While I am studying abroad in New Zealand, I picked up a 1997 Disco I. After doing a lot of research, I decided it was the vehicle for me. I plan on doing a lot of backcountry climbing and skiing and needed a capable 4WD to get me to these hard to reach places. It came out to about $1400 NZD for the vehicle (cars are especially expensive here. I saw a new Range Rover going for like $250K NZD). It's a 3.9L V8i with the County badge. It was imported into NZ in 2004 from Japan.

I've been gradually making my way through the maintenance suggested by this forum.
throttle body was cleaned. Oil and filter were changed (used Shell Rimula 15W/40: I think its the international version of Rotella), as has air filter, serpentine belt, transmission fluid and transfer case fluid.
Rear rotors and pads were replaced by a shop Coolant's been replaced, but the thermostat hasn't been . I left the power steering alone since the fluid was clean and was working great.
All propshafts have been greased and appear to have been rebuilt since I got some nipples where they wouldn't be on a stock one. I was also blessed to buy a disco without the rubber coupling on the rear (gotta count those blessings).
The swivels are in remarkably good shape, no pitting whatsover. No drains. I'll put some one shot in these in the next few weeks when it stops raining. All hoses and wires appear to be in good condition. Weirdly enough, some bushings have been replaced with red polys, but not all. Not sure if this is bad, but I was thinking of getting them all replaced anyways along with new suspension front and back. Plugs were changed (NGK BPR5ES) , but I kept the leads since they were in good condition.

I still need to change the diffs fluid, but it keeps raining and I only got outdoor work space. Gonna use 85W/90 like I did in the t-case.


Getting it warranted (NZ's strict bi-annual inspections) meant I had to do a bunch of rust repair along the top left of the roof. Luckily the rust was only on the surface and after a week of hand sanding, I was able to etch the metal, fill it and paint it. I still need to fill that gutter with sealant (which I removed the get at some rust), but stuff keeps coming up. Ultimately I'd like to get the whole thing repainted (clear coat is bubbling on most panels), but i'm in no rush to spend that kind of money. I checked for the rust in the typical spots (footwells and cargo floor), and these are for the most part rust free.

It's raining right now, but I'll post some pictures soon.

Couple of issues:
Rear windows don't work (classic Disco issue) Central locking doesn't workCDL dash light doesn't workDriver window goes down, but not upThe cigarette lighter doesn't work. I only found this out since I have one of those USB chargers. I also tried the cigarette lighter itself and it doesn't even click in. Not sure about this.
Cruise control doesn't work One final issues: I can't my bluetooth OBDII reader to work. I've tried almost every OBDII software I could get my hands on the computer and none work. The reader itself definitely works, but I keep getting unable to connect ECU error. Does anyone know if Japanese discos were OBDII compliant? I did read somewhere that they don't conform to OBDII protocols and you need to plug directly into the serial port of the 14CUX ECU wiring harness and use something like rovergauge/

All in all, I'm very happy with the disco so far (It's funny, I wasn't feeling that way the first couple of weeks). Knock on wood, it doesn't have too many unmanageable gremlins and doesn't appear to have any serious leaks. It idles well, runs well and drives well.

Finally, any help with the listed issues would be appreciated.

 

finally got around to replacing the diff fluids. the cheap android phone also came and I was able to try out the torque app and my OBDII reader. Wasn't able to get it to connect to the ECU so I think my Lucas 14CUX will need a hawkeye. Found a local guy who has one and has offered to help me out if and when a problem arises. he also hooked me up with a new RH indicator assembly(mine was cracked and fogging up so bad it eventually rusted the bulb holder into inoperability).

also decided to take out the headliner and diagnose my faulty rear washer jet. turned out to be a very pinched hose. gonna replace the whole hose. while I had that headliner out I brought it to a shop and am getting it reupholstered. wish I had taken a picture of how saggy it was.

also discovered why my washer reservoir was leaking, some PO had cut the washer line that went to the headlight power washers. replaced that hose and now it holds the fluid, but I just realized I never checked to see if headlight washers actually work (they run when the headlights are on while running the front windshield washer: correct?)

in the process of doing all this I found some vacuum lines that need replacing. problem is I don't really know where they go or what they're for. Is there a diagram anywhere that has this info? one goes into this hold behind the LH headlight area and above the wheel arch.

this is the vacuum hose section. the right one needs to be completely replaced. I was able to trim the left one and removed the damage at the connection. I have no idea where the one that's supposed to be on the bottom goes.


damage on the right one near the filter box


the mystery hole


bonus exterior. the peeling top coat really makes it look like ****. i took some pictures of the bodywork I did, but it looks pretty bad (it only needed to look good enough to pass inspection and allow me to legally drive it. i'll post some pics up when I clean it up in the next few weeks.)

 

just took a look through the repair times manual in RAVE. could that vacuum hose section be for the cruise control? with the right hose going to the cruise control pump and the bottom one intended to go to the throttle actuator?

also, I'll be tackling the central locking system this weekend. its the japanese version so it has a a dedicated ECU and no alarm. I'll do some troubleshooting and pick up what I need from a pull n pay. get some trim bits and such while I'm at it.

good news: the rear windows have spontaneously fixed themselves and now work. drivers one doesn't even go down anymore. still need to check on the regulator, hopefully it's just come off the track.

 

Looks like a lot of fun!

Always a satisfactory feeling when all the bugs get worked out.

 

Hoses are cruise control, think headlight washers only work with city lights on, window ecu probly needs resoldering, look in the tech section

 

headlining came back today. satisfied with the color, but wish the fabric were more stain-resistant, more leather like as opposed to fabric like. Ideally would have liked black, but the only black they had was super fuzzy (not for me). whatever. looks a million times better than it did before. went to the pull n pay on saturday, but they were closed. Headin' there tomorrow. gonna do some troubleshooting beforehand, but I'll need either a central locking ECU or master acutuator (any ideas on troubleshooting the actuator itself? how can I determine which is preventing the system from functioning?) probaly gonna pull my window ECU and check out the board. rear windows aren't working anymore (again...). gonna pull the driver trim panel and check out the window regulator as well.

I replaced all my cruise control hoses. unfortunately, i managed to break the set switch in the steering wheel (its a towards-you kind of switch, not a push one haha) so need to pick one of those up now.

haven't been able to get the headlight power washers to work, but its certainly not high on my troubleshooting to-do-list. I wasn't able to completely replace the rear washer hose. That little section between the firewall and the LH A post is hard to get to(looked like the fender needed to be removed) so I just cut out the problem part of the hose and linked with a vacuum connector. then I came upon this really tight spot by the LH D post, which i couldn't fit my new hose through. So, I ended up using a long chunk of the original hose connected to another chunk of the original hose just enough to get past the problem bit. The remaining hose was new all the way to the jet. I figure all these linked bits could be causing some pressure issues. It kind of forcefully dribbles out as opposed to spraying. All the hoses have the same diameter, but the connections are a bit narrower. maybe i should just connect the jet to the reservoir in the engine bay with a small length of hose and see what happens. god, part of me just doesn't even care about this anymore. reservoir is such a pain to remove and deal with. enough of my ranting. Onto the pictures!





here you can see how bending of the headliner will come out in the finished product. I wasn't the carefullest taking it out, but I can live with this. honestly, I'm a little disappointed in the workmanship, especially for the ridiculous NZ prices I paid ($200NZD=$160USD. some guy quoted me $380NZD even though all he had to do was re-cover it). many holes for screws and such were uncut. some of the broken studs on the netting which I had assumed would just be replaced with new plastic ones were merely replaced with metal screws (circled in red). not the prettiest looking, but I suppose they're stronger than glued on plastic studs. Regardless, I'm sure it would have looked way worse if I had done it myself.

 

just pulled the window ECU and identified the central locking ECU.
that plastic cover on the window ECU was a serious pain in the butt to get off.

thoughts?


after looking through RAVE it appears that green box is the central locking ECU/alarm ECU. I know my vehicle was japanese and the electrical troubleshooting manual says this is the central locking box. It's kinda freaking me out since it looks exactly like the alarm ECU in NAS discos. But as far as I can tell, no alarm in my vehicle. no red light in dash. never had the alarm sound. What do you guys think?

 

central locking fixed. discovered that the master acutuator was just hanging in the door, missing screws for the bracket. snagged some from a disco at the pull n pay along with some trim fasteners. now i need to grab an actuator for the rear right door since it isnt working with the locking. i should probably check to make that actuator isn't just hanging there either haha. the junkyard disco didn't have cruise control so no go on the steering wheel switch. will update on soldering the ECU.

 

resoldering didn't help. looks like i'll see if i can make that AB window ECU fix myself. the local landi guy also hooked me up with a secondhand cruise control switch. new ones were something ridiculous like $150.

 

new actuator in the RH rear door didn't help. guess its either a bad connector somewhere or a bad wire. don't know how interested I am in tracking this issue to its source. also hit a snag with my makeshift AB window ECU fix. wasn't able to track down C2073 10-W in the LH footwell. according to RAVE it should be in the RH footwell, but I thought it would be strange to have all the electronics listed in RAVE moved into the LH footwell for RHD except for that connector. about to go on a trip down to fiordland so all trimpanels and stuff went back in place. These gremlins will have to wait.