Hello,

1st post and looking to buy a 1999 to 2002 Disco 2 with 80 to 100k miles but have a question for the experts. Is it better to buy a car with a stock engine and decent service history, a car with a replaced engine, or a car that had the head gasket replaced. I am thinking stock with service record since many other issues can arise from poor mechanic work, especially a bad head gasket job. But then again i hear everyone say low miles is king....so that points to the replaced engine. Any advice on this helps from those with years of experience.

 

Nobody has an opinion? I am feeling like buying with the head gasket done might be the best option since most with experience say its not if, it is when.....yeah?

 

i'd say check them all out. if it's a good runner it's a good runner. if the original truck has been serviced and runs like a top, as long as you take care of it it should take care of you.
the same goes for the other 2 options.
i personally would probably buy the one that has had no work done. you know you are starting with basically a blank slate. any issues that arise, you will know how it is repaired, and who did the repairs. that is just me.

 

kylelind...according to your questions, I will try my best to rank each option you listed...others will chime in I'm sure.

1) replaced engine (assuming new block with all new gaskets).
2) engine that had the head gaskets replaced (and any other gaskets for that matter).
3) a stock engine with a decent service history.

Regardless, you will need to use premium gas, re-build the front drive shaft and depending on your off-road needs, a CDL (which the 2002 will not have without modification; but with that being said, a 2002 stock with a properly working TC is very capable).

Of course in the perfect world a replaced engine with low miles is king as you so astutely pointed out.

 

I think it's a crap shoot, you have equal chances of buying a good runner or a dead duck. A good service record is a plus since it shows the owner maintained the vehicle and you can see what work was done.

 

+1.
I bought a truck that appeared to be good, but there was a 40k hole in the service records from 55k - 95k miles. (I could tell most things (like fluid changes) had been taken care of, just not when or by who.)

After looking the truck over, I took delivery from an out of state seller via a transport company and then it immediately blew the HG. I was irrate, but in hind sight I'm glad it happened that way. Now I know what was done to fix it, and when all the other major service items were last taken care of because I did them myself.

moral of the story: Follow these points...

• Get complete service records.
• Have an independent Rover mechanic complete a pre-purchase inspection.
• Do the items on the major service checklist (at the top of this forum) yourself if you don't have proof of when and that they've already been done.
• Don't pay anywhere near book value for one of these trucks. ('Book' price is established based on retails sales reported by car dealers and is always at least 2 weeks out of date.)
• Be patient and don't hesitate to walk away from any truck that has problems you aren't comfortable fixing yourself. Nice examples of these D2's come along at great prices on a regular basis. I wouldn't spend more than $1000 for a D2 with a bad engine...even at $1k it would need to be in pretty much mint condition otherwise.

If you do the above, you should have some idea what's going on with the truck you buy. Then you can make an informed decision about the options you've originally asked about based on your circumstances.

FWIW, if I bought a truck needing an engine in the near future, but which runs and drives, then I'd approach it as learning experience and go the used/rebuilt (by me) engine route before I dropped the cash on an entirely new engine.