Hey all, I'm new to the forum having been lurking for a while. I've come into a bit of an opportunity and wanted the boards input. A guy locally is selling a '98 discovery 1 with 215k. He indicated that it was stuck in park. I did a little digging into the potential causes of that which aren't too threatening. He told me he wanted to get $300 for the car. So I went to take a look, and what do you know, the thing shifts right out of park after I tapped the brake pedal a couple times. The guy was amazed. He is willing to honor his original asking price too. The only other issues other than a rough interior are with the power steering (which has leaked and isn't functioning) and the starter (which is weak/slow). So, I guess I have two questions:
1. What will it cost to fix the three known problems?
2. Is it a no brainier to buy the car for $300?

Thanks!

 

Buy it, don't hesitate. At the very least you can scrap it. The cats will sell for ~$80 each and the rest of the truck should scrap for $250-300.
But to fix your problems:
1) Brake light switch is $26 from RovahFarm
2) Fill the PS reservoir with ATF(yes, that's what it takes) and see where the leak is. Might just need a new hose or something easy.
3) My last two starters I've got used from guys parting out trucks for about $30 each. Check the For Sale section for people parting vehicles. D1 and D2 take the same starter.

 

X2, buy it! These rigs are easy to wrench on and drive pretty well for being so bulky. Gotta have some mechanical knowledge tho. And deep pockets! Lol. Got mine in a trade, threw a few hundred at it in parts, did a stroker/rebuild and now I have a unique rig that out wheels all my buddies modified Heeps

 

X2 on the Heeps, woosies. Not gonna find too many 4X4 with gear to gear transfer cases........not for that price.

 

Picked up the Discovery this evening. The seller indicated that the power steering was not working so I added some automatic transmission fluid to the dry reservoir and viola! Power steering! It runs beautifully and the suspension feels solid. Smells like a tackle box though.

Now I just need to figure out how deep I want to get into it.

 

I wish I could have bought my Disco for only $300! Good find there!

As far as the tackle box smell, you can steam-clean the seat upholstery, and replace the headliner fabric to cure most of that permanently. You'd be surprised just how much smell a headliner can absorb!

 

Damn, I thought I got a good deal on mine at $1200. The PO also stated it leaked power steering fluid and only had to be topped off once every two weeks or so. 63cents for two hose clamps fixed that

 

Deep can be cheap and I'm here to tell ya. You have a few miles on it so I'd do some detective work right off. The motor shells are super cheap (for what they do) I'd take a cap off and mine for copper. If you find it, replace em. That will save you a crank and increase bottom oil pressure. Next would be to remove a valve cover and take a peak. If the rocker assembly looks likes it's icing on a cake it's only a couple of bolts to remove the whole enchilada. Clean oil ports. That will save you a couple of nickels. Get a warm fuzzy and look for as many leaks as possible, hoses, oil pan, replace as many as you can, keeps the pressures up. Noises, check front and back axles, should hear nothing. Check Engine Light, read codes, follow recommendations on sensor replacements. Fire everything you don't know about at the forum, we're here to keep another Rover out of the crusher, super cheap too.

 

Great buy!! well worth the price! I got a good deal on mine, but you got a better deal! Picked mine up for $650 with 125K miles on it, just needed some wiring fixed for the fuel pump.

Download the RAVE manuals from on here and you can fix just about anything. ihscouts is a valuable resource, he got me going quite a few times.