It's a Disco II, 99'. 145k. Great interior condition. $2,900 obo. KBB says ~$2300.

Facts

• 145k
• 2 owners. Most recent owner has owned it over 10 years. First owner put in 50k
• 1.5 OME lift
• dual moon roofs
• cargo floor mat
• "$500-$1000" worth of spare parts. Mostly meaning the original siders. Haven't looked much into this
• towing package
• ARB front bumper (original included as well)
• custom rock rails (originals included as well)
• clean carfax. clean title
• tranny replaced 1yr ago due to the known drive shaft issue, now has greasable u-joints, new front drive shaft
• service records are good, most done at dealer, a lot done by the owner as well
  

My observations:

• needs new tires, new brake pads. Uneven use on brakes 6mm on left, 2mm on right
• ticking noise when idling or under acceleration
• vibration in steering wheel >35 mph. comes and goes
• 3 amigos, ABS works though
• temp remains exactly in the middle position (good). Owner says no overheats

Engine pull codes:

• P1591 - rough road signal implausible
• P0562 - battery voltage not plausible
• P1537 - a/c compressor power stage fault
• P1000 (10) - o2 sensor upstream catalyst bank 1
• P1000 (165) - MIL fault
• P0654 - Engine speed signal (power stage)
• P0172 - mixture adaption FRA bank 1
• P1000 (27) - o2 adaptive mixture correction TRA bank 1
• P1000 (148) - anti theft alarm serial link fault

Owner says o2 sensor has been recently replaced. Owner is skeptical as to the credibility of some of these codes.

ABS Pull codes:

• 89 Front right sensor (output too low)
• 17 Front right sensor (output intermittent)
• 18 Rear left sensor (output intermittent)
• 34 Shuffle valve switch (electrical failure)

Mechanic notes:

• Vehicle runs/drives sluggish
• Engine has oil leaks. valve covers at least
• Lug nuts are distorted, had to hammer on socket)
• Tires are balding, crackling, outer-inner tread
• Service engine soon light on (this actually came on 6 miles into my test drive)
• Drums/rotors: FRONT LF .981, RF .964, LR .328, RR .497
• Discard front @ .866
• Rear @ .460

About me

• Not mechanical, never worked on a car
• Want to learn, and work on it myself, anything not engine related and I should be comfortable
• already falling in love with the disco
• not a daily driver. for errands, camping, etc. big trip is towing u-haul from seattle to san diego at end of summer.

Appreciate any advice. I know I can expect to sink in $1-2k on it. I'm comfortable with that. And ready to put some time in, but I don't want it to be my new full-time job. When I move to san diego I will likely live downtown and won't have as much freedom to work on it (but I have the space through the summer).

 

You should never pay KBB price, much less $.5K over, for a vehicle needing $2K worth of repairs just to get it road-worthy/dependable/legal. This should be your bargaining point to get a $1,200 sale price. Unless you just enjoy taking it blindfolded from behind, counter with $1K and the estimation from your mechanic that includes all of the repairs needed, including that "tick," which may or may not be a catastrophic failure waiting to happen. There are probably hundreds of these trucks for sale within a half-days driving distance from your location. Keep shopping around or check the classifieds here for a well-maintained D1/D2. That truck you are interested in seems like a piece of junk that has been neglected by its current owner; that is the last kind of Disco you would want. FYI, someone who can't even maintain a simple driveshaft has NO business owning a Discovery much less asking a sale price as such. Run from this one.

 

There must be some regional issues affecting pricing. For example, around the DFW area, $1500 gets you a damaged parts truck. $2,000 gets a good shape, non-running (fixable) Disco. $3000 starts the decent shape runners with some minor known issues. $4500 is average for daily drivers with some wear. $5000-$6500 are clean with lifts and options and well kept.

 

Is agree with JamieB Your pricing seems inline with pricing in the Los Angeles area.

 

I'd be shy at the price point only because of the ticking and sluggishness. That could be big bucks and big problems.

But it has a 1000 dollar plus bumper on it ...

If you got it for 2000 then even if you put a 1500 dollar engine in it and regular tires, along with crap repairs of the other items, you might be in good shape. But that's a close call.

I re read the original post. I don't like that he clearly reset the codes before your test drive, then doubted the codes. That is a little dishonest, IMHO.

I think you can do better. I'd choose good mechanical over good interior, within reasonable limits.

But, to be honest, if it has an awesome interior and all of the cool looking stuff on the outside, I'd probably buy it in the spot and regret it later.

 

There have been several parts trucks in OK and TX for under $1K in the past month. Couple with HG issues that wouldn't sell for $2K and went as low as $1K and still weren't selling after 2 months so IDK. That's a lot of fault codes, warning lights and history of neglect for nearly $3K. You could do a lot better for that price regardless of area I would think. The presence of that engine "tick" could be the result of God knows what but from the info freely-given by the current owner my guess would be the result of cheap oil and oil filters combined with infrequent oil changes.

 

I agree that the owner is definitely trying to get over on him. Trying to say he thinks most of the codes aren't legit, LMAO. Props to the OP for signing-up to the board and asking questions before buying. Way to go there.

 

Did you check the tags to determine the last time truck was legal in CA? Make sure that your mechanic is confident he can resolve most if not all of these fault codes to get MIL online or you could spend more time and money than you had planned trying to get it to the point that it can actually be tagged, I.e. New Engine. Maybe ask yourself if it's too far gone. The seller may be aware of this and wanting to unload.

 

Thanks everyone for your fast input. Very helpful. My dad has been with the mechanic 12+ years. I even bought a blazer off him a ways back. He basically told me flat out, don't buy this rover... though he doesn't have much appreciation for rovers, and doesn't have a history of doing a ton of rover repairs. I don't think he'd even want to work on it.

Leaning towards no. Could be a fun project. It has all the goodies... the parts are worth it alone if the sale price is around $2k (which seems possible, owner wants to get rid of it, it's been on the market a few months, original ask was $4.5k)... but ugh... mechanically it just doesn't seem worth it. It's a shame, I love the truck. I don't see myself in any other truck/suv around this time period (boxy, rugged, yet luxurious) for $3-8k. I'd just hate to get stuck in Redding CA or something in 118F weather with a 4x8 trailer. Back to craigslist I go.

 

Don't seem to be a whole lot of rovers around here, actually. BC+WA+OR yields 39 rovers 99'-02'. Lot are broken. Very very few under 140k

seattle cars & trucks "land rover discovery" - craigslist

This truck has a TON of service records. Heck, it was at the official dealer in Fife just last year to get the tranny replaced under insurance. The thing is, the owner's daughter used the vehicle for a few years in Pullman, WA, making quite a few trips to seattle and back. Oil changes were missed for sure. It was her actually, driving it when the drive shaft blew a nice hole into the transmission. For some reason the insurance company decided to fix it instead of writing it off.