the purpose of this thread is to develop an argument to present to the general manager of my local Land Rover Dealership which has been the primary caregiver of my 1996 land rover discovery SE7. here is my story.

First thing first i took it to them and had them do a dealership used car inspection to identify problems with my vehicle post purchase from a private party. they found leaks in the transmission cooler and engine oil cooler lines, that the vacuum for the cruise control was bad, the front swivel joints needed repair a small note on the transfer case which the service manager said was to change its fluids, its brakes and serpetine belt. oh and the rover dumped a bunch of antifreeze on their poor concrete floor in which they thought the best course of action was to flush the radiator.

i took to another shop for the radiator problem and it turned out to be a bad hose it had weakened and sucked in and wouldn't move any coolant to the engine. they also degreased the engine for me so that i could confirm previous claims about the leaking fluids.

so far the rover has been to the dealership 3 times for 2 repairs and an inspection. the lines took them 2 days to repair and i have had not experienced any leaks since. and i had hood latch problems which took them a morning to get it taken care of.

what i have been experiencing is this a highly regular "whistle" which increases in pitch with the throttle and speed. It does not make "whistling" noise while idling. It gets really loud at around 3000rpms. they have said nothing about this to me, i don't think that it is what a healthy land rover sounds like...

Yesterday driving on the highway at 55mph up a casual slope a smell of burning rubber started coming into the cab and i had to increase pressure upon the throttle by a great deal to keep the vehicle moving at just under the speed limit, ( i cannot remember how many rpms i had to use roughly 3-4k) after it bogged out at where i believe it leveled out which makes no sense to me because i've been up much steeper hills with it that it went back to driving normally. the one difference was that i took it a straight shot of around 20 some odd miles.

there is a strong vibration when you hold onto the differential lock while its driving, which is not present in the shifter.

another thing i notice is an eratic pattern of vibrations felt through the steering wheel.

the one repair which i have not done as of yet to the rover is replacing the serpentine belt.

in conclusion I don't know what other options i have when it comes to finding a mechanic i can trust to get this right because i cannot handle the stress of driving it while it is in disrepair and i have been paying to get it to run right. so i need to know what others think before i go in and let the manager know how i feel because i want to be able to keep a business relationship with this shop.

i live in central illinois if there is anyone who knows a reliable place to take it into to get a second opinion with i would be willing to try anything i'm desperate to be able to worry less about driving and breaking down on the side of the road i seriously rely upon my vehicles to accomplish my daily tasks like everyone else except i'm slightly a hypochondriac when it comes to my daily driver.

 

Vibration can be low fluid in transfer case , very bad
Can also be drive shafts need u joints

An Indy shop will save you a ton of $ or just do it yourself

 

DIY. Its just not cost effective to dump thousands of dollars in dealer /mechanic repairs into a $500 truck (which most D1's are).

 

Nothing sounds major here?

And wait a freagin minute here, my Disco is worth more than 500! The head unit alone was 500. Lol...

 

The sun of most Disco's parts are usually worth more than the whole.

 

maybe yours is only worth 500 dollars but the one i picked has 90k and what ever these faults may be going on with it otherwise its a fine example of a used vehicle, plus its my daily driver that inspires me to go out and see more of the outdoor world which is priceless to me.

thanks again tom your insight has been useful in my pursuit of repairing this my next steps will be to change the serpentine belt and the transfer case fluids. from that point on is when i will get into ripping into the shop for their poor troubleshooting skills.

 

If near St. Louis you could come by and maybe we could sort things out. You would also have to get your hands dirty as you would be able then to get yourself back home out of the woods without a tow. I do not do the entire work, just show you how and what to do to prevent it. Been with Rovers for 15 yrs. and wife's D1 held her for 14 yrs. and never missed a day of work.