Hello everyone, new to the forum and Rovers. Or is it LRs? Or just Discos? Not sure what the appropriate terminology is

Excuse the length of this, just trying to introduce myself/my background in order for you to tell me I'm making a great mistake.

My 2013 Honda Pilot EX-L is being totaled out after getting hit by someone on the interstate 'just right' according to my shop, cracked the shock tower, hit the total % in my state, boom done. Plan was for that to be our long-term family vacation vehicle (wife, 2 kids under age 7, dog). Boring, virtually no maintenance, etc.

I grew up with a 95 BMW 318is which was an absolute money pit (I also had this username on Bimmerforums with 3k+ posts, so using it here as well), switched to a Honda Accord when I started my career (again, boring, low maintenance), switched to a 2003 Audi A4 Wagon that I loved but I didn't have time to do the maintenance myself so it was also quite expensive to maintain using an independent shop, before switching back to the boring Pilot. I also towed a 1978 BMW 320 around for several years in hopes of working on it, but never did because we had young kids and no one around to work on it with me with knowledge of it.

I love boxy looking vehicles. The 2013-2015 Pilot is about the only "modern" vehicle (that I can afford) that I like. Everything else is too round and blobby... aside from say, an LR4, but I'm not able to drop $32-40k on a vehicle just yet! (Cue the comments about dropping that much in repairs on Discos...)

I was cruising Bring a Trailer for some inspiration, looking through the make and model section, and came across the Discos. Hmmm. Interesting. Boxy. Automatic (neither my wife nor I am good at manual, not afraid to admit it). Big enough to fit my kids, luggage, dog. Looks awesome. Not boring.

That led me to look for forums for Discos and I found here and DiscoWeb.

I'm looking for an education. Am I making a mistake? Am I putting my family at risk by purchasing an older, high mileage, British vehicle? I work from home, so this wouldn't be a "daily" per se, but it wouldn't just sit in the garage either. I am not incredibly handy -- see 78 BMW section above -- but I'm willing to learn (he says, foolishly)...

Maybe it's the health scare going on right now, or just getting to my mid-30s, maybe both those contributing to feeling like I'm not going to live forever so let's have some fun along the way? Either way, I feel like this is an acceptable risk to take since it wouldn't be my daily. That and there looks to be a lot more information about Discos than there were about the vintage BMW I used to own...! I also look at it like, I'm going to have something around $20k for a new vehicle, so if I can find an affordable, enthusiast-maintained vehicle (looking at Extinct's 02 he has listed, but I can't get in touch with him because I'm new to the forum!) for say $5-8k, I set aside the rest of the money for maintenance and hope not to use all of it in the first few years of ownership.

I have garage space. I have a floor jack and some tools. I have another vehicle to use for regular driving. I'm not coming into this from an overlanding background/interest, but do have an interest in looking into that and at the very least getting more into the outdoors now that my kids are a little bit older.

Am I crazy?

Also, is this still the best thread of things to watch out for?

In short, in my brief research I am now aware of:

• the 3 amigos
• Will Tillery
• Watching out for rust on the frame
• Head gaskets going bad ("slipping"?)
• Driveshafts needing to be greased (or replaced with greasable ones?)
• 2003 oil pump problems
• CDL being in 2004, but generally modable through the Ashcroft kit (and this being most important if you like climbing up nature/overlanding?)
• 180 degree thermostats (watched this video about using a diesel Td5 thermostat and an ultragauge)
• Overheating = blown engine
• Brakes being "squishy" - is there any way to upgrade/fix this like a bigger master cylinder, larger rotors, anything?
• Acceleration not being the best on the highway due to weight/217 hp
• Sagging headliners and leaking sunroofs (not sure how difficult a fix these are)

I'm sure there's more that I'm missing... essentially looking for things to be aware of if/when I start looking at vehicles.

Would love your thoughts on all of the above. Again, if you made it this far, thanks for reading.

 

Add your location as it matters as to price and what you may find

• The number one issue with the engine on these is the aluminum engine with steel sleeves. Any overheat can warp heads, killing head gaskets. Long term overheating or very high overheat is what causes slipped liners and block cracks.
• At 16+ years sunroofs are likely to leak, not hard to fix just time consuming
• They are heavy full time 4 wheel drive gas mileage is not good even with the 25 gal tank - I got about 460km (285 miles) hiway to a tank about 230 miles mixed before head gaskets
• 91 Octane is best for gas
• Drive shafts you you want a greaseable - I do mine every 5000km or after any significant offroad trip -oil changes about the same
• Oil pump generally will have been fixed at this point
• CDL is nice but I go lots of places without ever using it
• Mushy Brakes at least on mine was a vacuum leak and ancient worn out brake fluid
• 180 thermostat or inline thermostat Mod is pretty much a very good idea keeps temps lower gives you more wiggle room
• Ultraguage or cell phone app and bluetooth ODB reader are required to monitor engine temps
• Mine accelerates just fine fully loaded - these are not sports cars but they go pretty good
• Transfer case and Diff fluids will need to be changed after purchase - peace of mind there I do mine 1 once year but I am in water a fair bit
• 3 amigos are annoying but so far I have not had any in 3 year I have had mine other than from an incorrectly torqued rotor by the previous owner
• They are pretty easy to work on overall

You could look at an LR3 they are more money but pretty solid, they have some electrical quirks and V6 is the better engine than the V8 just more reliable overall but it is not a huge difference


A couple of vids

LR 3 - my Disco II was even less exciting going through there


Disco 1

 

Whoops, thought I did that when I registered. Just added to my public profile... I think. I'm in Knoxville, TN.

 

Location matters big time, as the 4.0 motor does not go very well at altitude where I live regardless of payload lol. Pretty solid list you compiled there, all of the 3 amigo fixes are relatively simple and on the cheaper side especially if it means maintaining ABS. Which I'd imagine is paramount as it's a family hauler. Overall they are relatively easy vehicles to work on but they are old and will need constant monitoring and wear items are at or past their lifespans regardless of mileage on motor or chassis.

 

Looks like you did your research
stay out of bring a trailer due to higher prices
look for a disco that is running good with a bit of history
they are great looking comfortable and reliable if you maintain them and follow this forum
I don’t hesitate to jump in my disco and drive 3-5 hundred miles

 

Any particular place to look? Classifieds here, DiscoWeb, elsewhere?

 

Knoxville, TN.

Is there anything else to be done about braking? I have watched several videos talking about squishy brakes or taking some time to come to a stop. Not sure if those are poorly maintained vehicles or common. Just thinking of other things like sports cars where you see big brake kits, etc.

 

My 04 had a new master cylinder, and a new set of 4 drilled and slotted rotors with ceramic pads when I got it.
My brakes could put you through the windshield.
And I've since put a new oem booster on it.
My brakes are awesome, they slow this brick alot faster than I expected they would.

 

Good insight, thanks for sharing. Sounds like anything else -- if maintained well or replaced with new OEM, you're good.

 

for years akebono brake pads are a great choice for braking and low dust as the dust can gumm up the speed sensors
any good brake rotor will do
never heard much complaints about braking

disco mike loved the akebono pads lol