Guy on Craiglist is selling 2000 Discovery II, 140k miles for $2000 with a blown left bank head gasket. Went through the list of what he's repaired previously and it's fairly extensive. Also found another guy selling one for $3600 that's been taken care of very well, same mileage. Which is the better deal? There are no more expensive ones in my area that are of any better quality.

 

If you can replace the head gasket yourself, that will save you 1200.00

 

There is no such thing as 'a good deal' on any used vehicle, they are all trouble.

Having said that, if you can turn wrenches and read and understand RAVE you can pick up a reasonably priced D2 and fix it up, but, D2's need a lot of care and attention as they are old trucks now and like mine, 140K miles, it's now in the 'unknown zone' for more and more problems. Check with the guys in the US and they will enumerate what can and does go wrong. Unless you defo need a 4x4 it's not viable to own one. Good luck with your ideas.

 

Depends on whether the $3600 one has had the hg done - if not, it will need them soon. Where are you located? Don't buy any truck north of Virginia - frames will be rusted out, just look next to the cats and under the rear. Go to mycarfax.com and registe the vin of both - but the one that spent the most time at a LR dealer - they use nothing but synthetic oil and people that take them to the dealer generally keep up with the maintenance.

 

The $3600 says it has not had any HG work done to it, I'm in ATL.

 

230K on my 02 4.0L and only one set of head gaskets. Dexcool is the devil & so is the 195F Thermostat from the factory. If you were to have swapped both of those items off of the factory floor IMHO the head gaskets would have lasted a lot longer.

I got 169k out of my 03 D2 I had brand new back in the day. It was running Dexcool coolant, and the OEM thermostat in SETX and I never had any head gasket related issues with it. Age & how it was maintained are the key with buying any D2 now. I just had the purge control valve go out, seepy valve cover gaskets and a g/f at the time that treated it like crappy just like she treated me... Somehow me & the D2 survived lol.

I wouldn't spend 2K on a D2 that needs head gaskets unless it was some special vehicle model or something like that.

 

Agree with 4x4, 2k for a disco that needs any kind of engine work is too much. You can buy them all day with excellent exterior and interior for $500-1000, with engine problems of course.

 

I picked up a fairly clean DII with 130k miles for $1800 a month ago. Needed a CkPS replacement and will need a new gasket on the front cover. The previous owner had a water pump replaced and now it's leaking oil like the Exxon Valdez.

I personally wouldn't spend more than $1000 on one that needs head gasket replacement. The book value on the DII just isn't there any longer.

 

I don't fully agree with that. When I was 19-21 years old I had 2 89-91 Mitsubishi Montero 4DR's. They were of coarse used, but absolutely nothing was wrong with them. I was young and stupid and fell in love with the 00-01 Nissan Xterra 4x4, so I traded both my Montero's in on a brand new in the showroom black on grey Nissan Xterra 4x4 SE with a brush guard & all the dealer goodies you could get on them at the time. I rolled out of there feeling like a million dollars.... Then 2 weeks later I jumped into my new car smelling Nissan Xterra & cranked up the AC. It was a hot day so I thought the Xterra was just taking a while to cool down. Well after I was like WTH my Montero's are older and cooled down faster did I finally realize the AC was dead on my 2 week old Xterra. I rushed down to the dealership & passed my salesman who didn't even remember me after just 2 weeks.... I handed the keys to the service guy & waited in the lobby. About 15min later I was told it was a seal on the high pressure side that went out. I said okay but ya'll are fixing it right. I was then told no sir it'll be 560.00 to fix it as the seal is bad and it requires a new line and the damage appears to be from a rock. I said yes but it's got 1,200 miles on it. I was given some BS excuse and basically they input it into the system so even when I tried another Nissan Dealer I was denied.....

I looked around for a high pressure line & after a month of cooking in my brand new 4x4 I paid more for the AC to be fixed than the monthly payment.... The AC was never as cold as it was when I first drove it home... (many many years later I got a recall letter in the mail long after I'd sold that POS for the high pressure line & if I had a receipt I'd have got my 560.00 back).

Then it started it's famous thing no one could fix! At about 15K I started loosing coolant. It started with just a drip here n there, so I took it in, and they said they replaced coolant hoses, and some clamps. Went out that night and my date walked up to my Xterra and said it's leaking something green. Of coarse it was coolant gushing out.. We took her old honda on the date & left the new Xterra for me to fix later on. I took it back again for the coolant issue & they told me they couldn't find where it was leaking from!!! I explained where I thought it was coming from so they had a better idea & they told me a hose clamp was loose. When they drove it around I could smell coolant & see it dripping. I told em & they said it was excess coolant on the engine. I drove 72 miles home & when I got home the coolant system was nearly bone dry. I had it towed back & they told me a hose had split open in a different spot and it would take 5hr worth of labor. I was given a POS Dodge Neon as a rental, and they had my Xterra for 3 days. It still smelled of coolant, and when I popped the hood I saw a 3inch long hose right in plain sight that was new. They said that was the one that busted... BS I popped the hood and the leak was much much lower from the rear of the engine. I then just topped off the coolant way worse than any LR I've owned with a coolant issue.

Then one day I wanted to go grab a ThunderCloud Sub in Austin, and when I put the key in all the lights on the dash lit up, and I heard all these relays clicking. It wouldn't start, and I couldn't get the key to come out! I had to disconnect the battery & it stopped the clicking and I heard the key in the ignition tone. I drove to 7-11 to get a drink, saw an Auto Mart with a 97 D1 on the cover at a Dealership. I called, drove down there and traded my LEMON no good off road POS Nissan (made in Mexico BTW) in for a used LR I knew nothing about. I went by the LR dealership just to get a few misc things & they offered to look it over for me if I had 30min to an hour to wait. I said sure why not. They came back and told me my cats were rattling and that it needed a service campaign on the coolant hoses. I said sure how much is that gonna be? They said the cats are under warranty & since the campaign hasn't been done that is also free. I owned it maybe 2HR and I walked out with a fully detailed and waxed LR, and 2800.00 in repairs that I didn't have to pay. That is what I call service!!!!! They also offered a loaner if I wanted to keep it there for a few other little problems that were under warranty, but they had to order parts. I just took mine home & returned when the parts came in.

After taking a 12K loss on the Xterra I vowed to never get taken like that again. I was 21 years old and I'm nearly 41 now. I have never owned another off the showroom new vehicle. They've all been used or dealer certified like both my 03 D2's with less than 2500 miles on them. All my 6 Land Rover's are paid for (including the LR3), and I have plenty of friends that brag about getting new vehicles every few years. I have one friend that spent 168K total on two new vehicles and they've been in the shop more than in his garage. New cars are not perfect with air bag issues, recalls, and poor quality in some cases. Used cars aren't perfect either, but they aren't 80-140K, and if you know what you're looking for and know how to spot anything you can walk away with a perfect vehicle for barely anything.

 

If it going to be your primary vehicle pass on a $1500-$4000 Land Rover. If it's a secondary car purchase, you have a bunch of tools and know how to use them it will still be a long and frustrating road but you will learn plenty. Mostly you will learn to never buy another Land Rover.