Oh, I don't know about "pretentious lazy people". A vast majority of people just don't know a u-joint from a slip joint nor do they take the time or have the inclination to learn about them. These vehicles require dedication and skills that many don't posses with anything mechanical. They also come with a well earned reputation as being expensive to maintain. Your not going to find Rover parts at the local palace so it's either online, dealer, parts vehicle or reseller. That's a hassle to most people. Heck, it's a hassle to me when something critical fails. If I don't have a spare (which I now do after five years) I have to scramble to find the part because this is my dd. So the vast majority of Rovers that are for sale have issues that the owners didn't or couldn't address for the reasons fore mentioned.

 

I think a lot of people that buy a rover new think it is a high end luxury import and that should mean it never needs anything except gas and occasional oil change, so by the time us poor people get em they look great cause of the aluminum body but are falling apart from maintenance neglect and it shows since you seem to get the same issues over and over

Do not take offense cause if I were in your situation I would buy a Asian car like Mazda or Honda to make that drive and keep the rover to tinker and use locally

I drive my Rover 2 times a month from n.j. to va. And back bout 4 hours each way I been a pro mech and do not trust it very finicky vehicle, when it is right it is a great vehicle when broke it is a bear to figure out sometimes

 

I agree with scouts last comment... I chased down and intermittent charging problem for a year before research of the problem yielded another person that had a very similar issue... Turned out to be a near zero dollar fix and only about an hour’s time... Most of the issue in finding it was the problem either would not occur or would return to normal operation once I started digging...The issue was simply a poor soldier joint on the back side of the dash board where the sense wire attached... Cleaned and re-soldiered the joint and been fine ever since...

From what I have researched, I have to agree with their advice of trying a known good ecm... At least have a real good look at your current one with magnification...

 

I FIXED IT!!!what I did was removed the power steering resavior cap and handed it to my wife then I pushed it out of the way and drove a 97 disco that everything runs and looks great under the cap but to be serious i looked into the motor compression and it was low on three cylinders I started thinking it would be almost a frame of restoration to fix a lot of the problems it has from pure neglect so I bought a 97 in very good shape and I will use the old one as a donor for the 97 or when the finances get better ill set it up as a off road toy but thank you all for your help advise and time and I'm sure I will be asking something else soon

 

lol.. a funny guy, eh? Happy to hear that everything's working out for you

 

Bad compression on 3 cylinders sounds like someone did the head gaskets wrong, reused bolts, warped heads, did not pressure test heads, cracked head, wrong torque on bolts etc. One or more of those would be my guess

 

Talk about throwing parts at a problem... Wolf throws nearly all of em at it (except a cap)... At least we now can say the cap was definately not the problem...

 

I don't know much but I can guarantee you the power steering reservoir cap Was not my problem but it gave me a little time to work on the 98 plus it is still a parts vehicle for the 97 though might not of been the best answer but it was the only answer I could come up with the time but to be honest I didn't realize how bad shape by 98 was until I got in the 97 and drove it that 98 hasn't been right ever since I got not even close

 

Works for me. Tough to diagnose everyone's problems over the net and yours was gonna be a PITA to figure out. Congratulations and thank you!!!!! Enjoy the best year made.

 

I'm not done with the 98 I'm still going to work on it until I figure out exactly what the problem with it is I do worrie that if I test the ecu from the broken 98 and swap it to the 97 could I damage the 97 ECU or other sensors if I was to swap them back and forth I hope to the answer wherever it is so posably I can save someone else the trouble on there's if it's acting the same