Hey All, just got from taking a "spin" in my '97 LSE. More like a slide. Into a tree. Super bummed, but I'm fine.

Lost control as a car approached and a turn tightened. Clearly going too fast for the icy conditions, or my skill, or whatever. Drifted off the road into a small ditch and the tree. No damage to me or property so CHP let me off without a report that would have driven up my insurance. I'd estimate my speed at about 35 when I hit the tree--probably not much faster when I started to lose control.

Now onto getting it back on the road! It actually didn't stall when I hit, I had to turn it off. Airbag didn't deploy either, probably for the best. As I determined I was going to hit, I put my hands up to block the rusty shrapnel but it never came. Tow truck pulled me out and I was able to start it again. So no inertia shutdown or anything either. Gotta say, I was a little surprised about all of that. It automatically turned on the hazards so it knew something was up.

Took the hit square in the middle of the grill. Bumper, grill, grill guard and hood are gone. FL fender was already damaged a bit from previous grill guard (that was there when I got it) but it didn't sustain anything new, and the FR seems to be fine also. There was a small grind initially when I moved the car after being pulled, but when I drove it up the driveway it ran as normal so I don't think the radiator got pushed into the fan. No (new) leaks at all. Didn't seem to pull at all on the short drives. I'll pull off the grill guard and get the hood up, but is there a shot I can get away with hood, grill and other bolt-up replacements? I'll post what the radiator support and engine compartment looks like when I get the hood up.

 

Glad you're ok. That's one tough rig! Weird that the airbags didn't deploy, but I guess age takes its toll. Also unbelievable that it still drives like nothing happened. The front quarter panels seem to be mostly unscathed.

Maybe you'll get lucky and only need a new bumper and hood! The thing that may be hard to find is the plastic grill insert. I'd just skip the grill guard, although that may be what took the brunt of the impact and kept everything else mostly intact!

Was your SRS light on prior to the hit? I'm curious since my SRS light is not only lit, but the second S flashes for a few minutes at each startup.

 

So with the plastic toasted, I was able to rip that off, remove the bolts for the brush guard and get all of that off. Kept going until I was left with solid sheet metal and plastic. Also fired it up again and gave it a good once-over.

The squeal was the removable part of the fan shroud had come off and got wedged on a belt pully. It was quickly gouged and then out of the way, so that's why there was an initial squeal. it runs beautifully. There was even some residual pressure in the cooling system before I ran it, so I'm confident the radiator and related parts are fine. The only mechanical part that seems to be affected is the fan on the left. The hose/pipe with the cooling wire barbs (not sure what this is, but it's much heavier than fins, pic below) has been pushed back far enough that it's hitting the fan and preventing it from spinning. But it's still intact and not leaking. The radiator support is pushed in maybe 1-2" but not enough for anything to interfere.

Rear bumper was sitting awkwardly in the small ditch and that's tweaked up and blocking the back door as well.

All in all, I'd take a whack at it if I had a front clip or a project truck, but with winter bearing down on me and no spare room in the garage to use, I'm going to have to find a happy home for it. I'm super bummed. It was all but completely sorted, with only an Anti Lock light on the dash reminding me it wasn't perfect. Anyone interested in a great running '97 LSE? Fully functional diff lock, new tires, <120k miles, a bit of a scuff on the hood ? ;-)

I'll take some pics and post in the marketplace. Unfortunately.

 

Super tough! No, SRS lights wasn't on. No reason to think I wasn't going to get a face full of metal, lol. Just posted a followup, and so it seems I'm not quite THAT lucky. Definitely the brush guard took a ton of the impact, and this may be the first time that thing wasn't the "damage multiplier" it's been accused of being The CHP guy did say he thought I should try to drive it after it got recovered, he said there's no way the new ones could keep going but he thought this could. Since I was already paying the tow truck driver for an hour and was close to home, I just had him drop me off. plus no lights or anything up front.

 

Glad youre okay!
Two recent crashes on here? can you guys please slow it down

Surprisingly decent outcome for it, you will be able to get her up and running again. Maybe this time try an ARB and see how it fairs against the next tree?

 

Oh, too bad! Glad you’re okay.

 

Wonderful your health is good.
The rover will be back on the road in no time.

 

Maybe don't give up on it before trying to straighten it out a bit.

A few years ago I hit an elk on my drive to work in my Toyota. Front was smashed in pretty good, but no leaks and still driveable, windshield intact. I bought a giant pry bar from Harbor F, straightened things out as best I could, used a bunch of washers to position the hood latch, got a new shiny hood from the U Pull It, replaced head lights and was back on the road. Daughter is still driving that '97 with well over 300 K miles, even with the curved A/C condenser coil. Gotta love the Toyota 4 cylinder engines.

This approach is not without risks. My second Disco just happened to be at the yard where I got the replacement hood. So be careful.

If you have an anchor point handy, maybe it could be pulled out straight with a come-along or winch. Even the tranny oil cooler wire fins can be straightened out one by one, with patience. Of course all that takes time, and you are the best judge of your situation. So, good luck and Rover On.

 

Glad you walked away healthy and happy the truck is redeemable.

 

Strippped off the tweaked bumper and anything else that was still holding on but not 100%.Turns out the frame extension where the bumper is attached is tweaked at about a 45 degree angle. Took it to the local body shop (again, still drives great), hoping he could bill me an hour and pull it back, but he says it's likely not reparable and per CA law, he's not allowed to repair that due to liability. Not sure about that last part but I think I'm going to throw in the towel again. It was just soooo close to repairable (by me) but then I ran into this.

Pics attached are from straight on and underneath. Anyone need a ranch truck?

Here's the listing: https://landroverforums.com/forum/market/119895