I am new to the forum and am looking to buy a Discovery II. I have a friend/coworker who is a Discovery and he introduced me to his Land Rover mechanic who owns the shop and has vehicles for sale every once in a while. Well I went to talk to him about the Discoverys as I know domistic and asian vehicles but am clueless on europenion vehicles. While talking to him he showed me a 00' Discovery with 87000 miles. He just did the head gaskets and resealed the motor. It is in decent shape for its age just a couple of minor scrapes and the clear fading on the roof.

Every thing works and it has the center lock transfer case but no shifter. Also has the three amigos but he is willing to fix it prior to purchase. He is asking $5000. My friend knows him well and I have several other friends that use him. He let me take the vehicle home to drive for a day. It drives well and I had no issues.

I am just woundering it that would be a decent price or should I look else where. He is also willing to give me a two month warranty. I know that a Discovery will be a hands on vehicle but as a former ASE Master Tech I am not afraid to get my hands dirty. By the way I have to say this is one of the most helpful forums I have seen. Everybody here actually wants to help and share, a rarity nowadays.

 

You might want to pay a third mechanic to look it over. In our tech area there is a list of things to look for on purchase of a Discovery. One item is coolant temp, your scanner will show the real temp, the factory gauge is at 50% from about 140-240F.

Common heat problems pop up after warm up, and a hard to fix one is "the tick", where a cylinder sleeve has broken loose and hits the fire ring of the head gasket. It may stop at higher rpm as it can't keep up with the piston.

The front prop shaft, if still oem, won't have grease fittings on all u-joints. They get dried out, then snap, and the shaft beats a whole in the transmission case. Factor in rebuild of shaft or replace with after market.

Factor in new radiator (too scrawny to flush and rod out) and a new 180F thermostat (about $60). Water pump and fan clutch will be waiting to be "discovered".

The shop manual is called the RAVE and is a free download link.

 

It does have a new greaseable prop shaft, radiator, water pump. I hooked up my scanner and it was reading 212 F with outside temps at 102 F with the A/C blowing ice cold. There are not many shops in my area I trust that work on domestics much less Land Rovers. I have check most of the problem areas listed on this forum and the owner of the shop also listed these areas as problems himself and has fixed him.
He did not offer to sell the vehicle he was using it a an example until I asked him. He also gave me an open offer to check out any Land Rover I find free of charge as a favor to my friends and coworkers. I am just not sure what a decent price for a Discovery is.

 

Many on here have purchased a D2 with a bucket of problems in the $3000 - $4000 range, then had to pay for head gasket, drive shaft, 3 Amigos, and more. A head gasket is 12 - 15 hours shop time, plus $300 parts.

If you select the truck, would advise themostat conversion to the 180F model. See this post and note his temps at 80 mph in the wide open spaces. At 212F, the electric fan should also be on, and while "OK", the 180F stat will lower that.

see https://landroverforums.com/forum/si...ghlight=betcha the view of the Ultra Gauge scanner is the very last segment, 190F.

Hopefully he has done a mechanical oil gauge PSI test, would expect 50 PSI when warmed up and 2500 rpm.

 

that a lot of money these days. there are a lot of them out there

 

Thank you all for your tips and suggestions. The price is on the high side but with the work that has been done plus he is standing behind any work done I am thinking it might be worth it. I am not sure what the going rate for head gaskets and lower end being resealed and also new radiator and newer 255/65/18 Nitto Terra Grappler's but that is also figured into the price. Once again that you folks for the tips and suggestions.

 

I'm kinda with you on this one. I too live in California, and a nice CLEAN one of these is not super easy to find. With all the MAJOR issues already addressed, you are already a few thousand ahead.

I bought mine without knowing what has or has not been done (no records). It's SUPER clean, no dents, tears, paint is almost perfect, and appears to have been garage kept, but I paid $6300. It's an 03 DIIs. So far, I've been fortunate to not have any major issues, but I realize I may be looking at the Head Gaskets soon (if they have not already been done). That will make my truck about $7800. So again, comparing this to yours, I'd say it's not all that bad of a deal.

There are definately cheaper ones out there, but do they also have the major issues already done??? But, keep in mind, there will likely be something that comes up in the future, so make sure you have a small $$$ reserve for that...