Sorry for the lengthy intro. I did put this in the introductions thread but I assume not many of you check that page too often anymore.

As the title states I am a new owner of a 1999 Disco with 122k miles. I have owned a lot of cars/trucks/motorcycles. If it has wheels and a motor I like it. Anyway I have always liked landrovers, ever since the day back in high school my friend and I went to the land rover dealer in Fort Worth Tx. To take the test drive on their offload "test track" amazing.

Of course in high school I could not afford a LR and instead have had a plethora of other vehicles. I am 33 years old now and have had over 100 vehicles in the last 18 years. Now a lot of those I bought or traded for, or fixed and sold. Some I had for a few months, some I had for a day. So, I've been around cars a lot.

So, with that said as I was around vehicles more and more I heard all the horror stories of Land Rover maintenance and problems. So, I never bought one.

Until about a month ago. I LOVE IT !! Ha, I knew I would. Even through all the horror stories I saw people that just keep sinking money in these things, keep buying them even to they know what they are in for. I get it.

But, alas, I am a bit bummed. Less than 30 days since I picked up my Disovery, it has blown the left ( drivers side) head gasket. Ugh.

I think I am going to have a local mechanic here in Pensacola do the work. He is a BMW specialists but does all imports. He is only two doors down from my day job here at the body shop. I am also a bartender and I run a karaoke business a few nights a week. (I'm all over the place) I think I could take on the HG job myself, but time is an issue. And I think he is giving me a pretty square deal on the work involved. Roughly quoted 1000 to 1300 dollars, parts, labor, and machine work as needed. From what I have read on here that sounds like a good deal. But I am pretty mechanically inclined. Do you think I should do it myself? I'm guessing parts,coolant, oil, tool rental (torque wrench) machine work, and misc. stuff will run me about 500.00 to 600.00 dollars. So do you think the additional 600 or so is worth having some one else do it? I have not messed with replacing head gaskets since 1998 on my 1970 Chevy c/10 truck (which I still have btw, 1st car, had it since I was 15) but that's another story.

So, that's me. That's my predicament. I love the truck already, just a little bummed. Any consoling advice or input will be greatly appreciated and considered. Thank you for reading all of this. Hell of a first post!

 

Yep if your going to do 1 head gasket you should just do both ask 007 about his silly experience. This truck will break you left and right if you plan to have the shop fix everything that goes wrong. Hope you have super deep pockets? And also you need to verify that the front drive shaft has either been replaced or rebuilt with serviceable u joints. If not you are going yo want to replace that as they give little to no warning when they break. When they break you will be looking at around 6,000 dollars worth of repairs vs replacing it for $300 with a fully serviceable shaft. Could go today could last another 10 k not worth the risk. Enjoy your truck download the rave. And learn how to work on it.

 

Says a guy who builds driveshafts for a living !

Thing is, He's right on the money.. That's a bad failure...A driveshaft failure on anything can get ugly quick..But especially here...

Somebody makes a guard to go around the shaft which will prevent the expensive part of the damage.. Hopefully... Theoretically !


Get both the heads done and replace the timing chain and gears as well...Water Pump, Thermostat, If I was going that deep I'd be replacing every seal and gasket I could...

John

 

Thing is why buy a guard and spend the money on that when you could apply that money towards a drive shaft that wont break if serviced properly? And who makes this guard your speaking of? Such a guard would have to be welded on. And then its only worth a damn if the welds were good. Not something everyone could do in there driveway.

 

Thanks guys I'm planning on replacing as much as the budget allows. I will be doing both heads, both decked and valve jobs done, plugs and wires, all the intake gaskets and such that are accessible while doing the heads. Do the coils commonly go bad? I was having some misfire issues before the HG's went. No water in the cylinders or oil tho. Don't think I can budget timing chain and gears right now. I'd like to. And understand that I should, but this is a surprise expense, so the money is already tight.

And I have not inspected the front DS yet. Am I just looking for serviceable u-joints? Zirks? (sp?) if it is not , I'm guessing you sell them lr2001silver, I would also bet you ship them so, for a 1999 disco se7 what's the cost and shipping?

 

Oil pump gear kit with gaskets is $115 Atlantic British. Replace water pump at same time, and timing chain. Start a fruit jar with quarters now and save up.

You can rebuild your own shaft (in tech area) or go to aftermarket. But if you don't, will take 28,000 quarters for new tranny - that's a big jar.

 

contact Dynamic Driveline 501-945-9090 should run you $295 for a new drive shaft.

 

Yes i do and its 300 shipped to your door and all American parts!