I have never owned a disco, have heard good and bad, but love the look and utility of the car. I would be using it as a daily driver to/from my home in the mountains on dirt unmaintained roads. I haven't taken a look yet but want to know if I'm wasting my time. Disco I'm looking at is a 98 with 200k miles. Asking price is $1500.

Here's what the owner has said about the check engine light issue:

"Clogged catalytic converters which have been slowly failing. The bad cat has caused the acceleration to be slow up hills and it's been parked since (no engine damage). This is my assessment of the problem, could be something else." Any idea what else it could be??

The owner also listed the following:
The good/upgrades:
-New ignition coils, plugs, wires, air filter, recent oil change (full synthetic, always every 3k).
-new battery
-new water pump
-head gasket done 40k ago
-radiator recently flushed
-new thermostat
-new fan clutch
-recent 2 inch lift, springs/shocks (old man emu)
-Tom Woods front drive shaft ($400) only 5k on it
-front/rear diffs recently flushed refilled
-transfer case recently flushed refilled
-updated stereo
-all power windows/sunroofs work
-recent rhino line paint job
-defender wheels
-bf Goodrich AT tires 60%
-4 wheel drive high all time, 4 low works
-tow hitch
-new steering stabilizer
-interior in great shape
-new fuel filter
-new fuel pump
-all lights work
-spare tire perfect, new cover
-new brake calipers, pads, rotors
-new wheel bearings

The bad:
-cat issue
-cruise control doesn't work
-occasional drips reminiscent of any older vehicle (no major leaks)
-check engine light is on (cat issue)
-abs light is on only because I pulled the fuse (abs works with fuse in, I just don't prefer the function. I feel safer without it)


All in all, I just wonder if this car is a money pit. Any advice appreciated.

 

Is this the Jamacian lookin' one on Denver CL?

What concerns me is that if it is only $200 to fix the cat with an aftermarket solution, why would they just do it?

 

New Y-pipe with cats is $550 +ship.

The issue I would have is verifying that problem. What specific codes are present?

Cruise control is a $50 fix
drips are drips
ABS is very likely to be simply worn sensors. That can be somewhat expensive or you can just leave it as is and not have ABS.

 

Sat is right!!!
BUT if you just have to own this pay NO MORE than $500 and a half a bag of weed.

This thing is a POS > https://denver.craigslist.org/cto/d/...648742222.html

 

Not sure if Id consider it a POS anymore then any other non restored Disco of that age. However, wtf is with the paint? That kinda of stuff makes me very concerned about the knowledge and ability of work the original owner performed themselves - mainly the head job and the water pump. If done by a shop I would want to see the records-if by him, then no sale without compression check. (bad head job could be causing loss of compression=loss of power.) Also a going bad tranny may seem like loss of power too. I did'nt see any mention of fluid changes or filter changes.
But on the same hand there has been alot of good maintenance done so far.

Going into this you MUST be able to work on your own vehicles and understand its not a toyota and never will be. BUT they are easy to work on, parts are cheap and this and other sites have tons of knowledge and people willing to share it.

 

I second that! You must be willing to get under, on top of and inside this thing or it will drive you to the Mad Poor House.

 

Ok, thank you everyone, for the responses. I went and checked it out. Yes it's the Denver CL one. Here's what I saw/experienced:

Doesn't make power well, which the seller said could be the cat
Won't go into four low, needs a new transfer case
Power seat switches are broken, which isn't a huge deal but I can't drive the thing with how far back the seats are right now.
Exhaust leak, not sure what the cause is.

The interior is in good shape and the guy seemed honest and reasonable about it's current state.

I'm fine with doing the work but I am wary of how many issues there seem to be. Maybe worth it for a grand and a few weekends of work to get it running properly?

 

Owner said he had too many car projects on his plate (at least three of which I saw) and that this one "had problems that started to domino" so he wants to let go of it.

 

Good thought on the head job. Owner seemed to know wtf he was talking about, maybe I'm a fool to trust. I kind of love the rhino paint! Maybe it's just me too ... Thank you for the help Whiskey Nipple!