So I've been lurking around the forums for the past year, and I finally took the plunge. I recently bought a 2004 Discovery II SE with 33,000 miles. I chose this model because I've read that they have a CDL and that the last model years have had many of the problems fixed. I've wanted a Land Rover since I was a little kid so I pretty much have my dream car now and plan on keeping it for as long as I can.

But since I'm still a Land Rover newbie, I just have a few questions regarding my Disco...

If I take very good care of the car, how long is it expected to last? Though I will use it occasionally to commute to work and on days with heavy snow, I will be using the car mainly for recreational travel (outdoors, road trips, camping, hiking, kayaking, etc).

Also, there is some spot rust (nothing too serious I don't think) on the chassis/undercarriage. I plan on using a wire brush to scrape most of it off so I can use rust converter, paint, and Waxoyl. Is there anything I need to take apart or separate to check for and fix rust? Although the disco will be garaged when not being used, I live in Indiana, and during the winters the roads are pretty salty...

Where can I get a Rave CD, and what exactly are they?

Lastly, how many pounds can I load on the roof? I plan to put on a roof tent in the future. Do I need to raise the car or change the suspension? I remember reading something around 500 lbs for the stock, but I'm not sure if I'm correct.

That's about it for now... Even though I've just gotten the car, I think I already have the Land Rover bug!!

Cheers!

 

I was told by DiscoMike that there are some members of his club that have 200K+ miles on their Discos.

I've got the same issue, the rear step had considerable rot-out to the point where I took it to my buddy and the welding/fabrication shop to "restore". The other spot where I have rot out is at the front wind-skirt, there is a horizontal bar that has a few rust holes in it. Otherwise the rust on the frame is pretty superficial. It's a boxed frame which means it has plenty of strength to it.

I'm not sure what the general consensus here is about handling rust but the HOT RODDER guys are HUGE on this stuff called "POR-15". It's a 3 step system where you scrape off the heavy rust, hit it with some phosphoric acid which converts the rust to iron phosphate (same thing is naval jelly) and then you coat it with this heavy-duty black paint. I can say from experience that the POR15 is VERY durable coating and I plan to hit my frame with it.

As far as the salt, the only thing you can do is ensure you rinse off the undercarriage frequently.

it's a CD that contains a PDF file with all sorts of links to various parts of the PDF. It contains the workshop manuals ($150 for a paper copy) as well as owners manuals and other junk pertaining to land rovers. I've seen them listed on Ebay but someone put a copy of it out on the internet. I found the download after digging for awhile, I searched for "Land Rover Discovery Workshop Manual download" or something along those lines. I guess I could always upload this copy to rapidshare or something for everyone who wants it.

 

Thanks unstable!

Does anyone know how many lbs I can load on a Disco's roof?

 

150 pounds is your limit.

 

What LR is going to say is safe has less to do with integrity of the roof and more to do with changing the center of gravity and making it "too top heavy." I regularly carry loads on my rack in the 400-600 lb range and have had no problems, just don't take the turns like Mario Andretti and you'll be fine. I believe the rack says 300 lbs and I think it may be listed on the sun visor.

Or listen to Mike, replied while typing.