Hi all,
After being out of the Rover circle for a while I'm looking for another Rover - a Discovery I or II. I understand pro's and con's of each but am looking for one that is clean and has some maintenance records as I am not a mechanic, although I'm eager to learn and look forward to starting to work on the truck myself over the years.

I have spent hours researching the threads for new owners, what to look for on Disco's, typical problems, etc., so I won't ask the questions that you have all already answered (or at least try my best not to).

Today I looked at a 2000 Disco II with 125k. It has had major work done by a local foreign auto specialist with an excellent reputation and the local LR dealer, also with a great reputation. The guy who bought it built it up, never off roaded, and now is selling it - he basically just likes to build and sell unique vehicles but doesn't seem to know a lot about Rovers. I have talked to both mechanics who worked on it and both feel it's a great vehicle to buy given all the work that's been done as they feel it's clean overall with little rust.

The guy bought it with 125kish miles and it now has 126,500. In the last 18 months it has had head gaskets, valve job, 2 cylinders repaired, all power windows and door locks replaced, ignition replaced, ABS/Traction control module replaced, alarm system gremlins repaired and rewired, new ball joints, all fluids replaced, new brakes, Terrafirm 2" (he says 3, but I don't believe they make a 3") coils and shocks. Brand new tires (mastercraft??? I think they are junk), extended rear brake lines, ARB bumper and Superwinch 8500 (I would prefer Warn, but it's already on there), new roof rack with driving lights, and some other extras. Basically, he bought it for 3K and put 10K into it. He showed me all receipts.

I know I still need to replace front driveshaft, plastic diff. plugs, etc. and some other things I've been reading about as the LR mechanics noted wear on the front U joint.

The LR inspection also noted a minimal coolant leak and oil leak as well on 5/11 and they said it was an intake leak but nothing out of the ordinary for a 10+yr. old ROver, or this vehicle. I have attached a few pictures of the oil leak under the engine and the rear frame where there is some rust (didn't seem bad after tapping it) but I know nothing about detecting frame rust.

The guy wants $8500 for it given all the recent work.

My questions are:

No CDL - how can I tell if I can add one to this vehicle?

Given the premium price and endorsement from both mechanics, does this sound like a good vehicle for my purpose of off road driving or would I be better off looking for a Disco for less $ and doing some of the building myself over time (lift, winch, etc.)? I have enough off road experience that I know I will be going places ASAP where those things will be important.

Lastly, can anyone see details about the oil leak pics or frame rust pics that they could share with me?

Thanks in advance for the help. This seems like a great forum and I look forward to learning more and getting to know everyone. Cheers.

 

Here is a picture so you get an idea of the vehicle.

Thanks everyone.

 

Truck looks cool for sure. The price indeed is up there. You can find a low mileage 04 for that kind of coin.
As far as the oil leak goes, that does not look minor. It looks pretty major. You might want to really see where that is coming from.
For the rust, I would not worry about that too much. Looks normal to me for the age/mileage.

For the CDL, the 2000 has it but you would have to manually do it from under the truck. Do a search on here though for information on putting one in. You could use the shifter from a D1, or a number of other mods that would make it work. I've seen everything from $20 solutions up to $600. I suppose it depends on how clean and easy you want it done.

 

CDL: unless the transfer case has been changed, a 2000 D2 will have the ability. You will just need to add the shifter and linkage, either D1 shifter, 2004 D2 shifter, aftermarket, homemade, or use a spanner from under vehicle.

Price does seem high, but also don't know about cosmetic condition of vehicle. Assuming the interior and exterior were perfect, and all electrical things work, IE the vehicle has NO flaws, it sounds like he is trying to recoup what he has had done in the short time he owned it.

ALWAYS be more concerned about a coolant leak than an oil leak. The one thing in your post that I question is the "2 cylinders repaired". Why? How?

The rust looks normal for the age. Mine is about the same, maybe a little less. The oil leak: What kind of oil has he been running, and when was the last time he cleaned the oil from outside the pan? Has this oil been accumulating over the past 120k+ miles?

 

He has run synthetic since he owned it but that hasn't been more than the last 5 to 7k miles I don't believe. I know some engines leak after switching to synthetic after regular for many years. It looks like the oil had been accumulating for a while and there was nothing on the ground underneath where it has been parked inside a heated garage for months. Was prob. a quart low but the guy drives it so little he was only changing the oil once a year.

Thanks for all the info. , I appreciate it. I will try to get more info. on the cylinders and let you know. I believe the mechanic said that two were misfiring but I'm not 100% sure. I believe the price is a little high as well. He has 9k of receipts from the two mechanics together and another 4k of brand new aftermarket stuff (lift, winch, tires, etc.) so he's definitely trying to get some of that back.

 

The one key he has to know is that you NEVER get your money back from changes/modding to a car! Most people who heavily mod a car actually do better by putting it back to stock and selling the parts on the side. I've modded many cars, heck, likely all of them, and most of the parts get sold before I sell the car (at least the bigger stuff). Repairs are especially the same way. I bought my truck for just the price of all the repairs put into it the previous 2 years.
Now granted, it is nice to buy something turn-key and have it the way you like it, so if that is what you want to do, I would say maybe $7K would be a good number considering you might have to put another $1,000 into it when you get it (drive shaft, fluids, personal touches, etc).

 

1. Find a stock Disco in your area (comparable year and mileage)
2. Add up all the off road add-ons you might want (lift, tires, bumper, rack, etc,..)
3. Add up the cost of all the recent work he did.
4. Add up the time it would take you to do all the work he's done, and get all the mods you want

1+2+3+4 = $_____. Is that price and time spent >, =, < or the cost of this truck?

Like Snafu mentioned, he can't expect to get full price from his add-ons on resale (i.e. don't let him tack on $1600 for the ARB bumper). Looking back, I kind of like the idea of being able to buy a "turn key" modded rig. If you don't like any of the mods the PO made, pull them off, sell them off and buy what you want.

Having fresh head-gaskets is a HUGE plus in my book.

 

oil leak looks pretty substantial, check the rear valve cover gaskets.

yes they make a 3" terrafirma kit, I just bought one myself

modding car (reguarldess of if it were used for the purpose of the mods ie. offroad or track car/show car) without personally knowing the person, isnt a plus, its a minus. if hes concerned with recovering the price, like said above, i woulda pulled the aftermarket stuff off and sold on the boards or ebay, replaced stock stuff and gone from there. that price is easily double what its work, even more so for the engines leaking oil and iffy history. winch and bumper... what condition are they? old burned out winch certainly isnt going to be worth what he rememebrs paying for it haha.

if the headgaskets where jsut done recently, that thing should be relatively spotless unless they just slapped it all back on.

other then a fuel injector or spark plug, a repair that someone would refer to as a cylinder fix sounds more to me like rings being replaced for lack of compression causing the missfire...otherwise id probably only refer to i as a tune up!! double check his paperwork on that one.

rust looks fine, but it shows it wasnt really cared for. get under there with some abrasives, coat it with rust reformer then some rubber undercoat etc... should clean up pretty quick and easy.

 

Thanks guys. All the aftermarket stuff is new, lift has never been used off road, tires still have the blue "new tire" stuff on the whitewalls, bumper is brand new, not even any knicks/dings, winch has never been used - cable is still shiny.

As yloDisco II posted above, the guy has over 9k of repair receipts and another 4k+ of aftermarket receipts. Some of it is stuff I'd choose, some isn't. I was thinking it made sense to find a Disco that someone else bought for 3 or 4k and put 9+ into just to get it running rather than me being the guy who buys one and has to put that much into it.

I'm on the fence but I appreciate the feedback. The guy isn't thrilled about letting me take to to the dealership to have it looked at so that's a pretty big turn off to me. Said he doesn't know anything about the oil leak but I don't see how you could not notice that.

 

And that is another thing. Dumping tons of money into repairs/mods and overlooking something like an oil leak that looks like it has been happening for a while. Also, the mechanic who were under there not even caring enough to wipe it down?
Listen, maybe it is a good truck and worth the money, but also good to look at it with some caution and ask some of those questions at least to yourself!