Walt, for as much as people like to "****" on Land Rovers, I have to say, that it is honestly jaw dropping that my Disco engine was still working. Sludge inside was horrible and everything was just mixed, PCV basically non existent, hoses randomly plugged and hanging, total disaster, yet motor was still spinning!
And I'm big Toyota guy, so owning Disco truly is eye opening and learning experience. I would say that much, now, after seeing many Discos, I came to the conclusion that for some reason, average Disco owner just didn't care in the past. They were fueling up and that's it. "Oil change, basic maintenance, who needs that?!" - seems to be common attitude....Which is puzzling because these were not cheap trucks, so you would think that previous owners would take a good care of them...I don't know what to say.

 

Ok, i'm cautiously optimistic. After putting new front oil seal, and cleaning and reinstalling oil pan, I went for almost 50 minutes drive. No oil leaks (I will take that W here ), and so far no coolant sweating on the block! Fingers crossed, but I'm ready for the head gasket swap if needed. Got all the parts and I would just need to work out deal with the local machine shop (if needed)...

 

It's a shame that forums like this are kind of forgotten. But social media explosion took tons of traffic away, also "Photobucket" change of policies didn't help, and many good old threads all over forums are now hard to read because all pics are gone...It's a shame because threads on forums are easier to index by the search engines and much easier to navigate than social media posts, but at this point of time, I think that war is lost...still, I'm glad to have a chance to talk to you guys here, Apes, Together, Strong! Ha! Merry Christmas!

- Rob

 

Can you do compression test? I would start there and then leakdown test...

 

Loss of power might not have anything to do with any head-gasket issues. If you suspect a HG leak, sniff the tailpipe and sniff the coolant overflow tank. If you can smell hydrocarbons in there (or see some bubbles upon RPM increase) that's a for sure sign it needs HG's. Also check the color of the spark plugs. That's another good indicator.

But even if the HG's are good, and everything looks good, and I had the top of the engine apart, on a L/R with over 120k mi, I would just go ahead and pro-actively replace the HG's. I mean, why dig into it twice. Once you do it, it should be good or a long time. The penalty for driving it if it *does* start to leak coolant is it'll kill the cats (more expense).

 

Yep! At one time going back 15-18 years or so, this was a very active forum. Lot of posts by many owners. I remember one time I was vacationing/wheeling out in Moab and CO. Had an odd no-start in Ouray CO. I posted on the forum from my first smart phone (they were new then ...everybody laughed when I bought it...I told them eventually all phones would be smart phones -- they spit out their beers in laughter!! 3 yrs later people ditched their Blackberry's). But on my smart phone, i had received several helpful forum post responses within minutes! There were a TON of posts on the Disco II forums (all the electrical issues they had!).

But yep, things have changed. Like you say, other social media sites. Y/T how-to videos weren't as popular then either. Now it probably makes sense to do google (forum) searches for certain Disco issues ...and it'll probably bring up old posts from this forum from the 2010's, better than the actual forum search. Lot of forums I've been on are/were like that: Once busy, now a shell of their former self. Most people aren't 'in it for life' & don't have the skills/time/money/tools/energy to keep an old classic going. Eventually most sell their vehicles when they become too 'expensive' ....and move on. But the guys who ARE here are probably pretty knowledgeable. I myself have other forums I'm more active on...but check here once in a while. (still have Disco though). I know what I know, done a lot to my disco ...but wouldn't put myself in the 'Guru' classification. Disco is just one of my fleet.

Some vehicles when they get old enough complete the arc & become "Classics". Then they experience a revival. A good example are OBS GMT400 GM pickups (88-98). Those are hot right now. Lot of guys fixing those up, If anything those Tk forums are busier than before. Jeep forums always stay pretty consistently busy. Might be eventually these Disco's pick up in value and collectability and forum traffic picks up a bit too. Hard to say.

 

Discos have increased in value significantly from 6 or 8 years ago. I'm not sure if my P38 will ever increase in value though.

 

I guess I'm old school but forums work better for me vs watching video's with ad's and waiting for the right part of the video to come along. I have been a member of Discoweb from when it started (my account got hacked so I had to start a new one so my join date is WAY off now). I've been on LRF for a good while now and I will do whatever it takes to keep as many RRC/D1/D2's from the crusher! My wife is one of those people that wants the latest n greatest car every few years, and I get that something shiny and new, but at the same time you just pay more something these days and lately since 2020 new doesn't mean reliable. My inlaws have a 2024 Hyundai Palisade and I drove it over the holidays and nah all that driver assist, auto stop/start, lane assist, and LCD screens = not my thing at all.

So my wife is lucky I have no desire for a new car, but that doesn't mean I don't have desires for picking up older LR's and fixing them up lol. Something about the D1/D2 = all I ever need in a vehicle. Unique looking, lovely lines, very very capable off road, and also very reliable with me doing the maintenance on them.

The Eco Challenge I just got has all sorts of issues, but it has good bones. Paint just makes it look tired and worn out, but paint is nothing IMHO.

 

Spot on. It's actually shocking (but not surprising), how quality of the new cars went literally to ****. And this is across the board, even for Toyota. Also, big push to have more software in cars is a colossal fail in my humble opinion. I know that ultimate goal is to squeeze out more money from the customers via subscription packages and etc, but we already can see how stupid this whole thing is.
Manufactures had numerous issues with cars being easily stolen, because people were tapping in to the CanBus and overwhelming it with simple hacks, or cars just shutting down because backup camera stopped working...this will only get worse.
Also average prices for new cars keep climbing up, so regular people turn their heads into the "older" models...Now, that comes with it's own package, since 20, 30, 40 years old cars are on the roads for decades at this point, so things fail on them, but at least if you have any clue on how to hold a wrench and read some manuals, you can work on these things by yourself. Unfortunately, with new cars, nothing is simple anymore.
Anyway, I honestly see popularity of old discos, range rovers, toyotas and etc, only rising. It's nostalgia for once but also, like you said, those cars have some character. It's not a "blob" like everything new is these days...