, but now have an adjustable tow hitch so will try lifting the nose up to take the weight off the front axle when reversing, and see how that goes.

The downpipe still has the cat so will look at that in the near future. What you have suggested so far Dave has worked really well, it's surprising the difference a few tweaks have made, even the wife noticed it was much better after removing the EGR!!!!

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It's a pleasure to offer you a hand mate, truly.

Just one final thing, don't be stingy with air filters. These motors really breath deeply and need good clean air filters or they go off the boil significantly.

I buy mine from Paddocks, 3 or 4 at a time (they're quite cheap) and change them every 6 months whether they look like they need it or not.

Sorry, Just remembered one other thing. IF you haven't already done it, clean the MAP sensor on the inlet manifold near where the EGR valve was - they get clogged up with the EGR crap and don't give the ECU correct readings; clean with aerosol brake and clutch cleaner.

Dave

Happy days, it's already been decatted (or never had one in the first place?) and checked the oil still looking nice and fresh and the right level, doesnt appear to be using much if any. Have cleaned both the MAF and AAF sensors ie the one in the inlet manifold and the one near the air filter)

I put a "performance" air filter on FWW!!! Land Rover Discovery 2 TD5 Performance Air Filter (1999 - 2007) | eBay

On to the front discs and pads next then it'll be checking the track rods ends etc.....

Oh one of the tags came off the heated rear screen, out with the fibreglass pencil and great big soldering iron and put it back on - seems fine now.

Windscreen wipers have a bit of play in them and they slop around a bit, might make up some new bushes on the lathe if I get time.

If it ever stops raining (damn drought!!!) its hammerite and waxoil the chassis time......