Yes, and go ahead and get the PCV mod out of the way. Evaluate your cooling system, if there are any pieces older than 10yo you probably should replace them, they deteriorate with age and miles.

You might want to start with these post: https://landroverforums.com/forum/discovery-ii-18/2001-discovery-2-60-000-miles-what%92s-fair-price-92717/page3/#post674154

https://landroverforums.com/forum/discovery-ii-18/there-seat-trim-inboard-side-front-seats-96444/#post723598

 

Well, I've now jointed the Disco club. Seems solid so far. I have a SRS light that just appeared so need to track that down. Is there a factory service manual that I can download?

Now I just need to sell my FJ40. Anyone interested?

I'll post pictures tomorrow.

 

SRS light can often be fixed by cleaning its electrical connectors. A Nanocom is very helpful here in narrowing down the circuit that’s giving you the light. RAVE says to disconnect the battery before touching SRS connectors. I generally heed the warning but a lot of very experienced people don’t bother.

 

Welcome to the addiction. I wish someone had warned me when I got my first, but you need to understand it is going to take a year to make it right. This is good bonding time and don’t lose the faith. You will hate it at times, but when it’s right, a D2 is like no other vehicle I’ve driven.

Heed the advice on this forum, and:
- Get an ultragauge
- Replace the front driveshaft if not already
- Get copies of the Rave, electrical library and few others out there

If you dive in, you’ll learn they really aren’t unreliable AFTER you fix a few design flaws, and address all the neglect and poor repairs of previous owners. (This is why I said it will take a year to make it right)

Have fun!

 

• Ultragauge installed. What are the best parameters to monitor other than coolant temp?
• Front driveshaft: I was thinking about rebuilding with greasable u-joints.
• Downloaded the shop manual and electrical library.

Hopefully I'll get this thing baselined and running reliably over the winter in time for spring/summer camping season. Hoping the family will come to enjoy the Disco.

 

Of course coolant temp is the most important parameter, and the main one we all bought our Ultragauge for. I also have UG Volts, it tells me how the alternator is doing, and UG Temp,!only for the interest of knowing the cabin temperature. I think if you’re troubleshooting something specific you would have another screen up. I’m curious to hear what others have on their main screen.

 

Great questions!

UG Setup: This is very much personal preference, but I suspect at one time or another you’ll use all the ones I’m about to mention. I have 5 main pages:
- Page 1: Coolant temp, and I have a bunch of other fuel economy data (mostly useless for the time being until I take the time to get it set up properly)
- Page 2: O2 sensor data. This is for upstream and downstream (from the cat) for both banks of cylinders and can tell you if you are running rich, if your O2s are bad, or maybe even the cats
- Page 3: Fuel trims. Short and long term. This can tell you if the MAF is bad or if you have a vacuum leak.
- Page 4: MAF Data. Again, tells you what is going on with the MAF and I put a couple other things like intake temp and the like.
- Page 5: Engine torque and throttle position and stuff like that. I can’t recall the details, but an interesting data point at times.

I’ll post pics of each screen if you like on these.


Doesn’t matter what you do, but U joints that can be greased are critical. In case you don’t know, the reason is because the CV at the back end is right by one of the cats. Over time the grease gets cooked and big badda boom. The OEM failure is the u joints aren’t serviceable, which you probably have already determined. Tom Woods makes shafts for the D2 as does GBR (Great Basin Rovers, whom I’m partial to) or you could use a local drive shaft shop to do it. The key is to get the serviceable joints in there and to grease them at each oil change.

Your method is perfect in wanting a baseline. Most just jump into doing all sorts of stuff to modify just because they read about others doing it. Very few things are true design flaws and you instead spend more time correcting neglect and ignorance.once you get that baseline, then it’s time to modify. Your family will certainly come to love it because of the comfort and visibility out of it for passengers. The kids used to fight to sit in the 3rd row in the last 2 I’ve had and there were a lot of tears when I sold the last one. Now that we have the space and usually it’s not a critical machine to keep going, I can take my time and not worry about it (the boss had me sell the last one in favor of something I didn’t have to work on all the time).

 

Initially I monitored voltage as my secondary parameter, just to make sure my alternator was OK. I've since installed an aftermarket USB charger in place of the coin tray that has voltage built in so now I display fuel economy (or rather, lack of fuel economy). When I first bought the Disco I believe my wife's exact quote was "I can't believe you bought that stupid thing" but now she absolutely loves it as our family camping and road trip rig. Of course, it's "our" Land Rover when we are out on an adventure and someone asks about it but it's still "my" Land Rover when it needs to be fixed...

 

Thanks for all the replies.
This thing has impeccable service records so I need to finish digging through them all. Must all the work has been complete at either a Rover dealership of Rover specialist.
First task will be PCV mod and oil change. Part arrived today.
2. Coil, plugs and wires
3. Front driveshaft rebuild and balance ($150ish local)
4. Inline thermostat
5. Trany fluid change
6. Power steering supply hose and fluid change
7. Power steering pump whine?
This should keep me busy for a while.

 

PCV mod complete but not without complications. Tube in valve cover destroyed. Luckily 1/2 inch tube in my stockpile.

the baffle was as brittle as my ego. Feel to pieces and didn't want to come out which resulted in the above.