Not yet an owner but considering.

From an article I read, at least the earlier LR V8 engine was a GM design. Is the Discovery II engine of similar design? I believe it is designed and built in-house Rover. I ask because I do my own mechanicals and I'm familier with GM V8s.. If the design is similar to GM I would have a leg up on opening one up.

I have worked on a lot of other engines but never a LR.

 

It is indeed. Hilarious how LR is bragging about this ancient design in their sales book.

 

I've always liked the appearance of the Discovery II. What are the Pros and Cons of the Discovery design as you see it? Thanks

 

Yep, a 1963 Aluminum Buick 215, sold to rover about 1965. Rover, BMW, and Ford have tweaked the engine and castings over the years. BMW made many changes affecting the D2, specifically.

Primary con on D2 is BMW's decision to tweak the thermostat from tried and true to something "more perfect". The 80,000 to 120,000 range usually results in head gasket failure due to cooling system getting out of "more perfect" and running higher than ideal temps, resulting in greater heat expansion cycles on the heads, working the head gaskets over towards failure.

 

According to this book the original design was 1951!

 

Biggest problem is the casting of the blocks quality control leading to variable block wall thicknesses resulting in cracked blocks.

Either get a 4.0 or a 4.6 out of a 2000-2002 RR P38.

Or, do a full build with top ht wet liners.

 

Have had 9, currently have 4, seem to be in love so take my thoughts with a grain of salt:

Pros:

1. Very affordable purchase prices relative to original value
2. Super comfortable ride, driving, handling
3. Lots of cargo room
4. Aluminum fenders and hood (no rust)
5. Relatively low cost parts - new and used
6. Solid driveline with excellent ZF transmission and transfer case - absolutely bulletproof and rarely any trouble in less than 300k - factory synthetic fluids.
7. Simple to work on and maintain with most all problems already sorted by forum members.
8. Durable and comfortable leather interior
9. Super capable offroad

Cons:

1. Valve cover baffle - plugs over time and is the root cause of the infamous land rover oil leak - replace immediately with pcv valve (search forums).
Thermostat design is total rubbish - causes most engine failures and must be replaced immediately with the bypass design (search threads).
2. Cooling system hard plastic tubing - embrittles with age, cracks, leaks coolant - 2nd most common cause of engine failures. In fact all cooling system plastics are total rubbish - replace pre-emptively.
3. Factory clearcoat fades on hood and roof - keep wax on it.
4. Non-galvanized frame - if they spend any time in environments where road salt is used they completely rust out and are uselesss, just don't buy one that has been in the north.
5. Terrible bumper plastic - they will fracture if you look at them wrong
6. Block quality control in 03-04. Recommend earlier years actually as those years are a crap shoot with more bad than good.

Good luck.

 

I don't know if this rule really works, but I use it in my head. Lower gas mileage indicates a problem. Poor cooling indicates a problem.

Just above the gas pedal of your prospective Disco 2 is the ODB2 port. You can connect a $4 ELM327 from Amazon.com there in 5 seconds as you are about to do your pre-purchase test drive.

Have bluetooth turned on your phone and have the free OBD Car Doctor app running on your Android phone (iPhones try to connect via WiFi which is problematic).

After you start the motor, tell the app to connect to OBD CAR.

Do your test drive your way. After you finish, go to Current Data and check your gas mileage for your test drive. Anything below 9 mpg is warning you of a problem... In My Opinion.

Check your coolant temp. Anything over 210 is warning you of a problem... In My Opinion.


Now check your engine codes.