Hello everyone ,

I found a 2004 Discovery II with around 80k miles …been trying to find a discovery the past 2 years with first looking at the LR4s but haven’t had much luck finding the right one…I know the early 2000 discoverys had quite some issues but it seems the 04 year was a little bit better of year in terms of off road and reliability? Is this correct? Any thoughts or opinions on what I should look out for or ask previous owner regarding maintenance on this specific model (04 discovery II) I’m a big fan of Land Rover but still not an owner as I’ve taken the time to find a reasonable one for sale.

thanks ,
Baden

 

Mileage is not the issue, maintenance is everything. Your biggest issue is the engine, any significant or long term overheating can leak to cracked blocks, slipped liners warped heads. Long delayed oil changes create all the expected problems. My 04 has around 161000 miles on it, and other than head gaskets and a rear main seal has given very little trouble. But I did not by a 3000 needs work truck either.

• Get a bluetooth odb module and torque for your phone and monitor engine temps during test drives
• Find out how often oil changes have been done
• Ask about any cooling issues
• Check the drive shafts - this is a big one if the front lets go it tends to takeout the transmission
• Look at the headliner is sagging if so you have leaks in the roof
• Transfer case can you get it into low and Diff lock (04) fairly easily
• Do all the dash light come on
  
  Those are the critical things

 

2004 is the better off-roader because it comes with a center diff lock, but they are not much more reliable than other years. A HG job is not very unusual at 80k miles. The most important part of ownership is preventive maintenance. That can be costly if not done by yourself.

 

04's had the worst of the engines by far relative to slipped liners, although I would not let that really affect my decision to buy. Anything can be fixed with enough $, only one thing cannot be changed (mileage). In my opinion (22 D2's owned) the most important factors in D2 value are (in order):

1. Paint - clearcoat fade is very common, and expensive to repaint.
2. Rear frame rust - almost impossible to get a shop to replace just the rear frame, but you can get a company to replace the entire frame. About a 40 hr job.
3. Mileage - can't be changed, lower is better for all the normal reasons.
4. Bumper condition. Most of them crack and they are quite expensive to repair/replace.
5. Maintenance history. Well maintained, recent, and documented are all important. The most expensive and common item in terms of maintenance is head gaskets, everything after that is relatively cheap.