Disco 3 (LR3) Land Rover Discovery - Buying

lynall said:

30 miles to the gallon ha ha don't you believe it
Genuine 20 mpg around town.
23 to 25 mpg general running around.
25 to 28 miles to gallon at 70 miles an hour on cruise.
Give it too much loud pedal and all them figures will drop.
You can always tell a V8 Land Rover of any model when you see it on the motorway as they are the ones going the same speed as the trucks!

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Intestinalworm said:

From Wikipedia:

It transpired that the Td5's electronics were highly reliable. Early engines suffered two isolated mechanical failures—sudden and complete failure of the oil pump drive and 'cylinder head shuffle' caused by weak retaining studs. Both these faults were fixed within 2 years of the engine starting production and the Td5 is now considered highly reliable.

So there is debate about the dowels then - wonder who authored the Wikipedia entry?

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MJI said:

I got 24mpg over 140 miles from a TD5 auto, about half the time below lockup, and quite a few hills.

Unlocked 20 is about right, locked 27 to 30 about right.

Manuals should be much better.

Not done the forced lockup mod either.

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Stanleysteamer said:

Somebody who never had to take the exhaust gasket off and have it reground and the studs drilled out!
I have never heard of "cylinder head shuffle". Where do they get this from?
I did say there was debate about the dowel types. but i would maintain, personally, that proper tightening down of the head bolts should prevent all movement, but then I am old skool enough to remember the days when a head was allowed to settle after being refitted and then the cylinder bolts were loosened and retightened again to ensure the HG didn't leak nor anything else come untoward. I once left it too long on a Dolomite Sprint and, sho nuff, the fecker went and bananaed on me again.
There are still tw@ts about who don't or won't use a torque wrench as they feel it might damage their manhood.
Just calling them "retaining studs" gives the wrong impression of what they are there for.

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Stanleysteamer said:

This is a notice from LR itself, which kinda or at least in part, backs up what I said about replacing like with like.
so "up yours" you two twerps who wrote the section in Wikipedia.

Ok just found the LR Notice on this;
Quote:
AFFECTED RANGE:

All Td5 derivatives within VIN ranges:
Discovery Series II (02 Model Year) 2A 736340 to 3A 793895
Defender (02 Model Year) 2A 622424 to 3A 647705

SUBJECT:
CYLINDER HEAD LOCATING DOWELS
Td5 engines fitted to vehicles in the above VIN range are fitted with plastic dowels to locate the cylinder head onto the cylinder block.

Land Rover Engineering has introduced steel locating dowels from the following VIN numbers:
Discovery Series II: 3A 793895
Defender: 3A 647705

INFORMATION:
If a cylinder head is removed from a vehicle in the above VIN range, the plastic dowels must be replaced with new specification steel dowels, which are now available from Land Rover Parts.

CAUTION:
Td5 derivatives prior to the above VIN ranges must not, under any
circumstances, be fitted with the new steel dowels. If steel dowels are fitted to earlier engines, cylinder head cracking may result.

and notice, LR calls them "locating dowels" not "retaining dowels". WP isn't always accurate.

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Stanleysteamer said:

I was talking about a 300tdi so not a petrol V8 and yes I don't do 70 mpg as that does drop the mpg, or put it up whichever way you look at it.
I usually drive at between 60 and 65, trying to keep to about 2000 revs, peak torque, in top gear, which as we all know is where maximum economy is. AND I don't power up hills like a tw@t.
Cruise control is great EXCEPT on hills.
I'm not a hypermiler and I only drive like this when doing long distances NOT against the clock, but whatever type of driving I am doing the 300tdi wins hands down over the TD5 auto when it comes to economy.
It might be more close run if the TD5 wasn't auto.

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Intestinalworm said:

From Wikipedia:

It transpired that the Td5's electronics were highly reliable. Early engines suffered two isolated mechanical failures—sudden and complete failure of the oil pump drive and 'cylinder head shuffle' caused by weak retaining studs. Both these faults were fixed within 2 years of the engine starting production and the Td5 is now considered highly reliable.

So there is debate about the dowels then - wonder who authored the Wikipedia entry?

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Stanleysteamer said:

Sounds much like ours.
In Frogland trying to get lock up on an A road is nightmare now so many of them are limited to 80 kph.

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