Greetings!

Very recently purchased an 03' Disco with an 04' motor swap. It is a beautiful truck and had much love and care by its prior owner. I am very excited to own the truck now.

I would like to reach out to the forum and see what is recommended to gather for a preemptive maintenance and repair kit. It could include anything from scanners, to particular parts known to run a short lifespan, to general bits that just ought to be changed out. I have done a good deal of research and have found a patchwork of postings rather than a pointed list.

Looking forward to preventative measures and shopping for bits and pieces now before any particular repair sets in.

So far my short list contains a:

Digital Temp. Gauge (any recommendations on what type e.g. exhaust gas temp, water temp, etc..?)
&
3130 scanner
&
ABS Amigo V1 scanner

What would you add?

 

Carry around an extra crank position sensor. Its pretty much the only non-preventative part on the whole truck that will leave you stranded without warning.

 

I assume that you reviewed DiscoMikes high-mile service list on the sticky at the top of this D2 sub-forum? That one is a life-saver. It will keep both you and your debit card busy for 3 months. I suggest updating or rebuilding both front and back driveshafts, although the focus being on the front unit due to the damage that can occur. You want your coolant temps under 200F. When you change your transmission filter, drain the fluid into a perfectly clean container and re-use that if it is still red and appears to be good. Plenty of instances where tranny will begin to operate differently when new fluid is used. I wish that I could have that one back. Check the ball joints on the steering knuckles. If your truck doesn't handle like a new Cadillac then there is an issue and that one fixed my problem.

Put an inline thermostat on the top hose and run the bottom radiator hose directly to the water pump. You want to eliminate that bypass loop. Plenty of discussions on that.

Remove the plastic coolant lines and replace with new tubing, bypassing the throttle body. This coolant circuit does nothing but cause problems.

Buy a OBD scanner that has live function for viewing coolant temps, O2 sensor voltage, etc.

 

The iCarsoft scanner does the same thing as an abs amigo but doesn't require a computer, and also gives you SRS codes (and resets them), as well as diagnostic codes (but I don't like it for the general codes). Cheap, top.

36mm wrench for fan.

Carry a screwdriver to move the shifter solenoid in case your brake light burns out or you brake sensor stops working (you'll be stuck in park).

Hidden spare key!

The right size socket if you don't have all of the chrome caps on your lugs (you'd need 1 1/8 and 1 1/16).

Always keep zip ties and spare fuses in the tool bins!

Print out a copy of the RAVE.

 

make sure you keep it in one of the storage compartments! you never know when you'll need it!

 

The iCarSoft definitely seems to be the scanner to get for the money. I have the LR II. However it has a funny thing where it throws ALL the dash lights on, and/or resets the odometer. All temporary.. it eventually goes back in 1-5 minutes, or sometimes a car restart is required... I have an open ticket on this and am waiting to hear back from the engineers (been 10 days). When I did my buy-a-rover tour day, I caused quite the panic with it.

 

Don't need a printed copy of the RAVE. Just save the PDF on your phone.

After owning my DII for 14 years I'm thinking the most sure-fire recovery plan is to buy a Smart Car and tow it behind my DII.

 

Did you update your LRII to the latest firmware? I have no issues like what you're describing, either with the factory firmware or the update.

I'm still exploring the unit, but I concur that it should live in the truck with you.

 

Yes, it's running the latest firmware.. 2.32 I think. Here's a video of it:
Around 1:15 the lights go on. It does the same thing to the 4 rovers I tested it on, including mine.

 

Every new Disco should have come with a free, spare Disco.