Looking into purchasing a 96 Disco, its cheap but does have a few quirks that worry me. The first and more major thing is the transmission has an issue. Its an automatic and works fine but must be manually shifted through the gears, for example you must start in first and shift up yourself as you gain speed and vise versa. Owner claims its the shift solenoid but I know nothing about Land Rovers so I thought I'd ask the more informed and knowledgable forum dwellers Second, it has the ABS light on. I was told its a common issue but have yet to hear the typical causes. Any insight into these issues would be great, the price is right and it only has 100k on it but I dont want to get in over my head. Also is there anywhere to buy parts for these things other than the dealer? Seems like nobody carries anything more than basic maintenance related stuff.

 

First things first: Take the transmission to a transmission shop, they will know. Sounds kind of shadddy. Never heard of manually shifting an auto transmission. hmm?
Second: ABS (AUTO BULL $%#@) Goes on right at about 100k because they have been determined by LR that they need to replaced (Mines 15 and not replaced) I have the light on. All it really means is that in the event of a car wreck they may not go off. I unplugged mine because if you off road, if you hit something and that goes off its thousands. I WOULD start with checking the fuse in the main fuse box, above the drivers seat under steering wheel.
Parts: atlantic british, rovers north, bp utah, and british pacific. They have everything you need. AND can afford. lol
I recommend that if you buy this, you better have some time to put into it, like all cars preventive maintenance will keep this going for a long long time. Change oils fluids grease joints ect....

 

Walk away. The tranny is an old school hydrualic version, has no solenoids. ABS will take special high cost reader to troubleshoot. What else did he lie to you about? Were his lips moving?

You can look at our Discovery 1 area, and in the technical section you will find listing of things to look for when shopping for a D1 or D2, plus lots of tech articles.

There is a free download of the complete series of factory shop manuals, called the RAVE, in link below.

If you like craigslist, you can use www.statewidelist.com to seach CL for everything "Rover" in your state, in your price range, and it will sort it by city.

There are plenty of on-line sources, like Atlantic British, RoversNorth, British Parts of Utah, and more. We also have guys on the forum who specialize in just Land Rover pre-owned parts. They sell and warranty the parts, they recycle the junk, and have done hundeds of Rovers, so they know the difference between chicken salad and chicken steak.

Now you might be able to help the tranny with fluid and filter change, there could be some valves sticking. That usually is an indicator of little or no service on that item.

Guess that depends on how cheap.

 

Savannah is right. If its cheap enough maybe someone on here will buy it as a parts car? If the motor works ect....

 

Thanks for the info. Figured it was not that simple as she made it sound.

 

IGNORE MY POST. Thought it said SRS light or car airbag... My bad. But other than that my post is good.