No off-roading...Spent most of the past month bringing my wifes Disco II up to the 60K maintenance mark in preperation for the trip from Massachusetts to Western New York. It's about a 500 mile drive each way. I was interested to see how it did on gas, how comfortable it was for the long haul...and whether or not it would break down and make me feel like an idiot standing on the side of the road.

On the way to WNY, every time we hit a rest stop, I checked underneath the vehicle for leaks. Popped the hood and checked my coolant etc. because I have a very minor coolant leak that I have not yet been able to track down. Everything looked outstanding until I got about 100 miles from our destination and I noticed the transfer-case was leaking like a sieve! I reached up and touched it and it felt HOT. I wasn't sure how much fluid had been lost but there was definitely a drip and there was gear oil all over the crossmember. Unfortunately I didn't bring any tools...so driving that last 100 miles was really gut-wrenching, but we made it without any problems to speak of.

That night I jumped under the Disco to figure out why she was purging fluid and I decided the transfer-case front cover needed a new fixing of permatex. It took me much longer than I wanted it to, but with the assistance of my dad, the cover went back on, I refilled with fresh oil and it hasn't leaked since...In fact, it's almost alarming how clean it's beginning to look underneath the truck.

Ran the gas calculations from Mass to WNY and it looked like 15.7 MPG. That seemed a little low to me, being that we just replaced plugs, wires, all the fluids, did a flush and even fixed the cruise control. I thought that maybe there was a chance that I had inverted one of the ignition wires, so me and my dad were looking at the motor and I notice one plug was actually jumping around! DOH! apparently I didn't torque that badboy down good enough. After I did that, I experienced a whole new driving experience.

On the way back from WNY to Mass, we trailed a tractor trailer and I left the cruise on 65. During this time we calculated 19.7 MPG and we were HEAVIER coming back than we were going. The next leg of the trip I didn't follow a tractor trailer but I had the cruise set between 70 and 75 and MPG went down to somewhere around 17 MPG...still not too bad in my book.

Most importantly, didn't notice any leaks from the transfer case, she didn't overheat or breakdown. The only scare that I did have was one morning when I was taking my in-laws out for breakfast, I had armed the alarm the night before and when I went to start the truck...I got nothing! Needless to say I felt like a moron when my wife re-armed the alarm and unlocked it again and it started fine.

Good times.

 

Ha!

You're owner experience parallels mine in that I'm just getting over the sense of paranoia that my truck will break down any minute leaving me stranded and with an expensive tow bill and repair.

My first few weeks involved a lot checking under the hood and crawling underneath to check for leaks and cringing at the slightest irregular sound coming from the engine. Sometimes I'd be up in the middle of the night and would poke my head in the garage to make sure nothere were no puddles of fluid.

A month later and after a water pump and rotor swap and performing an early 60k tune up, I've gotten more comfortable taking it out. As a matter of fact, it's starting to replace my Aveo as a daily driver despite gas prices.

I suppose that we read way too much. If we'd steered clear of the interweb and just drove we'd be fine. Instead, we've developed a sort of hypocohndria about our trucks - the slightest sound sent me scurrying to my computer looking for a cause.

 

I agree with the sense of paranoia thatcomes with a sensitive owner'sDisco ownership. Reading this thread is much of a relief to me, as I see I'm not alone

It is true that if I would have stayed away from the web, I most likely would haveworried much less, but then again the web brings awareness that allows me to expect and diagnose a problem very quickly. Still debating which is better though, cause being scared ****less to take a vehicle on a trip sure isn't pleasant. Just think of all these people that are driving beaters that leave trails and sound like crap, engine and exhaust wise.... They couldn't care less and go on trips, and their vehicle often last them for years.


I'm glad I'm all over this now, but I can easily remember this frustrating feeling.

 

I can sure relate to the sensitivity of getting a vehicle and being nervous about the first long trip, particularly considering that special interest vehicles such as the Land Rover trucks cannot be easily serviced or fixed in remote locations by local garages. I am also very cautious, and tend to make many short local trips, then regional excursions, leading up to a long trip. This takes place over a period of several weeks until I get comfortable with the peculiarities of a given vehicle. In addition to the Disco I I have an older Rolls Royce (1979 Silver Shadow II) and there is NO ONE in my state that will work on that. I have had to learn to do a lot of things myself, but I am mechanically inclined. The Land Rover trucks are a piece of cake compared to the Rolls Royce.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention...prior to coming back to Mass, I ensured the tires were inflated to 35 psi in the front and 40 psi in the rear. It didn't seem to make much difference in the ride quality but I was told that it should help on gas.

well unlike phototone, the rest of my fleet is mainly comprised of old "beaters"...no Rolls Royces. In fact, the Disco II is actually my wifes and it's by far the nicest vehicle we've ever owned.

I don't mine so much driving the beaters (i.e. 1988 GMC Suburban & 1989 Chevy 1500 Pickup). They are horrendous on gas, but usually any repairs are pretty quick and parts are plentiful. The thing with the older (read crappier) rides is...I feel a serious sense of diminishing returns. When I go spend a day working on one of these vehicles just to get it up and running...I don't feel overly happy to be driving around in the P.O.S.

oh...anyone who bothers to check back on this thread should love this little tidbit...

My 6 year old son is a car fanatic. Once he has identified a certain make or model, he'll scream out the name when he sees it. Well probably about a year ago is when my wife started talking about buying a Discovery. Every time we'd see one on the road my son would say "Hey, there is mommy's truck" (keeping in mind we didn't own one at this point.)

So we just bought this one about a month ago and we drove to Western New York to visit with family. My 6 year old son was strapped in the backseat and we're getting ready to leave my sister-in-laws house when he asks my niece "Are you coming with us? Are you going to take a ride?"

She replies "no. I have to stay here."

To which my son says..."Come on...you've never been in a LAND ROVER BEFORE.

...I never felt so snobbish in my life.

 

Your son rocks.

 

haha thats funny because when I bought my disco one of my friends asked me, "so now that you have a Land Rover, does that mean that you're a snob?"

haha, I guess thats a Land Rover stereotype. Sounds like you and your family love the disco, I know I do and I plan on keeping it as long as I can. I think one day they will be one of those rare trucks that will be hard to find. I took me about 6 months to trust mine fully, and ever since its been flawless. Good luck with everything and keep enjoying that disco!

 

@ camdisco / re:snobs in rovers:
By some strange chance, after I finished up my tour in the Marine Corps, I got a job out on Cape Cod here in Massachusetts. It's not unusual to see Land Rovers, Range Rovers, Vipers, BMW's, Mercedes, Lexus etc. in this neck of the woods. In fact, I feel really dirt-poor when I take my kids to a birthday party and I pull up in a 30 year-old Chevy truck and everyone else has Luxury Rigs.

Anyhow...back in Niagara Falls, NY...I didn't see but ONE Land Rover the entire time I was there, and it was an old broke down Disco sitting at the corner...

In reality, I could never afford the brand new price tag on one of these rigs...Luckily the used price is just right.


Another thing I forgot to mention...I guess my wife wanted to show off her new ride so she offered to drive her family to my sister-in-laws college graduation. It was 6 adults in-all. I snickered to myself because in my opinion the Disco can probably seat 4 adults and 2 children fairly comfortably. Anything more than 4 adults and it gets ugly. I knew to myself that some unfortunate soul would be riding in the far back jump seats...it turned out to be my mother-in-law, who...god bless her...is somewhat overweight.

I told my wife to snap some pictures of whoever it was trying to get in and out of the back...surprisingly enough, my wife did. If anyone is up for a laugh, let me know and I'll post them up.

 

hahahaha now I bet that is funny!
Watching any grown person try to get into the back is quite funny, I am 6' 4" and I refuse to even attempt to sit in the rear jump seats.

 

I recently took a load of my students on a short field trip and they were fighting toride in the back.

I teach adults...

Seven people were in the truck, including me.