Hi everyone, new to this forum and great to be here. I am a huge Land Rover Disco fan and have decided to go ahead andpurchase one.

I was hoping to get some constructive pros and cons about this vehicle from actual owners. The LR i am looking at is a 2003 Landrover Discovery II SE. 62,429 miles. It's actual condition is amazing, owner really looked after it and hes asking $10,000. I have all me normal concerns and a few of them I'm hoping people can shed some light on.

1) Does this model have the timing belt or chain? what problems will I run into? I heard of catastrophic engine failure
2) Is it true at approx. 90,000 miles all engine gaskets NEED to be replaced?
3) Does this model have air or spring suspesion?
4) I hear that if power steering fluid is not leaking then its empty, how true is this? Are LR gaskets that bad?

Anymore info members can shed would be greatly apprecited. Thanks for reading and look forward to hearing from you.

 

If you search you can find the VIN range of the oil situation with the 03's, but I have also read where the problem normally occurs around 30k, but some body else will probably chime in to confirm.
Its a LR , they leak
As for the Air suspension there should be a swith on the dash to idicate the air suspension, or crawl under and see if there are bags or coils, mine is an SE7 that was ordered without the air suspension.

hope this helps but I'm sure others will chime in

oh have fun with the rover and congrats on purchase!

 

Well $10,000 USD is WAY to much for a Disco with those miles. You can get a 2002 with fewer miles for less money than that, you can also find a 2003 with the same miles for less than that.
The oil pump failer on '03's has been beat to death, so do a search for it, you will find tons of info, including the VIN# range for the ones with bad oil pumps.
As for the head gaskets, they will need to be replaced if the coolant was not changed every 45,000 miles or every 3 years, which ever is sooner. It came with DexCool from the factory and DexCool is corrosive if not properly maintained.
Look behind the rear wheels, if you see a rubber bag, then it has SLS, if you see springs and shocks, it doesnt.
Rovers do leak, but the leaks can be fixed. The power steering is a common one, usually bad hose clamps.
These trucks do not have timing belts, they have timing chains, no overhead cam, just a standard simple engine design that has been around since the dawn of the internal combustion engine.
You MUST use premium gas.
Go to www.kbb.com, www.NADA.com and www.edmunds.com and look up the actual value of that truck, you will see that he is asking way to much.
People are picking up '03's and '04's for $6,000-$8,000.
Oh yeah, almost forgot. The headlight lenswill fog up, the seals will leak and they will fog, do a search for that too. Simple DIY fix.

 

Spike,

You're absolutley right with the head lamp fogging, I noticed this on the right lamp - I assume it's not a big deal? Did not know about oil pump, will look into that.

I will look into the coolant remark also. Keep the constructive advice coming, it's greatly appreciated guys.

Carl

 

Hopefully this might help someone. The oil pump failure spike555 is referring to is:

The VIN rangeon all 2003 Discoverys ending with 3A771801 – 3A808362.

 

Hey, I also got an 03 but mine falls within the bad VIN range... havent had any problems so far but when I found out, I told my dealer to get me a full warranty on the entire truck just in case it blew. I havent had any problems with the headlights, although the left lamp looks like there is a cloud of grime on it or something. Anyone know how to clean that, Ive tried scrubbing it but it only helped a little.

I got mine for $10,500 with 75k miles... as for finding an 03 or 04 for 6-8000 grand, show me where theyre selling them these cheap cuz I definetly have not seen anything like that for that cheap.