So I bought a 2003 Land Rover Discovery 2 earlier this year, and when I did so I decided I wanted to try and work on the car myself. The Disco has been a wonderful vehicle since we got it even though it has some minor things that need repair like the seats have some tears and other cosmetic things like that.

So let me first start out by saying that I know very little about vehicles and wanted this to be my entrance in to learning how to fix anything that was wrong with my car. So when we bought it the previous owner said he was putting half a qt or so of oil in it every 500 miles as if that was normal. He didn't seem too concerned about doing so, he didn't tell us that we should get it looked into or give us any suggestions on what might be the cause. So we didn't worry about it too much and started checking the oil every 500 miles and putting oil in it as needed. So obviously there's a leak and from talking to a few people who were all concerned about the short duration it takes before needing to add oil, I need to go ahead and fix this.

I've looked under the car and there appears to be oil dripping from multiple areas but I'm not sure if it just appears that way from having been driving and the force from accelerating down the road caused oil to find its way from its leaky spot to other spots and subsequently dripped on to the card board I have it parked over. I've driven across country from NC to NM where I am buying land all with this as an ongoing problem. There appears to be oil coating lots of areas underneath the car. I have noticed that the coolant is also going fairly quickly. I hadn't needed to fill it up until we were almost fully across country but since I have, it is now back down to where it was after close to 7 or 8 thousand miles (we took the long route to NM and went through a bunch of national parks) we have now probably gone closer to 10000 miles since getting the car.

What I'm interested in finding out is: what are the common things that might cause there to be a loss of oil and coolant in such a short time? What are the things I should do to pin point the cause? Do I need to hose the bottom down and get all the grime off everything so I can get a better picture of where its coming from? What can I do/ should I do to fix this?

Your input on the above problem will be greatly appreciated

Another couple problems I have is: 1. the rear inside door handle is loose and doesn't open. The outside one works fine. I took the door panel off and took a look at it. It appeared to be a simple problem of just putting the loose piece back through the hole on the door handle but after pulling the handle maybe 2 or 3 times at most it pops back out. I tried gluing it but because the handles movement twists while the piece in the hole just gets pulled the glue looses its adhesive power and doesn't hold. What can I do to fix this? It has a white piece of plastic around a metal L shaped piece that attaches to the metal wire door mechanism, I'm guessing its just worn out. Where can I get a new piece for it or is there a simple fix I'm unaware of?

2. The S and M lights sometimes begin flashing and when this occurs I am unable to shift it to a lower gear. It was happening very frequently during our trip but has began happening at lot less frequently but it does still occur. When it happens we often turn the car off and back on and sometimes it doesn't come on and other times it comes on immediately or a couple minutes later. It seems to me that it may be an electrical problem not sure. I know the manual says something about it which I can't remember at the moment. But what are your thoughts on this? What causes this to happen and how do I go about fixing it?

3. Another problem I believe to be electrical is sometimes in the very cold mornings when backing out of the driveway the car shuts off when switching from Reverse to Drive. I figure maybe there's a loose wire and it being so cold some how causes something to malfunction or something along those lines. What are your thoughts on this? How can I look at the innards of the gear shift or is it somewhere else I need to be looking to solve this problem?

Thanks again for your input. Like I said I'm new to this and have yet to actually take on any tough problem with this car yet but these are the things I've got to go ahead and tackle before it becomes a serious problem.

 

Hey there,

As a new Disco owner myself, may I recommend something that should have been done prior a purchase: An inspection at a reputable shop? Ideally, cars should not consume oil and definitely not coolant. Your car's coolant consumption should be your top priority because if the vehicle overheats it is probably game over unless you want to invest a lot of time and money into it. Do not worry about the door handles or other electrical issues just yet.

Take the Disco to a shop, do an inspection with a focus on a cooling system. Discos leak oil from pretty much any gasket and chances are yours has multiple source of leaks. Without lifting the car and inspecting it from below, it is hard to tell. Moreover, oil leaks from the front of the car will cause blowback and spread oil to the rear of the vehicle.

Peace~

 

First off, welcome to the board. But, if you want to start working on your own vehicles...buy a quality floor jack and jack stands.

Yes, buy a good engine degreaser, spray and let soak, and power wash the entire engine, top and bottom. I like to make sure the engine is at operating temps prior, helps loosen the grime. Do this a couple times if needed. Once clean, take it for a short road test. Return...look for areas that are oil soaked again. You may have external oil leaks and coolant, so cleaning off the old grime is the only way to tell.

Door handle, not sure which one you are talking about, rear door or rear hatch?

I'd clean all electrical terminals on the battery (or replace with better quality ends) and ground cable to engine block, to see if that straightens up some of your flashing lights and stalling. Check condition of battery, too. Take it and have it load tested at a parts store.

Para bellum~

Brian.

 

Careful not to soak any wiring, sensors, alternator when power washing though.

I actually need to do this, myself.

 

As a new owner as well, but more comfortable working on the damn thing. I have learned several things about my vehicle (2003).

Oil was everywhere, no real sign of coolant. I started with changing the fluids everywhere except brake fluid and power steering fluid which both seemed OK. Clean, degrease and clean, is messy but really helps.

As for leaks, two major sources of my oil were 1. the oil cooler plugs at the front housing (where the older models have oil cooler lines) were loose and a tighten took care of a decent leak. Second and down the back of the transfer case, I surmised a leak from the Valley Pan gasket and changed that out (a more ambitious job for me). Glad I did that one though as it taught me a fair bit about the maintenance of these engines. Yes, I could have gone and done the Head Gaskets at that point but I didn't and wasn't fully comfortable then.

Rocker Gaskets are a common culprit for oil as well.

This stemmed the flow of oil from multiple daily drips to weekly spotting.

I have a high-pressure hose leak on the Power Steering that I need to fix. Too cold here in Toronto right now unless I can find a friend with a heated garage.

I reckon my front and rear crank seals are leaking. I can easily fix the front but the rear is another story.

My coolant system was overheating a little so I changed the thermostat out, flushed the coolant system as best I could and it seems OK. Worst case idling on hot days I was getting up to about 208F Normally around 197-203 which is normal I believe.

Check all the clamps on the coolant hoses as some of mine had been replace with screw clamps and were hand loose. Under pressure, these will leak out.

Just some of my experiences. Minor leaks I can handle but messy dripping leaks that spray backwards when moving and covering everything with oil are a pain.

Be sure to figure out the different oils as well cause that helps you understand where you are having problems. Gear oil in the transfer case and differentials smells really bad lol. Transmission Fluid is runny and red and engine oil is golden and smells familiar.

Hope that helps a little.