Hello all. So I have been looking for a Disco for a short while, and have gotten a lot of good info from a lot of threads here but wanted a little specific advice.

Here in Metro Atlanta there are quite a few that come up for sale. A lot of 99-2004 years, most seem like they have not been maintained well, at least in the last few years. A good many have very high mileage, and the majority are priced high (in my opinion anyway).

I'm looking at 97-2001 models just because that's what I want to pay right now. I like the more simplistic interior layout of the 97's I've seen, but certainly not against newer.

One in particular is a 97 with 125,000, looks maintained well and is the color, at least on the outside, I like. I am going to have a look, but I did get a carfax already (I had a couple coming I already paid for). It looks pretty good, I will try and attach it here. Well, looks like not, here is a link to the pdf. One issue is a 5 year period with no records from 2007-12.

I wanted to get input on your gut feelings for this. Something to be concerned about, or not? It obviously wasn't driven during that time, or it would have had the emissions tested. Not overly afraid, I can work on it myself and know what the major issues to check are, but you all know a lot more.

A side question is: would it be considered rude if I took along a scanner and checked codes? I know some would disable the warning lights if they were dishonest. Not that I don't trust people, but I don't trust people. At least those looking for a few grand. If I were selling I wouldn't mind someone checking, but that's just me.

 

I'm not impressed with Carfax, it's only any good if repair shops report services, many don't. I've seen a number of vehicles with "clean" Carfax and after an inspection it's obvious that major work was done that didn't make it to the Carfax. One that sticks in my mind had a very nice Carfax, I opened the hood and the seller didn't even make the effort to clean the yellow junkyard markings off the intake manifold. The gap in the Carfax may be simply that the PO changed his own oil, or took it to a shop that doesn't report to Carfax. Regarding taking a scanner, it's not rude, it's prudent. If the seller doesn't like the idea, walk away, there's something fishy there.

 

That all makes sense. In Georgia you need to get the emissions done every year, and it is always reported (it is transmitted to the tag office, only way to get your tag), so unless it was driven illegally for those years then most likely it was parked for some reason.

 

It was driven/owned out of state.
Like it was already said, not every shop reports work performed.

 

Okay, sounds like it could be, I'll leave it at that and not worry about the 5 years. Might be good since it was only driven 7K in those 5 years according to the mileage before it left Georgia and the time it was brought back.

 

When i bought my 2000 i did a carfax on it , Said all the maintinance was done at the stealership . , have had plenty of stuff go wrong with it since then ..Had to do a starter the second day of owning it.. power steering pump , head gasket , water pump , throttle body cooler , power steering cooler , and on and on..

 

I know, no guarantees for sure, just trying to weed out obvious issues.

 

I just wanted to throw it out there ..I would bring a scanner with me and scan it in front of the seller for reassurance . and mabey have a buy back clause just in case of a major issue coming up a day or two later..

 

Def bring a scanner with you, make sure the check engine light was not just shut off for the sale.
If the check engine light is on you can use that to your advantage.
I used that to get a smoking deal on my wifes Sedona, the check engine light was on during the test drive, I checked the code, used that to negotiate with the dealer.
Cleared the code after we bought it, it has not come back on, that was 7,000 miles ago.

 

use the carfax as a starting point; just don't rely on it. It's just another piece of information to go along with your inspection, test drive, etc.

If you have a scanner, bring it and use it. Nobody should get offended. Leave it plugged in for your test drive so you can watch engine temperature.