First time to post here, new Disco owner. I have always wanted a Disco and finally made the leap - purchasing a 2001 Series II SE7 with 66,000 miles. The previous owner had a lot of maintenance performed about 5000 miles ago, replacing all wiring, various gaskets, etc.

Now a week into my purchase, I am noticing some things that may need to be looked at. I tried to search for the problems on the forum, but the answers werent quite tailored to my problem.

1. During idle I hear and feel a faint grinding noise about every 7-10 seconds. I can feel it a little in my feet from the floorboard and hear it coming from under the rover. I first noticed it while sitting in a fast food drive thru about a week ago. For some reason I want to say that the previous owner had the U-joints replaced, but I dont know for sure.

2. I also have the sloshing problem from the glove box area - but I have read up on that in here and I think I can handle that. Will someone just tell me specifically where the bleed plug is located - I am not much of a machinehead. One thing I have noticed is that lately when my Disco starts up the temp gage is sitting all the way at the bottom and doesnt get up to the middle until you get going a little bi. Is that normal?

Thanks in advance.

 

You can check if your u-joints have been replaced if they have grease fittings. If they dont, your gonna wanna do that ASAP before you blow up your tranny. You may want to crawl under your truck at idle and see if something is rubbing causing the grinding. At a stop and idle it isn't the u-joints. The sloshing problem means you are low on coolant or you have an air pocket. To remove the air pocket, remove the bleeder screw on top of your radiator (once the engine has cooled) and fill the resevoir to the mark.

 

If your still hearing the sloshing or low on coolant a coolant pressure test is in order. If they havn't been done yet, at your mileage the head gaskets usually fail.

 

Hey, I'm a new owner also, with no prior experience on these trucks, so I can't speak with any authority on this, but when you say it happens at idle every 7-10secs the first thing that popped into my head was A/C compressor...they do normally load-up every 7-10secs or so. Maybe the bearings are shot? Just an idea.

 

Thank you. Like I said I dont know too much about getting under the hood, but I would like to start learing. I appreciate the help.

As far as the grinding goes, it soundsLIKE grinding - but it is not necessarily produced from friction - I dont know what it is.

 

Since you're also loosing coolant, you might wanna check the water pump...it's common for water pump bearings to wear out(on many vehicles) and then the coolant leaks out a little weep hole in the underside of the pump housing. If those bearings were bad I imagine they could make the grinding noise you're hearing. Worth checking anyway.

 

Could it be more of a vibrating noise rather than grinding? Because I have a feint and constant vibration noise at idle that disappears the instant I touch the throttle. It sounds like some kind of body panel resonating. Hopefully some of the veterans on here will chime in with some ideas...

 

No I dont think vibration is the problem if definitely sounds like something that goes on in or around the engine or axles - it is like the engine hums along for a few seconds and then sounds a little different for a second (but I can also feel it a little) then goes back to normal.

 

Just for the heck of it, turn your a/c off and see if it still does it. The noise could be your secondary air pump, if you have secondary air. (emissions thing). Pop the hood and see if you can tell where the noise is coming from..

You need to bleed your coolant system and keep you eye on it. If you are leaking , you need to find out where from.

On the rear side of your front driveshaft, there is a double cardan joint. It has 2 U-joints in it. See if there are grease fittings on it. If not, replace them soon.

 

Mine has been doing that RRRRR sound every 7-10 seconds also when idling. I'Ll have to drive by the dealer soon, and will ask what it is. Meanwhile, if you find out, let us know.

the bleed screw is located on the inside of the hose that runs accross the top of the radiator.Make sure you wait until the truck is completely cold, and the bottle has to be lifted out of its location, and as high as you can to completely bleed the air out of there.