I am looking to buy a Series 2 disco can any one point me in the direction of what major problems to look for? I am of course looking for 1 or 2 owner with full service history.

Thanks

Colin

colin2496 said:

I am looking to buy a Series 2 disco can any one point me in the direction of what major problems to look for? I am of course looking for 1 or 2 owner with full service history.

Thanks

Colin

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Hi Colin, I've had two of these beasts now and I can tell you the difference between a good'un and a bad'un is quite enormous !!!

My first one was a '99 TD5 GS that I bought cheap knowing it had one or two problems - and found that it had 10 or 12

Problems included chassis really rusty, ACE not working and never would again without loads of money, head gasket blown (these orginal cars used plastic dowels to locate the head - marvelous - and they fail, surprise surprise.

Bought it right so was able to sell quickly at a slight profit and the problem was gone.

The second TD5 is the car I have now and she (Françoise) is an absolute delight. ES Premium spec so has ACE (fully operational) rear air suspension giving a superb ride quality (I went out in my wife's TDi 300 yesterday - oh dear !! The TD5 is light years ahead.) Has been De-EGR'd already, just needed a new set of boots which she now has and runs beautifully.

You don't stipulate a budget so I can only give broad guidelines. My advice would be buy a model after 2001, as most of the production-related problems were resolved by then.

If you can manage buy a facelift car as pretty much all the issues had been resolved and they have imo better headlights. Buy a high spec car - the pleasure you get will last so much longer than the knowledge you paid a bit more to get it.

Go for autobox, the quality of drive is so much better than the manual box equipped cars. Little bit heavier on juice but so much nicer.

On the subject of mpg I get about 32 on a run steady at 65-70mph and late 20' on a daily basis.

Top quality service history is paramount. Imagine you are interviewing the seller, do you believe what they say? Do they look and sound like they liked their car? Stamped up book is not sufficent to prove service history (anyone can buy a stamp) you need to see reciepts.

Hope that helps, before my second TD5 I used to steer people well clear of TD5, but when they are right, they are a lovely comfortable drive.

The very best of luck

Cheers
Dave

you dont say petrol or diesel .
common faults include
leaking sunroofs, look for water stains in headlining . if leaking usually means complete headlining removal to fix. simple and cheap to fix but time consuming .
air flow sensor is almost a consumable (will misfire under acceleration , run rough)
coil packs and leads break down (especially v8.)
water in footwells , air con drain tubes block , poss leaking windscreen(mine did)
cruise control pipes perish .
all that said they are a joy to drive (mines a v8 with lpg) good driving position great visibility and surprisingly comfy . If you go for an es take your time and push EVERY button . this could take you 20 - 30 mins to check all the electric sunroofs , seats windows mirrors etc . front and rear ac , rear speaker controls , hill descent , cruise control , air suspension , blah blah blah . you get the idea.

I bought a TD5 es from a dealer, paid a bit more for it, but it came with a 6 month warranty. Air spring were needed after a couple of weeks, rocker gasket was leaking and there were electrical problems (all done under warranty thankfully). I sold it a year ago, and now have a 300tdi. You might want to get a professional to do a thorough check on it before you buy. A bad one is a real money pit!

Had mine 6years had new gearbox in under lr warranty common proplem with manuals stiff getting in to gear when cold.Changed the air suspension bags at back very easy job.The sunroof leaks know and again above the rear view mirror but as from that been a great car

I am buying in the USA cos i am moving there so it would be a V8 non lpg. It seems that there spec levels were different to the UK market?? I see a S & SE and that is all. At a squeeze a could afford a S 2003 face lift model. Is it more important to get one from 2001 or 2003 is there a huge difference?

If you budget will get you a 2003 model, this is the way to go. Landrover went to town on these later models, as the new one was due out. As you said earlier, look for a full landrover history 1 owner model. And check everything including the air suspensio (you should be able to lower it fro the inside on high end models, or even using the optoinal remote.). And insist on taking it for a long test drive and look for signs of overheating.
When i bought mine, i checked the spec for an ES on parkers guide and made sure everthing worked properly.

so there are people out there with a disco 2 where the sunroof(s) don't leak!!

I have given up trying to fix the problem and just drive with a waterproof on

OK thanks then i'll look for an 03 model.

Daddy Pig said:

so there are people out there with a disco 2 where the sunroof(s) don't leak!!

I have given up trying to fix the problem and just drive with a waterproof on

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I bought mine with the front leaking and the back gaffer taped up, had a bit of a look at them, checked the drain pipes by blowing up them, then took both the inner seals out and gave them a clean, popped them back in, made sure they were sitting correctly and touchwood, no leaks since and boy has it been ****ing down this week !

Daddy Pig said:

so there are people out there with a disco 2 where the sunroof(s) don't leak!!

I have given up trying to fix the problem and just drive with a waterproof on

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Vaseline works well, butr failing that there's always the mad man's clever guide.Discovery Sunroof Guide