Just bought and 04 with 62K miles on it. Had my first experience with the dealer and not to pleasant. I kinda felt like they would prefer I give them my credit card and let them go to town.
Is there anyone on this forum that is from the Seattle area that has had good experience with and independent LR shop? I have heard about Biggs eastside automotive, seems to get pretty good reviews. Anywhere else that I should look into.

Stealer says they are seeing some slight seepage of oil at the head or valve cover, at this time it is not overheating always dead center on the gauge and it is running smooth, but I dont want to take any chances, what do you experts think? "Disco mike", "Savannah Buzz".

Id rather not find out the hard way that I need to replace the head gasket at 62k miles somewhere on the side of the road or in the woods of the great PNW. Prefer to do it if needed on my terms not the discos. Im planning on hitting the Mike's 60K list and take care of all on the punch list but think that this is a priority, I really wanna make this rig work because I love the look and feel of it, just want to do whats needed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated,

 

Take the Discovery II and get some engine cleaner from O'Reilly's on 85th st in Kirkland.
Gunk works good.

Go to the self serve car wash.
Wait 10 minutes for the engine to cool down.

Soak it in Gunk engine cleaner.
then spray off all the dirt and oil.

Then see for yourself where the leak comes from.

Mark's imports in Bellevue and Kirkland knows land rovers.
They are expensive tho.

Do NOT take it to Bellevue Jaguar.
Way too expensive.

 

Thanks Jfall for the advice, it is actually pretty clean in the engine well, but a clean slate will help see if Im getting any ongoing seepage. I will follow your instructions and give it a try, nice to hear from a local senior member! I owe you a micro brew!

 

Check out Lamorna Garage in Ballard. Honest and fair priced. Stay away from the dealer and stay away from most of the "foreign car" shops.

 

Yeah, there's nothing particularly 'foreign' about the Disco. I can't see why a special mechanic would be needed.

However, a guy who works on Land Rovers more regularly will be more familiar with common problems. In my experience, most mechanics are interested in quick easy jobs they can push right back out the door. Whenever something a bit time consuming comes up, they aren't interested in messing with it. You might save money in the long run because a LR mech doesn't have to spend as much time troubleshooting.

I'm not recommending the dealership, btw.

 

Thanks for the tips, fellow webbed footed LR owners, Im gonna give Biggs a try, I will let you know how it goes

 

"foreign car" shops that occasionally work on Rovers can be a problem if they don't know and live the peculiariaties of our trucks... They could do things like put OEM plug wires in, change your oil with 10w30 synthetic, use chinese aftermarket parts, put DexCool BACK in your cooling system, etc.

I tried a few of these shops in the Seattle area and that's why I now use Lamorna Garage, The owner actually has in his lease that he can not work on a non Land Rover, PERIOD.

These guys know the Rovers inside out. They eat breath AND drive them daily. They call it like they see it, honestly, and charge a fair price which by the hour is less than the previous "import" shop I went to... Google or Yelp them, you'll see many happy customers who wont trust their truck to just anyone...

I went in there once when I was worried about something and the owner told me not to worry about it and just monitor the situation... Did not try to sell me anything at all. I like it when a shop owner doesn't see you as an automatic open credit card. That didn't happen at the "import" shop. Couldn't walk in there without spending some money no matter what.

Biggs may be just fine too, I am not on the Eastside so I don't know... I'm not posting this to pimp one garage or the other, but to say there actually is a major difference between a Rover specific specialty shop compared to an "import shop" that works on Rovers. Anyone who cares about their truck owes it to themselves to seek out a mechanic that feels the same way as you about your machine.

 

We are independent mobile Land Rover Diagnostics & Repair located in Seattle. Check us out at Home Page

 

i can definitely vouch for the quality of work that i've received on my new to me 04 SE7 Disco 2 from Rovin Rovers, over on Alki Beach. I've also heard really good things about Lamorna, but although they're closer to where I live in Green Lake, the adventure of building my truck into a reliable Overlander is going to be wrenched on by Jahn where possible,

 

Don't go to the Jaguar / Rover Dealer in Seattle.
They put on the cheapest non rover parts they can find
for the cheapest source.
All about the profit.
You will get ripped off.

The dealer in Bellevue did
my brakes.
Two calipers in front.
Brake pads.
New master cylinder
$2,500. This was on a 1997,

Considering the 1997 Discovery is worth $3,500 at best, this is not a wise use of your money.