Bought a used Disco II, 2003 with 115K miles from a dealer in PA.
It comes from a wealthy area of PA and seems to have had only highway miles.
I bought it with a one year bumper to bumper warranty, problem is though the dealer cannot get a third party warranty company to warranty it.
This what I am concerned with/wrong about with the Disco:

There is a significant power steering leak, maybe just a hose, as it appears over an area in the engine bay, but it collects down the to the bottom of the steering box...

If you are driving and ease off the gas, say as you approach a light, then get back on the gas there is a cajunk from the transmission as it starts to transfer power again. It does not do this in 1st, only when you are already under way. Is this a normal Land Rover noise? If not, what are the likely culprits?

The three Amigo's appeared once, after braking hard and hitting a pot hole; have not appeared since.

The engine itself at times, has rocker arm/tappet noise on the passenger side, best described as a loud "ticking", not quite a knock...

I was not concerned about any of these issues with a warranty, but am thinking of giving the Disco back and picking something that can be easily covered from the dealers other cars. (He is a small shop selling mostly German cars off lease). He said he will honor the warranty, but I don't want to do that on a car they no experience with, that are complicated, and expensive to fix.

Thanks for any advice,
Andy

 

If your going to buy the truck, get used to getting turned down for extended warranties..

I have an 03 Disco with 67k, 03 Range Rover HSE w/70k and not one third party company will touch them. They are problematic vehicles, they have high repair costs, and have a high likelihood of needing extensive maintenance. In essence, they break often and when the do it cost lots of money to fix.

My air suspension went out in Range Rover @ 45k was quoted $7500 to fix it, I went with coils instead but still spent $2500. I just replaced ticking motor in Discovery that started ticking/knocking @ 64k miles...I got a steal of a deal but still spent $2k.

Reminds me of something my dad told me when I told him I wanted a Porsche 911. He said "you either need to have a job that can support the repairs on one, or learn how to work on it yourself...cause thats the only way your going to own it and maintain it."

Thanks god I have a good job

 

I hear you about working on them yourself...
I can and do, but not usually on my daily driver.

I bought the Disco, but can switch it back with the dealer because he cannot get the warranty we agreed to.

What does the ticking in the engine indicate?

 

As far as I know 2003's and early 2004's had issues with slipped sleeves in the block. Its a condition where the cylinder sleeve detached form the block and can move around while the engine is running causing a very loud tick/knock in the motor.

There is much more detailed information on this site about the condition. Mine ticked and knocked like 2 midgets in my motor hitting it with sledge hammers from the inside.

These are GREAT vehicles, but they need lots of love and attention. There is a sort of "hit list" of things that go wrong with them from ticking/knocking motors, front drive shaft breaking, blown head gaskets, faulty thermostats, sagging headliners, and endless fluid leaks...just to name a few..

I suggest reading lots of threads on here, look around and read about the issues people are having....its likely you might have the same issues at some point. This is a great group of folks here who will help you and point you in the right direction...

Good Luck

 

Do a search on the forum, these engines tick, could be anything from using the wrong weight of motor oil or wrong grade of gasoline to a bad oil pump, cracked flywheel, anything.
The 3 Amigo's thing is 100% normal for these trucks, its stupid but thats the way it is.
These are not hard to fix, or expensive to fix if you know where to get parts and can do most of the work yourself.
You will not find a single warranty company that will cover a 100k+ car.
Besides, the cost of the warranty will be more than 95% of the repairs to the truck.
Like already said, you can get a used engine for $2,000 installed, your warranty will cost more than that.

 

Andy, so are you saying you bought the truck and it has a 1 year warranty, or not, it is Saturday, one of my more confusing days.
The very few warranty companies will not write policies on a Rover over 50,000 miles.

 

From the sounds of it , i would run like you stole something from someone in the getto... That is unless you got it for nothing.... If you have all these problems i would say you have a $1,500.00 parts truck...

 

Many of us if given the Chance would take something else before getting the addiction

 

Sorry for confusing people...

Here goes some clarification, the engine occasionally has a ticking sound from the passenger side.... Just had it out for an hours drive and its fine.
The ABS works fine, had a couple of instances where I triggered it with no more appearances by the "Three Amigos".

The power steering is not that big of a deal, hose or pump or both.

The cajunk when getting on the power after approaching a junction "off gas" is a little worrying. BUT IT MAYBE NORMAL for a Land Rover. Again, if I lay off the gas and then get on it again, there is a drive line "cajunk" sound. Not harsh, but is it normal!!!!

The dealer I got it from sells German stuff and always includes a warranty, this is the first Land Rover he sold, and had no idea he could not get a warranty.

So my choices are:
1)Take it back and get a beemer/audi/mercedes with a one year warranty.
2)Keep the Land Rover and ask for money off the dealer for the loss of the warranty and risk repairing it at my cost if anything is really wrong.
3) Allow the dealer to warranty it and bear the cost of it.

Input? Opinions?
Andy

 

The power problem is not normal....When these trucks are in pristine condition, you can drive them like you stole them. When they are not, they usually ball up in flames...