Disco 1 Buying Help

Hi All,

I'm in the market for my first 4x4 and looking at a Disco 1 (have a budget of around 1500ish). Went to see a nice looking N registered car today, it was straight very little rust (had a good poke around in the suggested places) and drove well.

The gearbox was a little crunchy on a couple of changes, but i put this down to me really. I've never driven one before so dont really know what to expect.

My biggest issue however was the transfer box. Initially it was hard to get it into low range, but having read the manual and raising and dipping the clutch (i wasnt moving), Low Range engaged fine. One thing i couldnt to however was engage Diff Lock, it simply wouldnt engage ( i tried pushing the stick to the left in H, L and N). I didnt want to force it as it wasnt my car. So far i've walked away as i dont want to buy myself a heap of trouble.

The car is also an import which concerned me a little. All paperwork was present and it had 119k on the clock which tied up with servicing and Cambelt changes, its a 300tdi 2.5 with no smoke or anything seemingly dodgy oil wise.

Any thoughts would be welcome

Cheers

Steve

when.i was looking for one i found ones thatll cruch into gear and thought it was me but.theres loads that crunch. mine does it going into 3rd.
dont know much about transfer boxes sorrry

I'd say the rust would be the biggest maker or breaker for me, if it's essentially sound and solid and drives ok the diff lock would be a minor issue, how often are you actually gonna need it and I doubt it'd be a major issue to fix given the availability and relatively low price of most parts.

Thanks Chaps, my biggest concern is that if the Diff Lock is screwed it could be a sign of a deeper issue. It has probably just ceased due to lack of use, but im understandably nervous. I'd like to get it fixed if i did buy it and can just envisage the call from the Garage when when tell me the box is knackered lol

the fact that the dlock lever wouldn't go into position isn't necessarily a sign of failure, there were (are?) many d1's that had never had the dlock engaged from new and the mechanisms are just stiff and maybe a little dry. mine was like that when i bought it 6 years ago, now it just slides in, so as a previous poster said, the big thing is rust.

Well it seems fine rust wise, but the D-Lock was more than stiff, if i'd tried any harder i think i would have snapped the knob off, and obviously didnt want to do that. Trouble is, its a gamble isnt it

When I got my Disco 1 300TDI last year, the diff lock wouldn't engage and felt locked solid just as you mentioned on the one you're looking at. It was just a sticky linkage and it took next to no time to free up. As mentioned above, cos the diff lock doesn't get frequently used it's prone to sticking. There's a sticky on the forum showing how to free them up. IMO everything's a gamble with a second hand motor.

My concerns were rust, chassis and the engine, when I got mine. Glad I didn't walk away just cos of a sticky linkage, as my Disco (so far!! LOL) has been brill.

If its a jap import its likly to be solid dont let the diff lock put you off its not a big deal to sort

To be fair this was the first one i have driven and wanted to drive a couple more and glad i did. Driven a couple more today, found one near a customer today.

1997 153k on the clock, new tyres (off road), very clean inside. The MOT before the current had 3 pages of failures relating to welding all of which have been addressed. I need to have a better look tomorrow, but can see the boot floor has been replaced. Looking in the hotspots in the engine bay the seem to be pretty solid and having a poke around didnt reveal much horrendous.

The bodywork looks ok, there's a large patch of dodgy laquer on the front wing and usual scratches but seems generally ok, the only other point i can see is the usual back windows not working.

The lack of service history worries me a bit as i cant tell if the Cam Belt has been done. Am i right in thinking they're supposed to be done every 60k? if so i'd guess its been done or is VERY over due. The current owner thinks it may have had a replacement head (he's not sure), but the head is much cleaner than the rest of the block. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Sorry for the long email, but this seems like a good straight car and im tempted to buy