advice needed please....

Hi guys - new here and straight-in looking for advice, please..

I'm in the market for an '05 or later Discovery3 SE ...What things should I look-out for when viewing cars ? - what goes wrong with these cars and what are the potential problems/pitfalls. please be kind to me - I'm a Landrover newbie, so not too much ****-taking, please !! http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/editpost.php?do=editpost&p=414326

one thing i got caught out with is a head gasket problem on the v8, it wasn't losing power or water but could hear a slight ticking noise, the head had blown between the head and the block and was releasing pressure out under the exhaust manifold you could feel the air being pumped out with your hand. Make sure that when its hot it dosn't force water out of the expansion chamber water cap it may take up to 15-20min of driving

Usual Land Rover thing of excessive clunking in the transmission. Unlike the earlier ones there shouldn't be much there to start with, so be especially aware, ditto transmission wine. Most of the problems seem to be electronic so make sure everything works.
If used extensively off road, few are, they can collect mud in the hand brake, loud screeching on application.
Get an auto, they are far nicer.
If you ignore this, some manuals had a problem with the switch that shows the selected gear, often a quick (once it's on the computer) recalibrating job rather than replacement. A lot of systems are gear dependent so this can cause all sorts of surprising problems. Make sure the indicator in the message centre (panel in the bottom of the dashboard) reacts instantly to gear changes. If it goes blank, even for a couple of seconds, get it checked. A common symptom is the orange handbrake fault light being on, when there is no apparent fault with the handbrake.
05 should still be under warrantee.

Hi There redfive !!!!!!! I have just bought one it is fantastic !!!usual things to look out for..........Service history,how many owners,"is it paid for?" Drinks more fuel than my TD5 did though Good luck!!! Bob.

How many miles has it done? I've heard of them taking 10000 to settle down and see a marked improvement in consumption.

Davec said:

How many miles has it done? I've heard of them taking 10000 to settle down and see a marked improvement in consumption.

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Hi davec,it has only done 3500 miles !!!My old td5 used to do 650 miles to a tank full of diesel ,but this tdv6 se is only doing about 450 to 475 miles to a tank full The trip is showing 32.2 mpg.I do drive very carefully though,i'm pretty sure if i used all the power that figure would drop away quite quickly .I think that it is a smaller tank on the Disco 3 than the td5. Bob.