Long term speaking, replace the engine with one of the improved variants available here in the US and keep up with regular oil changes. Keep the entire cooling system up to date and do a proper coolant flush as recommended, change the thermostat as stated, replace the front drive shaft with the aftermarket fully serviceable shaft, keep the brakes in good shape at all times and you will be fine. Anything else is typical wear which happens to all vehicles so.

 

It is a fair assessment. But Land Rover made it worse in some cases. The big one that leaps to mind is the unserviceable front drive shaft that is literally a ticking time bomb waiting to take out the transmission.

But another issue that is very hard to get a read on is many of these blocks have problems with slipped liners and cracked sleeves. I haven't seen any hard science on why, though some people say it was a metallurgical problem in the 03-04s. I honestly don't know all that much about it, but you may want to do some research into slipped sleeves. It's possible to fix with new sleeves, and most people resleeve with top hat slevves to permanently fix the problem. Others who were, um, more frugal, drilled the block and used screws to hold the sleeves in place (which is probly what I will do if a sleeve slips).

Ultimately, these trucks are more prone to head gasket and block problems than most vehicles. I'm not saying your block will fail eventually, but it's more likely than with most vehicles. That's just part of the deal.

I choose to not worry about and cross those bridges as I reach them. It may wear me down eventually, but right now I love the truck enough that it isn't a big deal to me.

 

I had read that the main problem with the block was due to poor aluminum quality. But I don't know

 

If you'd like to read up check this out, pages 24 through 30.

Aluminium quality was not the issue.

How to Power Tune Rover V-8 Engines: For Road and Track - Des Hammill - Google Books

 

+1. If your a 4x4 owner you become attuned to changes in tones, performance and any noise or squeak that's unusual becomes a 'zone in' for your senses. The problem is that many just take their cars to the garage and have them serviced or fixed, not so unless you are a rich SOB 4x4 owner. The more you learn about a 4x4 the more competent you become at dealing with any vehicle and the skills are transferable to many vehicles and other interests and chores, like fixing the lawn tractor, heating boiler or the mini excavator. You rapidly become self sufficient and learn a lot of new skills over the years. I've spannered my own vehicles (not company vehicles) since I was 17 years old, 51 years ago, apart from plastering a wall I think I can tackle any job relatively skilfully, certainly not as fast as a professional, but just as thoroughly. You also become very analytical and logical in diagnosing issues which also helps in other spheres. As for D2's and LR's generally, I don't go along with them being any more unreliable than any other vehicle provided they are maintained and looked after. My D2 which I've owned 11 years from new, admittedly it is a TD5, has only once 'broken down' in a car park, unfortunately facing a huge tree and I couldn't select reverse gear. A simple switch replaced under warranty but I had to be towed backwards to get out. I call that pretty reliable. Admittedly, it has suffered from electronic 'gremlins' and wouldn't start very occasionally, usually due the a local radio signal or my mobile phone. I just get out, lock the truck, wait 30 seconds, open the truck and start it up. Oh, and turn off the damn mobile first.

 

There are a few common fail parts on the DII, but nearly all have a solution to make it better/stronger than the original. Some, like top hat liners are quite expen$ive though, so if that's a concern, I'd go with an earlier DII or even a DI.

 

Im no expert on the subject by any means but ive had in depth conversations with Independent LR shop owners, engine rebuild experts and even a couple British LR mechanics, after all the conversations and tons of research on my own I have concluded that all US bond Discovery 1 and 2 models with the petrol Rover V8 are prone to engine failure. Some would argue that the problem only happens with the 2003/2004 models but that is just opinion of some. The engine used is about the same over the years, just some tweaking, added power and **** like that. Ultimately the engine is flat out unreliable but tolerable so long as you keep up with frequent oil changes and keep a watchful eye on the cooling system. Engine and front drive shaft aside there really is not anything else on these vehicles that is more prone to failure then the components on any other vehicle make and model. Most vehicles have some issues at some point. Brakes, tires, gas pedals, electrical, abrupt fires, random stalls etc. Some vehicles dont like the heat, others hate the cold. Some dont like steep hills and others dont like the slightest un-even bumps in the road. The list goes on and no vehicle has a near perfect track record. These Discovery models are still great vehicles, and most dedicated owners eventually replace the head gaskets or do a engine rebuild or flat out replace with a improved version.

Just do your research before you buy and be familiar with the early sighs of engine failure when you take a potential truck out for a test drive. If you want to get your hands on a nice D2 than I would suggest you look for a well maintained D2 that already had the engine replaced or rebuilt, that will save you a ton of money and save you alot of trouble and worries down the road. With the engine taken care of all you have to worry about is the front drive shaft, keeping fluids fresh and general maint as recommended like on any other vehicle. I love my D2 and would not dream of parting with one unless I was swapping it for another D2 that already had an engine overhaul. When cared for these are truly incredible vehicles. Very capable, easy to work on, parts are cheaper nowadays with all the aftermarket vendors and there is plenty of DIY information available at your disposal.

 

One only has to look at the recalls and problems with Toyota cars in the past few years to realise there are many top selling cars out there with manufacturing faults.

In a recent survey I was reading the D1 and D2 scored 5 out of 5 for spares availability and 4 out of 5 for customising offroad spares. This may well compare to the best of many vehicles and then when one considers the D1 & D2 are 10-20 years old and still attract an avid following.

 

A pragmatic approach Dr Mordo. As you rightly state, I cannot for the life of me understand why LR built such an awful front propshaft with the silly cardan. Surely with some good engineering design they could have come up with something less fraught with problems. I cannot understand why there needs to be a cardan joint at all in that shaft and why the rear shaft needs to have a rubber doughnut apart from shock absorption. There must have been simpler answers in their thought train, maybe not as cheap though.

Top hat shouldered sleeves are the ultimate answer to slipped block sleeves and should have been the standard from the start. There are many allow blocks with the top hat liners and there are also many with nikasil liners but with the latter the block quality has to be far better. I think it's all down to cash and everything being built down to a price and longevity is very secondary. Having said that, Ford seem to have this philosophy sorted where they hone all production down to a price and their philosophy of 'why use 3 bolts when 2 will do' seems to works on their cars.