I am looking at buying a Discovery Series II. What is the typical maintenance to be done to the trucks? What is the schdule? What are the options that I should be looking for. Have to have verse wants?

What are common failures that I want to look out for? What would you tell a new land rover guy to make sure he loves it. It will be a driver. I am pretty capible to handle most any mechanical issues, but hope not to have them in a driver.

Thanks

 

Im in the market for a series II also. From what I've read and seen so far head gaskets and ABS brake modules are common failures. Most guys on here say expect to put $2,000 into it your discovery after buying it.

 

Why plan for 2K. I want to know what to look for when buy it. What is cuasing the heat gasket problems?

 

Common problems with DII's are...air suspension, it will go bad around 100k. ABS faults, the double cardon u-joint on the front driveshaft MUST be replaced ASAP. If the coolant wasnt changed per the owners manual you will have a head gasket leak.
Misfires due to bad spark plugs and plugwires.
Stay away from the '03'scertain oneshave bad oil pumps and when it goes bad you need a new engine.
Cruise control not working due to a vacum leak.
You MUST use premium gas.
I think that is it, these really are good trks, it's just that before they are sold they are neglected.
If you go to www.edmunds.com you can look up maintence schedules for any car sold in the US. You can also look for TSB's (technical service bullutin) and recalls.

 

Ahh ok, so the head gasket problem is caused by inproper maintenance? I was just assuming it was a manufacture defect. That gives me a little more confidence in LR...and less in LR owners.

 

DexCool is corrosive IF is isnt properly maintained. LR recommends changing the coolant every 45k or 36 months, which ever is sooner.
I agree, why buy a trk that you are going to have to put 2 grand into right after you buy it? Several hundred to get it back up to par yes, but no more than one thousand dollars.
The double cardon joint MUST be replaced with a greasable one, that is around $250 to fix, if you dont do it and it fails on you it will cost you $7,000. It is a bad design, but the only thing you can do is be pro-active and save yourself some money.

 

The things listed above are def the major things to look out for but the thing about Land Rovers is that you never know until after you've bought it. Doesn't really matter if all the maintenance in the world has been done and I really don't think it matters if it's new or pre-owned. The first month I had my '01 I actually only had it to drive for about six days... none of them in a row. The rest of the time it was at the dealer for repairs and it had 3 miles on it when I got it. I've had three Discoverys and each one has had it's own personality and it's own quarks and issues. That being said, I've never had any major problems and I put 125K on my '96. The only "typical" problem I have had is plug wires and it was on the '03 and other than window regulators (another common one) it is literally the only problem I have had with it. It really is just the luck of the draw. I used to joke that the check engine light meant everything was working as it should. Even with the Gremlins and check engine lights the one thing I have always said is that I've never had the slightest concern that she wasn't going to get me home.

The most important thing, in my opinion, is to make sure you purchase one with records to substantiate all scheduled maintenance has been performed.

Maint to be done: about the same as any other vehicle.
Service Intervals: 7500K
Options: There really aren't that many options available. You'll need to decide whether you want 5 or 7 seats. The rear seats in the DIIs are infinitely better than the DIs but I found them to be utterly useless for adults, they may be handy if you have kids though. I went with 5 this time around and was surprised how much space the seats actually took up, I really like the 5 configuration much better but I also don't have a need to seat seven. Regardless of the seating configuration rear air would be a plus but not a deal killer. The privacy glass on the DIIs works well and once it gets cool back there you're fine.
ACE and SLS: There are two options I never really thought did anything, but now that I don't have them I'm kicking myself in the you-know-what. The ACE really does work and I would call it a must have. As for SLS, the ride is a bit better and if you do any towing or carry anything heavy in the back it really makes a difference. The ability to lower the hitch to get the tongue on the ball is something you'll really use. I also used to raise the rear to be able to get up on the garage roof from the roof of the car. I really did find about a million unintended uses for the SLS. These systems do add more things to fail, and most would say are prone to failure (SLS anyway) but both are very straight forward and easy to fix.

I hope this answered some of your questions and didn't scare you off. I had more problems with my first two discos than anyone I have read about here and I came back for punishment two more times. That should tell you something about how special and addictive these vehicles are.

 

'03's a re fine trucks, there is a VIN range where there oil pump problems. If you search the forum you can find the VIN ange and be sure you buy a truck outside of that range, hence no oil pump problems (sory tired of hearing the '03s trashed for oil pumps when it's only the early production models - through March I think). The biggest problem with the '03 is no CDL, if you're going to do serious trail time find an '04 (CDL re-introduced), if you're not going to do any SERIOUS off-roading, not a probelm. There's my $0.02.

Good luck with your search.

 

Thanks for all the help. It has helped alot. What fails with the air ride? How hard is it to fix? How much do the parts cost?

With out the service records is there any way to check the coolant or signs of early failure.

Thanks. I may be an owner soon.

 

www.atlanticbritish.com, you can look up pricing for anything you want.

No, there is no way that you can tell if the coolant is good or not, you must assume that it has never been changed.
Not sure what goes bad on the air suspension, but the small problem isint fixed then the compressor will get overworked and die, I dont know for sure but have heard that the compressor is around $2,000 to replace.