Hello I am new here (but not new to Discos) I have two D1s and four 99-00 D2s . My wife and I live on top of a mountain in NH and need them to navigate the access. With her being a school teacher she needs to get in and out with no excuses . The rovers provide us with that security .
She always wanted a Range Rover but I would say NO!
We just found a nice Bosch P-38 (witch to my delight shares a lot with the D2 )and now I have fallen for her. ( not to compare Rangies and Discos they are both great and un like marriage you can love multiple partners .
So here's my question
I would like to get a newer D2 (and retire the others to Work ,Mud and Salt season trucks)
I am leaning towards a 04 but I found a beautiful 03 in my price and millage range .
It has 100k and falls in the fatal vin# range ( I have don a lot of reading on this and there is no clear answer .
did some slip by or are they ticking time bombs
It seems we only here from the ones that grenaded did all 30,000 need repair ?
If you get to 100k with strong oil pressure are you clear of the misalignment Issue ?
Should I just hold out for a 04 (I would like the CDL but the idea is this will be a fair weather Rig so I could get by with out it )
Thank you HCF

 

The overall consensus is that they have all either blown up or have been repaired by now. I have one and got a free new engine from LRNA at 38k.

At 100k i don't think you'd have any worries other than the normal Disco issues.

Which would mean you could still have oil pump/pressure issues and if it hasn't had the head gaskets changed yet, it will need that soon.

Bottom line treat it like any other Rover, Use Rotella 15w40, add the 180 degree thermostat, use premium top tier fuel, etc.

 

I am up to speed on the head gasket affair , I will do it for good measure on each ( new to me ) truck I get .
So should I be running 15-40 in all my 4.0 as well (would be nice seeing that every thing else I own is a diesel )

 

Unless 15w40 is too thick for NH winters then yeah.

The ZDDP additive package to keep diesel engines clean also does the same in the Rover V8.

Most here report smoother quieter operation using Rotella 15w40.

 

As cold as the winters are up there, I would definitely run the 5w-40 Rotella T6 (or my personal choice the Mobil 1 5w-40 TDT).

Most engine wear happens in the first minutes after a cold engine is cranked. You want oil to flow immediately after cranking. So a very thick, very cold oil is going to deprive the engine of oil for a long time, and significantly increase wear.

 

I run T6 5W-40 in my '04 and it does seem to start up nicely in the cold. We see temps in the -10 range every once on a while. My oil pressure runs around 20psi at idle and 40psi at 2,500 rpm when hot year round so it seems to work fine for my engine.

 

Speaking of D2's generally, apart from the V8 engine of which I had a 2000 V8 but have no further experience (mines now an 03 diesel) there is absolutely no other critical differences elsewhere apart from, I believe, the 03 and 04 didn't have CDL. The V8, it seems, is the weakest point of the D2 with other minor issues and spec differences thrown in for annoyance, but in the main, excluding engines, they are more or less all the same. The worst is they are all loaded to the hilt with electronics and even more so on the later RR's.

 

04 has CDL, 03 does not.