I just purchased my very first car (and at 28 years old no-less!), which is a 1995 Discovery. I am in love with this thing!

Because I'm so new at buying cars, I didn't get an owner's manual with it. Hell, it runs and I only paid $1500 for it, so I can't complain THAT much.

There are a couple of buttons on the dash that I have no idea what they do, and rather than push them and have my new (to me) car explode and die, I thought I'd ask the question:

A few of them are to the left of the steering wheel. The first is a "+" with a triangle, then right below it is a "-" with a triangle. To the right of the steering wheel are a "next" with a little carrot top thing above it, and then below it is a button that says "SEL". Right under the clock is a button that looks like it has a little bridge over two straight lines moving perpendicular to it.

a quick search of these forums resulted in me being even more confused.

SO. . . .what are these buttons, and does anyone have an owner's manual that they can/will email to me?

Thanks in advance!

 

the plus and minus are volume controls the next is a search. Del is for the radio but I dont remember. The lower is cruise control

Cheers and welcome

 

Give this a click. It's a pdf workshop manual for a 1995 Disco Series 1.

http://www.landrover.ee/est/files/ma...p1995-1996.pdf

 

The button under the clock with the "road" on it is the cruise control on/off switch.
You can buy a owners manual on e-bay for pretty cheap.
1995-1998 owners manuals are the same.
How did you get it for only $1500?

 

it's got a dent in the front passenger panel, kinda above the wheel. the button on the steering column that has (or used to have) the accel and coast buttons is broken (the top part is broken off) and I just talked him down talking about how it's going to be a pain in the backside to fix and really expensive and he should fix it before I buy it and blah blah blah. . .he had enough I guess and I told him that I'd give him $1500 on the spot right now. It had been sitting in his lot for a while (I watched it, hoping and hoping) and finally when someone else test drove it and didn't buy it I made my move like a snake in the grass.

I'm not mechanically retarded and I can follow instructions; thanks to the manual from wesk (thanks, bro!) I can probably fix anything on it that I would need to. only a couple goofy things gone wrong so far: fast blinker but I traced that down to a non-steady connection in the front left turn signal. Sometimes it blinked, sometimes it didn't.

I'm not thrilled with 8mpg city and 14 hwy, but it's a Rover and it can go where I need it to.

so, here's a couple more questions:

where can I find the part that has the 'accel and coast' button from the steering column? atlantic british might have it but I can't find it on their website. And along that line:

Who are the good (and bad) companies to get parts from? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to air the dirty laundry of a particular vendor publicly.

what are some Land Rover/Discovery (or 3.9l V8) specific measures to up the mpg? I get 8mpg city/13 mpg hwy. I understand that I'm going to eat it a LOT because it's a huge SUV and if I wanted better mpg, maybe I shoulda bought a prius or something like that, blah blah. . I just want to see something around 10-12 city, maybe 15-18 hwy. if it's not possible, so be it. . I didn't buy this thing for the mpg.

I've lurked a bit here for a couple days and have seen a lot of professional responses and also the quick-witted comments. . . I enjoy both, and I can take a joke. I'm truly grateful for any and all responses and hope that I can become a bigger part of the Rover culture!

 

Give roverlandparts a shot. http://www.roverlandparts.com/index.asp

I didn't see it on their site either, but give them a call. Good people there, they'll be able to locate the part for you. Used as well to save some coin.

As for better mpg. ALWAYS run premium gas, it should help a little. New fuel filter, Add fuel additive to full gas tank and i'm sure a few shots of carb spray wouldn't hurt. The guys will probably charm in with other ideas to help with mpg.

-W

 

When I got mine the check engine light was on, the cruise didnt work, it leaned to one side, the engine ran cold AND it got like 2 mpg.
Fixed the vacum line to the cruise, works now.
New Iridium plugs, wires, thermostat, air filterand proper tire PSI and we now get 20+ on the highway.
I also replaced the fuel filter, all synthetics, diff's, t-case, engine. Run Shell premium 90% of the time.
You can get good MPG if you drive it right and keep it well tuned. I made all of my improvments alittle at a time.
I do not know what we get around town, I just know that it is not good. And with it being winter it gets alot more idle time.
I just ordered shocks for it. You will love your trk. They are easy to work on and even when all beat up they still look good.

 

When I had my '96 I got about 9 city and 13 HWY. I drove it like an idiot with my foot to the floor 90% of the time. I know it had the 4.0 and I think yours has the 3.9 but I don't think it would make that huge of a difference. I would think well tuned and driven like you had a bit of sense 11-12 city and 15-17 highway (depending on the topography where you live) should be attainable. That being said, the difference between driving semi-sanely and driving like a grandma is about 1 mpg with my current Disco, so def keep track of you mileage. Sucking every last bit of joy out of driving may not be worth it.

 

Also try Rover-renovations.com for parts etc.

As for premium fuel, my experience with Shell premium has been better than the rest

 

I wouldn't have believed that, but since reading the thread from last month talking about Shell gas, I've been running Shell V-Power exclusively and now I'm a believer. I'm getting more power, more milesper tank, and not having to wait in line at the pump like I used to at the discount gas places. I believe it's well worth a few more cents per gallon because you get that back and then some.