Hello everyone!
I'm all kinds of new to the Land Rover world, but i'm telling ya, I LOVE IT! I got a pretty good deal on my D2, but didn't notice some things at the dealer that needed to be fixed. They shouldn't be too bad, but I'm not a mechanic or anything by any means. Its starting to frustrate me because it seems every day I find another thing I want to fix. I'm hoping maybe some of you have had these issues before whom have fixed them and can share your experiences. Heres the list:

Front mud flaps: Bolts holding them onto the metal are completely rusted out and are just hanging by the plastic! I figured I'd buy some 1/4' steel plates and weld them on, drill some holes and bolt them back on... presto. I'm having a hard time finding a local place to get the steel, but I found www.metalsdepot.com online atleast.

Passenger Fog Lamp: Just noticed this evening that it is sitting further inside the plastic than the driver side lamp. I almost thought it was broken when i first saw it and I can't believe I didn't see this at the dealership. I crawled underneath to see whats going on and looks like the bracket could be bent forward to bring it back flush with the plastic. Don't know how complicated this may get

Interior: It's hard for me to describe... I might have to take a picture of it. The trim or w/e on the driver side thats right by the windshield is wobbly. I was touching the black little thing on there thinking it might be a speaker and it was wobbling... great... I don't know the first thing about taking the paneling off the dash, and don't really want to crack anything. It seems like its probably just a loose screw, which sucks cuz you can't get to it without removing something atleast.

RUST: The salesman made sure to make me know that the body is made of aluminum and how it will never rust. Well I noticed that the roof has a small spot or two of rust, but has bulgy paint around them as if someone painted over. He then said "Oh yeah, the top isn't aluminum, but the body will never rust", great. So I guess my question is: how difficult/expensive is it to remove even just the smallest of rust spots? And when I touch the bulgy paint it almost feels and sounds like a tiny bag of sand... which to me seems like pure rust behind it. I also have some chipped paint on the hood which almost look like little white paint splatters. I found these pens online that are the exact colors (supposedly) to your LR's color and you can use it to touch up scratches ($15). I was thinking about using this for the few scratches on the side and the chips on the hood. Has anyone had any experience with these pens? Do they work? Does it look good? Does it last?

Car Dealer Logo: I think the dealership i bought it from put a vinyl decal on my back door that I DO NOT WANT on there. Not only is it stupid looking, but where they put it is REALLY stupid. Just wondering what the easiest way to remove this is without f'ing up the paint.

Upgrade Headlights: So I really want the newer headlights of the 03-04, and I just found how expensive they are (wow), and heard that you can switch them out into your older disco with the old lights. Does anyone know how to do this?

Another thing that could help me is an owners manual haha! I opened the glove box after I got it and noticed there is none!!! I was wanting to fall asleep at night reading that thing lol. The only things I haven't figured out inside the truck is the "MODE" button by the shifter. Wtf is that? And what is the light button below the fog light button... can only turn on if fogs are on, so I was wondering if maybe they were some sort of heaters or something?!?! Also noticed that there are these two cone looking pieces on the front bumper that face the lights. I have no idea what these are. Almost looks like something comes out of the tip of them like it cleans the headlamps or something? That'd be weird
**********I really appreciate it everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for reading my long *** post!

 

I will get a couple for you

All doors and roof are steel, everything else is alloy

Hair dryer and a liitle time and car dealer sticker will peel off very nicely, then a little goo-gone and wax after that and you will never know it was there

light button below the fog lights is your rear fog lights button - bright red light so cars coming up behind you in the fog can see you - it is a wonderful invention that I think all cars should have

Mode button on shifter - S "sport" mode, changes shift points for better performance/worse gas mileage in high range, in low range changes it to "manual" and will hold in whatever gear you have selected.

those things on your bumper are hedlight washers, only work when lights are on and only wash them every third time you wash your windshield

Hope this all helps

 

Yeah I noticed I have a tiny spot of rust on the black parts in between the second door windows on BOTH sides... What a crappy salesman. Go figure. Gonna try Rustolium on it; should be no problem after I file it down.

Awesome, I'm gonna do this first thing tomorrow!

Thats awesome. I have never heard of this before or seen it. And no wonder I didn't notice it, because it's behind me

I'm a little confused with Mode still. How so do you get better performance/worse mpg in 4Hi, and how does it 'hold' in the selected gear in 4Lo?

Another very cool little feature that I would never have figured out, thank you. Very good for dusty dirt roads/trails and mud

All of it helps Rob, thank you so much for your time! Have a great 4th!

 

You can just buy some small peices of metel from Home Depot or Lowes if you really need to replace a part to hold th emud flaps, it can be done relatively inexpensive.

If you can move the fog light bracket forward then do so and see if it will fix your problem.

The small black thing on the winsheild pillar is a tweeter speaker, if it wobbly then it may need to be tightend, the pillar peice should just pop off so you can access it.

The newer headlight upgrade is a great thing but it can run from $600 - $900 depending on where you find the parts. There is a set for sale on here right now, not by me but I was looking at them for myself but I have more issues to deal with first.

Hopefully that answered some of the other questions.

 

Thanks Rob, I wasn't sure if home depot or lowes sold straight metal plates or not, ill have to go and see what they have next week. And the sweeter speaker isn't what's loose, its the whole pillar piece, but it just pops on and off? Ill have to play with it I guess. And about the headlights; I found them on www.landroverparts.com for a little above 600. Probably something I'm gonna have to hold off on for quite a while like the brush guard, but its something I definitely want to do! And for the Fog light, it appears the upper half that connects to the light is bent backward a bit, I'm just hoping I can get the bracket out without too much work and be able to bend it toward just right. Thanks for your help again! As for the mode button, I didn't realize an S appears on the gauge center, and I didn't notice anything different really in 4Hi. I also checked out the Rear fogs and that is super cool

 

Since the Rover is new to you it may take a few months before you can really realize what it is doing differently, after a while you will be able to hear and feel every little thing it may be doing different than normal.

Most european cars have the extra bright fog light in the back, I know my Volvo does and so did one of my BMW's. The Vauxhall I had in England did as well since there can be a lot of fog there.

Keep browsing the forum here, there is just about all the answers you will ever need.

 

So I tried getting the fog light fixed today and got all up into it. I was using the good lamp as a reference to what it should look like on the inside. Appears that there are little clips that keep the bracket flush with the inside of the bumper. Well they are gone and the bracket is only being held on in the bottom left corner in which it can rotate on. Compared to the good side, the bracket needs to be rotated down, pushed forward and the top pieces that screw into the lamp need to be bent back up. But even when I unscrew the bracket from the lamp the lamp doesn't want to move anywhere. So I just gave up after a bit of trying to bend the bracket, which was very difficult with the amount of space I have to work with. But atleast while I was down there I got some pics.
Another thing I noticed about the truck is that the f'ing AC doesn't work, at all. The dealer said that they had fixed it. But I had it on full blast on the 4th, it was around 90 and I was swimming in sweat! I was giving it the benefit of the doubt for 30 minutes straight and nothing! Is there anything simple that could be wrong that I could do myself, or should I just take it back to the dealer?
I also found a thick sheet of steel that should do the trick for the mud flaps.
I also have a good question since I'm not getting my owners manual for another week: Is there a way to check the washer solvent level? And/or is there a dummy light for when its low or out? Because I haven't gotten a single drop out of the wipers since I got it, and I hoping they're just ****** and didn't fill it up.
And does Sport mode make for a smoothe ride? I've noticed that when you are at higher speeds the truck will kind up jump when you step on the gas, and the same when you let off completely (when not in sport). Is this normal because of the 4 wheel? Also noticed there is a little excessive play in the steering wheel, is this normal? Has there been reported problems with either rusting or leaking around the base of the roof rails? I'm so curious why one has caulk around it and asked the dealer about it. He said it was there when they got it and don't know why either and just decided to leave it alone, but it does not leak. And then I told him that I'm going to remove it because it looks tacky and he said don't! Lol okay? If it doesn't leak (how the hell would he know anyway if he didn't put the caulk on) why not?
Thanks again Robs for your help.