It would be interesting to categorise the main D2 faults experienced in the US.

Engine.

Engine electronics.

Drive train gearboxes.

Axles.

Brakes & ABS system.

Other faults.

 

That will takes many pages of writing so how about asking a specific question that might pertain to your specific vehicle.
How many miles on your TD5 and how mechanical are you?

 

The best thing is to read the stickies at the top of the forum.

 

I don't have problems at all and I am very mechanically minded having worked on most if not all of my own vehicles. What I was asking was the relative problems occuring to the trucks in the US. As for the TD5 Mike, it's a far superior engine to most Rover V8's I've seen to date with zero issues in 130K miles well used miles.

 

The forum could use some better stickies regarding common faults, and since no else has replied I will chime in:

Engine

1. Oil leaks are cause by the crappy valve cover baffle system - resulting in high crankcase pressure and leaking valley pan and valve cover gaskets -remove and replace with a Fram FV237 and no problems (assuming gaskets are in good shape and don't need replacing).

2. Poor block/cylinder head clamping design causes common blown headgaskets if overheated - couple that with poorly engineered plastics in the cooling system (overflow bottle, radiator end tanks, hose fittings, thermostat, etc) that are prone to leaking and you have lots of owners who overheat their Disco's and blow head gaskets - do it severely enough and you slip a cylinder liner which is fatal.

3. Engine fans crack due to fatigue failure - exploding at speed and taking out all manner of hoses and shrouds - my suspicion is they all do it eventually.

4. Poor seal design on power steering pump means it will leak eventually - no good way to repair unfortunately.

5. Relatively low oil pressure from the factory coupled with owners running low viscosity oil (10w30 or 5w30) means some trucks wind up with worn bottom end or cam bearings leading eventually to spun bearings (vicious cycle - low oil pressure wears bearings, leading to lower oil pressure, you see where this goes).

6.

Engine electronics

1. Cruise control hoses crack (more brittle rubber/plastics) and cause non-functioning (also caused by wheel sensors, see below).


Only other issues I have seen re: ABS faults have always been wheel sensors - and every time it was a cable worn in two by someone who did not place it in to the brackets properly.

Common body faults:

1. Window regulators - nylon rollers break - more brittle plastics
2. Door locks - common issues with actuator motors
3. Horn buttons - brittle plastics
4. Headliners sagging
5. Plugged sunroof drains = leaking
6. Non-functional sunroofs
7. Non-functional power seat switches - caused by poor contacts/lube in switch results in overheating and melting of internals
8. Brittle console plastics
9. Underdash fuse box - poor solder joints causes non-functional hvac fan
10. Brittle bumper covers - guaranteed broken if you ever bump in to anything
11. Door detent mechanism - insufficient lube results in broken welds at the body - result in "popping" noise as it cycles through detents.

Others may chime in with more experience than me, my experience comes from 3 100,000 mile + Discos.

All that said, as long as you keep water and high viscosity oil in them I think they do ok, certainly can be bought cheap and used parts are cheap for what thats worth.

 

cant forget the cracking oil pumps which take the front covers if left long enough.

 

Right, have not experienced that thankfully, not sure how common it is outside of 2003 models.

 

Also forgot the front driveshaft failure - caused by proximity to front passenger side catalytic converter cooking the grease out of the u-joint and the bearing failing then driveshaft falling out while driving resulting in destroyed transmission and transfer case.

Fixed by greasable u-joint - I also fabricated an aluminum heat shield (aluminum only radiates 2% of heat energy) and placed around Cat to shield driveshaft.

 

I'd like to hear more about the fan-blade failure. Are there any symptoms prior to destructing (visible cracking/etc).


What is the average lifespan (in miles?)


You've got me wondering about mine. I'm also considering the flex disc in the rear.


As to the OP, I can just verify what others have said, the Disco II V8's issues are mainly: Cooling (do an overhaul around 100k, if not sooner, and get the Dexcool out and put in the TD5 thermostat).


Driveshaft: Get a serviceable unit before yours explodes.


Off Roading: Make sure you go off-road enough so that you can cycle your transfer case shifter (prevents freezing) and activate the traction control (seems to prevent 3 amigos).


Oil: Seems people get premature wear by using modern low-viscosity oil. Most owners seem to prefer the HD oil filters (Bosch can be had at Walmart, I buy the NAPA Gold which is roughly the same size). I run Rotella 15w40 in the summer and non-synthetic 5w30 in the winter (if I recall looking at the label, I don't think synthetic 5w30 meets Rover's specification).


I found a bottle of 5w20 in my Disco when I purchased it, so most Jiffy Lube style joints don't seem to care about what your engine spec is and dump in whatever they got...


Other than that, my D2 has been the most reliable $5k car purchase of my vehicle career (*knock on wood*). The other posters has me worried about my fan now though. (gee thanks). .

 

Yea, I've seen a couple of fan threads recently. Even on one with 38k (I think.) seems to be more age than miles, which is why I am going electric.