Hello everyone,

I am now the proud owner of a 2001 Discovery SE7 with 122K miles. I got it as a car for my son who is 16 to learn to drive and possibly take to college in a few years so I want to take good care of it. Also it will be an opportunity for him and I to work on the car and get our hands dirty. I plan to do as much maintenance and repair on my own as I can.

I got the car for a great price, and it is in overall good shape cosmetically and drives great, but does not have any real maintenance records. The last owner had it for less than a year and had to sell due to moving out of the boston area. He took care of some things and had receipts: New knock sensors, new plugs/wires, coolant flush and installing an ultra gauge to make sure it did not overheat. But outside of that I have to assume maintenance has been sporadic at best.

So, from the "major service sticky" it seems like the list of things to do is:

Oil Change and maintenance
Brake maintenance (change fluid, maybe pads/rotors and break lines)
Transmission Fluid change
Power steering fluid change
Diff Fluid change
transfer case oil change
Lube the front shaft
Clean maf/seafoam etc.
serpentine belt change

and finally there is the issue of head gaskets. The car runs fine, does not overheat and there are no visible leaks, but I have no idea if the gaskets have been ever changed.

So, realistically, I'll be able to tackle one of these jobs per weekend and it will take me 3-4 months to get it all done. My questions to the group:

1) What order should these be done in? Anything that is a must do quickly for peace of mind or does it not really matter.?
2) should the head gaskets be changed proactively or wait until there is a problem?
3) brake lines. Should I change them or let it be? Manual states they should have been changed at 90K, but who knows if that happened.
4) Transmission Fluid change. I've searched on this topic and opinion seems divided. Some say it is a must do and others say it will hurt the tranny with more miles. What is the current consensus?

Thanks for the help.

Also attached some pics so that I don't get a "this thread is useless without pics" comment

 

1. Check front shaft for being greasable on the double end. If not, it can knock hole in tranny when it splits, rebuild or replace bebore this happens.

2. HGs will let you know when it is time.

3. Change all the fluids and filters. He'll get dirty. Eye protection very important under truck.

4. On the tranny, drain a small quantity out onto a white paper towel. If full of particles, that would be clutch disks. Changing at that point is problematic, the floating particles are rubbing against what is left. Removing them leaves nothing, so slipping begins. But you'll know that a rebuilt or used tranny is in your future.

5. RAVE shop manual is a free download below.

6. Use 85W140 fluid in diffs and transfer case as they are older and more worn. 15W40 Rotella is the standard for the engine oil.

7. Your son will enjoy the RAVE, going to Harbor Freight, and exploring the boneyards. Taking it off on a donor truck saves money and provides cheap tuition. My daughter has enjoyed her D1 in high school and now in college, altghough I bought a $400 F-250 at auction for the driver training (glad I did, I'm not much of an instructor).

 

Thanks. I have the Rave Shop manual already. Good tip on the tranny. I'm pretty sure my driveshaft is the type that is not sealed but I will double check and make sure to change it. I got to find a good junk yard near boston to find some missing pieces.

 

That entire list can be done by you and your son over a Saturday morning/early afternoon so just do it all. What about your plug wires, have they been changed, what color are they?

 

there is a half dozen yards in Bridgewater on the road behind the West B-W collage, Everett's , Regal, I don't know the name of the others they are all beside each other on the same road.
There aren't many left near the city, maybe Buckey in the republic of Cambridge.

 

Note - on SeaFoam do it outdoors, be prepared for smoke cloud, and prepare neighbors who might call Fire Dept.

On MAF cleaner, do it when truck is stone cold, and key has not been turned in ignition. When you go to position 2, even without cranking, it powers up sensors, and that one has a spot inside heated to like 350F, does not like cold shock of spray.

On fluid, one of those $8 plastic pumps from the parts store that screws into a gallon jug is handy.

 

I keep reading that cleaning the MAF sensor is bad news no matter what you do. It's got me scared to try and clean it for fear of another $100 sunk into my Rover.

 

Don't clean the MAF just to be doing it, only when required by a bad fault code and at that you only stand about a 50/50 odds of helping it.

 

I'm not near the car now but by memory they are blue in color. They were changed by Overlander in Boston which seems to have a good rep as a boston shop

 

blue is a good thing