Hello everyone. Glad to find this forum. I've always loved Land Rovers. After a few years of going offroading with my buddy I'm finally ready to get my own rig instead of always being the passenger. He has a Jeep Cherokee (XJ) and while those trucks are very capable the looks of it just doesnt do it for me. Disco's, on the other hand, are the most beautiful trucks. With that said, I've been doing some research on Discovery II's. What I've learned so far is they'll always need a head gasket and valve cover gasket done, if it hasn't been done already, they twist drive shafts in the dirt, and ofcourse terrible mpg's. Those seem to be the major things. Now, in the case of head and valve cover gaskets, how often do those need to be done and what's the difficulty level from 1-10? Is there any other major problems I should expect? How's the durability of the drive train? And what would you guys recommend for me to look out for in making a decision on what to buy. I understand the only Disco II that has a manual on/off 4wd is a 2004 model. Though this feature is nice, is it a must? I mean is there less drive train life with all time 4wd? Once I get one I plan to eventually put a lift on it. I don't want to build a crazy rig, just a good dependable trail rig. What's the price range and mileage I should be looking at? And last question. Is doing a engine swap a common thing? Say like throwing in some kind of crate motor? All your advice and direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

 

Welcome! You will get more answers if you post in the Discovery II forum. This is "New Introductions" So HI!!

 

Hi Linx, welcome. Just wanted to clear up a technical misconception. All discovery 2’s are full time permanent 4 wheel drive with a selectable low range, that is to say you can’t turn the 4WD off. That’s possible because of a center differential which can compensate for speed differences between the front and rest drive shafts. However, the downside to this approach is that if one wheel looses traction all of the power goes to that wheel, meaning you are stuck. To get around this problem Land Rover uses a series of sensors in conjunction with the brakes to sense when a wheel has lost traction and apply the brakes to that wheel which then redirects power to the other wheels moving you forward.

On the 2004 model you can “lock” the center differential which always sends half the power to the front and half to the back, but can’t compensate for speed differences so you have to “unlock” the differential before you go back on pavement. It’s worth noting that the 99 up through (I think) the first half of 2001 model years actually have the mechanism to lock the center differential but no linkage installed, which you can do yourself (lots of forum posts on that topic).

‘’Let me know if you want more info or have more questions, happy to answer in so far as I am able!

 

Should you get one is a tough question. Do you want an expensive piece of junk? Do you want to work on your car all the time? Do you want to prep your truck like you are Batman for every conceivable contingency?

These are the wrong questions to ask. The question is, do you want one?

 

Well, I've owned a couple of BMW's and currently still have one. So I'm quite used to having to work on my car. I guess what I want to know is what are the major things that go wrong with them? Everytime I see one I want one more and more and question myself if I really want more problems in my life. I then start to question what level of problems I'm willing to deal with. So this is what I'm trying to find out here.

 

You came to the right place, search is your best friend. It's all here.

 

I unfortunately lost mine due to an accident a few years ago. I still miss mine all the time and can't wait to have another one some day.

If I were to get another Disco I would factor a budget to reset the car to my liking so I can have confidence in driving it. Some used cars will have more stuff replaced than others and some will be more of a project than others. It would be best to use the truck as a hobby so you are not pressuring yourself to fix it if something breaks. If I got one with a weak maintenance history I would expect to eventually replace the following. Radiator, waterpump(brass propeller), coolant flush, throttle body bypass, install hayden heavy duty fan clutch, perform inline thermostat mod(best mod you can do) or install grey 180 thermostat bare minimum). Relocating the coil packs would be a solid idea also. The reason for all this is that the engine runs too hot from the factory, and since the temperature gauge on the dash is worthless it only lets you know the truck is overheating before it gets way too hot. The block is aluminum and there is risk for slipped lingers and warped cylinder heads. Its not a bad engine but it was tapped out and overly stressed in my opinion for creature comfort purposes in the DII. Would rather have my engine running cooler than my heater coming on faster.

You have to be a wrencher to really get a feel for the truck and honestly I think it makes it more fun. Sounds like you are one so thats good.

HG's are a weakness. So be prepared to do them at some point. But I do have a theory that if a Disco had fresh HG's with an inline thermostat mod they won't go bad or they'll last much longer than the factory spec.

Heatercores aren't a widespread issue but they do happen and mine went bad. Pain in the *** to replace but there are right ups on how to do just about anything with these cars now.

Headliners will sag so you can remove them and paint them or get them redone by a local shop.

They all leak oil and they always will. If you can forsee doing these kind of things during ownership then the truck will run forever. At its core It is a really solid truck and one of the best looking vehicles ever made. They just have ****ty gaskets and seals. Scanguage is your friend.

 

Thank you. That's exactly the info I was looking for. I have no problem doing a search but when you don't know all the common faults one might miss a few that can be a deal breaker. Now I'll start to do some research into these types of repairs and mods. But is doing an engine swap to something more reliable an option some people do? I would imagine this has been thought of and hopefully there's some swap kits out there.

 

Buy a pair of sneakers.

Everytime you get the urge to buy one put on your sneakers and run.

You'll be healthier, richer, and have more time for other things.

 

What part of the country are you? I'd suggest spending some time in person with a Disco owner before you get close to buying one.