Disco 2 back over from the dark side....

Ok so to keep SWMBO happy I've sold the old 90 and brought a discovery 2... what have i done ?!?!?!

Picked up a v reg td5 with 182k on the clock, auto for £1200. Checked the usual bits like rear chassis ect and in general its not perfect but hey ho ive just gone from owning 2 90s down to 1, so a td5 disco cant be all that bad can it?

With the sale of my 90 i acquired a nanocom which pointed me in the direction of the shuttle valve being faulty and this morning i spent an hour doing the mod to bypass it? One job down....

Ive changed the auto box fluid as it was brown, that took 5 litre of aft and a new filter and i plan on changing it all again in a few weeks after my 600 mile round trip to Newquay and back with the caravan.... eek....

Before we go I've noticed that the lower ball joint on the passenger side is fubarred, theres a tad drop of oil on the red plug of the ECU (carb cleaned it for now) and the auto box seems to hold onto gears slightly longer than the previous td5 auto i drove when looking.

Is there anything else i need to check and change on this thing? Thanks

IamRobbie said:

Ok so to keep SWMBO happy I've sold the old 90 and brought a discovery 2... what have i done ?!?!?!

Picked up a v reg td5 with 182k on the clock, auto for £1200. Checked the usual bits like rear chassis ect and in general its not perfect but hey ho ive just gone from owning 2 90s down to 1, so a td5 disco cant be all that bad can it?

With the sale of my 90 i acquired a nanocom which pointed me in the direction of the shuttle valve being faulty and this morning i spent an hour doing the mod to bypass it? One job down....

Ive changed the auto box fluid as it was brown, that took 5 litre of aft and a new filter and i plan on changing it all again in a few weeks after my 600 mile round trip to Newquay and back with the caravan.... eek....

Before we go I've noticed that the lower ball joint on the passenger side is fubarred, theres a tad drop of oil on the red plug of the ECU (carb cleaned it for now) and the auto box seems to hold onto gears slightly longer than the previous td5 auto i drove when looking.

Is there anything else i need to check and change on this thing? Thanks

Click to expand...

the auto box holds more than 5 litres oil .... I normally drop the return oil cooler line drop this into a bucket ..run engine while pumping in new fluid this flushes oil lines oil gallerys and torque convertor and valve body to perform a full flush this needs a 2nd person to select gears this washes out other activated gallery's and clutch bands while pumping in fresh fluid

do a stall test to test torque convertor
occasionally my td5 some times holds gears way to long ..try and disconnect the batt over night... the td5 seems to pick up bad habits over a period of time

ps if your engine isn't performing well longer gear changing as the transmission works also of engine load and throttle position

oil in the ECU plug change out the injector harness if you don't have time remove the rubber seal out of the red plug this then allows oil to run out of the plug instead of it building up .only a bandade though until the injector harness is replaced

when towing your caravan you may need to find the sweet spot in selecting gears ... and maybe negotiate some roads or hills... as the d2 also locks up torque convertor in 3rd gear ...if you leave it in d mode while cruising at higher speeds kick down is more noticeable due to engine load ..how ever in d mode kick down wont lock up torque convertor

Following on re towing in D - I've found a couple of times that the gearbox temperature warning has come on if I do this when not on motorways etc and the torque converter is slipping. I now keep it in 3 (or even 2 if it's very hilly) - ie use it more like a manual.

Thanks guys, got the injector harness coming today and the lower and upper ball joints, plenty to get done before I go. I plan on changing the auto box oil again when I get back and ill also try dropping the pipes to the cooler as well. Ill disconnect the negative battery terminal over night tonight and see if that helps, and ill also google how to do a stall test, what will that show me??

Im not sure where to start if the engine is holding the box in gear, what would make it hold gear? Luckily Ive got the nanocom im starting to get used to other bits and bobs so should help. Ive ordered a replacement key off ebay and looked how to program that in, however also noticed my key has no transponder chip in it, so how it is starting the truck up?

Found this:


Stall test$%44.30.1Testing
1. Chock the wheels and fully apply the
handbrake.2. Start the engine and run it until it reaches
normal operating temperature.3. Apply the footbrake and select 'D'.4. Fully depress the accelerator pedal and note
the tachometer reading. The figures should be
as given below. Do not carry out stall test for
longer than 10 seconds, and DO NOT repeat
until 30 minutes have elapsed.l V8: 2200 to 2400 rev/minl Diesel: 2600 to 2800 rev/min5. A reading below 1300 rev/min indicates a
torque converter fault, ie stator free-wheel.6. A reading between 1300 and 2200 rev/min (V8)
or between 1300 and 2600 rev/min (Diesel)
indicates reduced engine power.7. A reading above 2400 rev/min (V8) or above
2800 rev/min (Diesel) indicates clutch slip.NOTE: The figures quoted above were
measured at sea level with an ambient
temperature of 20 °C (68 °F). At higher altitudes
or higher ambient temperatures, these figures
will be reduced.



Ill try this tonight and see.

Stall test showed engine speed at 2600 or there abouts so i'm happy the engine has plenty of power, took it for a drive and the turbo was showing as boosting slightly under 1 bar on full chat so ive shortened the wastegate by a turn and its now up to 1.1 bar or just slightly under at full chat so i'm happy with that as well. I left the negative terminal unplugged off the battery last night so when I get home from work today i'm hoping the auto box has lost any bad habits it may have picked up. Nanocom only shows problems with the ace now, ie low pressure (not sure why as its got fluid in) but the ace system will have to wait until im home after newquay..

Changed upper and lower ball joint on the nearside, oh my life that was an experience 2 and a half hours start to finish to get the sodding things out and new back in.

After taking the caravan away and enduring the gruelling up hill struggle with a not so big van on the back i took my td5 to storm tuning and had it stage 2 remapped, he struggled to get it to go and said the torque convertor is on its way out..... So ive gone out and brought another td5, manual 116k miles for breaking, I'm going to swap the engine and the box at the same time into mine, then take the truck back to storm tuning and he will swap the ecu from my auto ecu to a manual one.