New '04 Disco owner - general questions
 

Hi all,
Post #2 tonight...

So I bought an '04 Disco SE week before last:
one owner, just turned 70K on my drive home, meticulously maintained (I have all the service records), Car-faxed - I did my homework on this one...

This is my first LR so I'm being a little anal listening & driving trying to figure out it's "Quirks" so I'll know when something is wrong.

I've read about the drive shaft needing to be replaced and have had 2 mechanics (Land Rover did an hour inspection prior to my buying "No problems foreseen" whatever that may mean :-) ) and I also had my mechanic (who works on my '03 Mini Cooper S) check it as well when I took it in for state inspection. I'm due for new front brakes and rotors but aside from that he said I should be fine not replacing it immediately & that I'll know when something is wrong.

My first question to you all is : What are the warning signs of a drive shaft going? How many miles do I have to get it from point A to my mechanic (this could be 2 miles away or 80 miles away) before I have to start stressing about F-ing up the tranny?

Question 2 - Is it normal for what I'm assuming is the fan to come on for about 30-60 seconds when starting the car for the first time in the AM?

Question 3 - I've noticed a slight hum/vibration varying in sound/intensity, not quite sure where its coming from, definitely drivers side, when the car is in drive and stopped at a light. It goes away when I shift into neutral but then comes back. this happens when the AC is on or off. I read something about the SAI on another persons post from '07 - but maybe this is something common on the '04 and not anything to worry about?
It seems to be shifting fine (I've mostly been in Sport Mode)

The full time 4x4 is taking some getting used to (my full time driver is a 6 spd MCs!)

Also should I contact the previous owner about what kind of oil his mechanic was using? Or does it matter? Do you suggest going synthetic if he'd been using conventional?

Anyway that seems to be everything for now.
Thanks in advance for your advice!

Ooops - didn't edit my signature: Here are the vehicle stats. Sorry!

Congrats on finding a 04 SE with 70k miles. That's stellar man!

The first thing I did when I bought my 99 w/119k miles last weekend was take it to Firestone and have them balance the tires and do an alignment. It had some steering wheel shake prior at high speeds, but now that is gone. :D

My rig will need front brake pads also. Shopping for pads now. They appear to be 50 bucks give or take. I would like to replace the rotors but I don't have the cash atm. To be honest I spent a lot of time last month doing full brakes on my Jeep YJ, so I am a tad burned out on brake jobs atm...least there are no drums with these rovers.....oh man...hehe

I plan to do some fluids next week. I am waiting on a transmission kit/gasket via mail, plan to do oil, transmission and xfer case myself (there are guides on the forums for the xfer case). Mine needs to be resealed with RTV etc.

Going to have Firestone do a coolant flush (I don't mess with coolant changes). They will do it for 90 bucks, and to me that's worth it. Plus they have a 6 month, 6k warranty on the flush, and these rigs run hot....

The engine in mine is running great (ROVER GODS DONT JINX ME HAHA). Smooth hum @ cold start, no leaks, no noise, good power, no miss-fire, no knocks etc. Plugs look good. So I will wait to do wires and plugs. Don't want to replace these if they do not need replacing :D.

I inspected the front driveshaft u-joints up front, and like yours, they appear to be in good shape. So I am holding off on the replacement with greasables for now. Need to save up some money for that.

My rig is not a daily driver so I have some wiggle room to get that done.

What color is your 04? Any pics?

What surprised me about my rig is how much my wife has taken a liking to it....she has never touched any of my 4x4s, but she really likes this one....I brought it home, put the kids in it, she drove it. We got home, she started cleaning it and vacuuming out the inside...lol!
:D
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VOLCANO VAPORIZER

#1: Rebuild the front drive shaft now, don't wait for it to fail. Look in the How To section for rebuilding instructions. Signs are vibration then chirping then boom - then no tranny followed by expensive repairs.
#2: That is SAI, it only kicks in for 90 seconds on cold startup.
#3: It is not SAI, maybe the electric a/c fan kicking in to assist with cooling the engine.

You can use synth or conventional oil and switch any time. Switching to synth often leads to oil leaks. Mobil 1 10w40 is a synth oil commonly used and Shell Rotella T 15W40 is a conventional oil commonly used. Use a good extented filter like the Mobil 1 301, don't pay extra for the K&N or Bosch oil filter - they are the same as the Mobil 1 filter.

Bosh is half the price of mobile 1 filter

Maybe I got the Bosch price wrong, but they are overpriced anyway for what they are: trash.

First, unless your mechanics are willing to pay for a tranny replacement, from a broken front drive shaft, I would make plans to replace it yesterday, cause they nearly always fail, usually with no warming.
Your options are having your shaft rebuild with all new greasable u-joints and a new centering call, usually around $250, buy a American rebuilt drive shaft for around or a new replacement from Rover for $800, which will still have the same problem as your currently have.

Welcome Back Disco Mike! Good too see a post from you

• 2nd/3rd that on the drive shaft. Its about $90 in parts if you want to attempt yourself. Mine was $325 rebuilt by a drive line shop. Took them 2 tries to get the centering ball installed correctly. Now I grease it every oil change or 5k. You will need a needle on your grease gun to grease the centering ball. Its a pain!

• You may want to consider replacing your crank position sensor. I replaced mine at 65k and did it while performing the 60k maintenance. Then you know its new! They are about $80 http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/ERR7354G.cfm

• Also think about your front O2 sensors. I have replaced all 4. The front 2 are most important for improved gas mileage. Rear 2 only monitor emissions. The increase in gas mileage has more then paid for new 02 sensors in the last 15 tanks of gas http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/MHK100920.cfm
  

• Also consider the Volo Fuel saver chip too. After driving 800 miles on a road trip it finally started to work. I was a skeptic but now I get 16.8mpg in the city and 18.5mpg to 20mpg dong 70mph on the highway. Depending on wind direction :) Its worth $90 bucks. I use the gas book on the iPhone to track my gas mileage. http://yhst-19807630266082.stores.ya...aver--fs1.html

So that chip you just plug it into the port and leave it there? Interesting....
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Buy Herbalaire

On the Volo Chip.
You need to drop down your OBII port from its holder. Then patch in 4 wires behind the OBII port. It comes with those pink patch couplers. That way you still can use a SCANGUAGEII or other code reader. All the instructions come with the Volo chip its really easy, probably 15mins or faster like mine when I was getting eaten by mosquitoes but was determinded to install the thing. I had a friend double check my work. Because you have to read off the numbers on the back side of your OBII port numbered 1 -16 to determine which wire goes to which connection. Really not hard but your kind cramed in you your foot well and the Rover seats do not go back that far. If you dont get it right it will not work and flash the red LED constant on. I did it right the first time thankfully :)