Hi, I am new to Land Rove and I am deciding whether to purchase this 1998 Disco LE or not. Please help me to decide. Here is some history about the car.

It had 3 owners. 1st owner was a company in North/South Carolina, used it as a corporate fleet. Then was auctioned to a dealer and sold for personal use in North/South Carolina. Then the 2nd owner moved to Washington, and car was sold to 3rd owner in WA. And it was auctioned and now purchased by a small local used car dealer in October 2008. The dealer does not have any maintenence record for the vehicle. It has 103k miles. Clean title, no accident record on car fax.

I checked and test drove it today. Went thru a checklist:

1.swivel ***** - did not noticed leak on the front axle
2. two sunroof - opened and closed fine w/o any problem
3. window rubber around rear and alpine windows - have minor crack, but no leak
4. headgasket and valley pan gasket - did not noticed any major, but seems to have some minorseeping or leak
5. valves - did not noticed ticking or knocking
6. belt - seems to be condition
7. power steering - leaking, but no drip on ground. wet on the hose, and little on frame
8. oil pan gasket - minor seeping
9. T-case-looks good, no leak
10. windows- upanddown no problem
11.exhaust - cat has a hole, leaking water too.
12. brakes - feel ok, not too spongy. Anti-lock warning light came on for a while. Brake warning light flashes during test drive.
13. exhaust manifold - has rust
14. underbody - some minor rust
15. frame - straight
16. rear diff. - minor seeping in top back
17. valve oil cap - have some watch and milky deposit on cap, but dip stick and area around fill hole doesnt seem to have milky stuff...
18. suspension - little soft

Sharp turn in parking lot seems to be no problem - no jerk. However, I do not really know how to test out the 4x4 high-low function. It was in H - right bottom. I stopped the car and put it into netural tried to switch to L - right top seems to take some force to get it in (same when putting it back to H). I did not know what does the top left and bottom left do, therefore I did not put it in and drive with it. Drove with the low, seems to be little jerky... seems to have much higher torque, and the shift would be jerky. Could someone please tell me how to test if the 4x4 is working correctly or having problem?

The disco is selling for $3995. Can someone please give me some advise? Thanks.

Jason

 

Sounds like a pretty good price to me, seems like it's in decent shape. None of the mentioned issues are something to be scared of. The brake light is a little weird, but it still might be an easy fix. The CDL is probably seized, most are when they aren't used. It's easily freed up for off road driving. The jerkiness is probably because the tranny shifts like literally every 2 mph when in low, and you probably have enough torque to pull a house off the foundation.

 

So you've found the hi-lo ok. I always find if you're rolling under 5 mph in "N" it's much easier to shift between hi and lo range. The positions to the left of the t-case shifter will lock and unlock the CDL, and using it for the first time in a D1, you may find it has seized up. Spike has a link to get it working again. I don't have it since I lost my bookmarks last week. You MUST use premium gas in the trucks.

 

First of all, thanks for all the quick responses.

Quote:

17. valve oil cap - have some watch and milky deposit on cap, but dip stick and area around fill hole doesnt seem to have milky stuff...

I'm worry there may be internal leak and water & oil mix... If the worst case, how much does it normally cost to replace a motor for the disco at a shop / dealer?

Also hazletbassist89 mentioned:


I am just wondering… what are some issues should be scared of?

Also, the car was auctioned 2 times and no maintenance record at all…

- Would it be too risky to buy? Or is it still a good deal even with all the unknown?

Thanks,

Jason

 

I think the biggest thing to be scared of is user neglect. When a Disco isn't cared for it gets testy. Small leaks, and maybe a few noises from the engine are usually normal.

 

I have a 97 that I paid $3700 for and it did not have all the leaks you described, or I may have misunderstood what I read. I personally would stay away from it even keeping in mind that any Discovery, especially a first generation (D1), is going to need some money put in to it. The jerky shifting in low range is not uncommon, mine does the same thing. The low range multiplies the engine torque through a set of lower gears to provide extra torque and traction. It sounds like your test method for the transfer case did the job. It shifted between hi and lo. The linkage probably needs to be lubricated to make shifting a little easy. The left side of your transfer case shift locks your center differential and forces both front and rear drive shafts to turn at the same speed.

As I said before, I would move on to the next candidate. This one has too many leaks for my liking.

 

The milky white goo under the oil fill cap is normal for a engine that has not been driven for a long time. When it is started and then shut back off repeatedly without getting up to operatin temp and then staying at temp for 15 mins or so the condensation inside the crank case cannot evaporate and it will collect inside the engine.
A oil change and normal driving will cure that, if the dip stick too were milky, then I would stay away.

Offer them $3,000, pay no more than $3500.

D2G-dont loose it this time.
http://home.twcny.rr.com/eeibooks/ro...codifflock.htm

 

i say go for it,,,

sounds like a decent buy.

 

Thank you all,especiallyhazletbassist89, Disco2Guy, AK Rover, Spike555, and sloppyjoefor taking the time to read my post and assist me to make the decision. I guess I will soon be finding my passion inland rovers and yet to explore all thefun of the disco; and am looking forward to receive any insight or guidance.

 

Don't be afraid to ask questions. The only dumb question is the question that doesn't get asked. Spend a lot of time reading this forum and I'm sure you'll find that someone has already asked most questions you might have, but don't be afraid to ask again if the answers aren't clear.