Ok, here we go, first question to the forum!

The LR: 2003 Discovery II S, 102K miles, picking it up from dealer this afternoon - inter/exterior immaculate, no rust, dings, or scratches, test drove it in the rain on the highway and she was strong, solid & steering great, all lights, windows & electrical stuff no problems, VIN out of the oil-pump-issue range. At our request dealer is changing the brakes & other minor things. Because it's from a dealer, there are no service records, though the Carfax history was clean and looked acceptable (was rental for first 10K, then single owner for past 5 years).

Us the New Owners: This is the first LR for both of us, first car in a couple of years since we don't need one in NYC. The Husband & I aren't afraid of getting our hands dirty and doing stuff ourselves (he had a 1989 Jeep Wrangler until recently, and did a lot of the maintenance on it himself; I used to work w/my dad a bit on my '69 Mustang's engine back in high school but it's been a while). However, we won't have the leisure to do much before our trip, especially on a car that's unfamiliar to both of us. We're really looking to having her for a few years at least, taking good care of her and taking her into the mountains for hikes and camping and such, but before then we must first deal with.....

The Situation: We are relocating to the other coast (NY to WA) next month and plan to drive our new LR across, and really hoping that all goes well.

QUESTION: Aside from the obvious "Are we stupid?" - I'd like to know what we can do to be smart about this trip car-wise. What can we do before the trip? I know we should get her look at, but what specifics should we tell the mechanics? We found a reputable mechanic in Brooklyn but none that are Land Rover-specific. What should we look out for during the trip? How do we do everything possible to ensure she makes it across without hailing the AAA?

In our search for LR's over the past month we did come across private sellers who said the LR's will never make that kind of trip.

 

With no history, perform my service listed at the top of this Discovery section, do it all. Also check and see if the front drive shaft has been rebuilt, count the number of grease fittings on the front drive shaft, if only one, it will need to be rebuilt/replaced before your trip, if it fails, it will take the tranny out also.
Any questions, get back to me.

 

Take a look at my photo gallery. I've driven my Disco II cross country MULTIPLE times without incident.

 

The rover is a lot different from the old jeep and mustang. Do as much of what mike pointed out yourself, for the rest keep looking for a good independent LR mechanic. There has to be one somewhere in NY.

 

no good indie LR mechanics near me in Westchester I know that much. Dont forget to download the RAVE manual if you have an Iphone u can load the Disco 2 PDF on to ur phone in case emergency while crossing the country. good luck!

 

DiscoMike - thanks a bunch, will look into and let you know if we get stuck

JavaRacer - good to hear! It's just hard to be optimistic when we hear "Unreliable!" all the time. I figure this thing can climb over rocks and splash through puddles - why can't it drive 3500 highway miles?

NiteTrain - LOL, I'm sure it's very different! That's why we're not jumping right in thinking we can do this all ourselves, not in this short time frame. The NY mechanic we found specializes in foreign cars, including LR's. I was hoping to find one that specialized strictly in LRs, like the one we found in the Seattle-area mentioned in the forums here - maybe I'm being too picky about it. But yes, thanks, I'll look over the 60K list again, check out the service manual and see if there's something we can do ourselves before handing it to the professionals

 

There is a good indy Land Rover shop in Astoria Queens. Worth a trip across the bridge:

http://www.landroverqueens.com/lrq/

I took my truck there a few times when I lived in NYC. He is honest and worked at a land rover dealer for 25 years or something.

 

Everyone else has given very good advice. The only thing I will add is that these trucks, with very little modifications have withstood some of THE MOST torturous terrain in the entire world. They are made to drive in to the deepest, most remote regions, and then drive back out. If you get the 60k service done, and don't try to do 100 on the Interstate the whole trip, I don't think you'll have any problems. I have had the bottom end of my Disco's engine open recently, my truck is in the "possible" oil pump issue VIN range, and the bottom end of my engine with 118k+ miles on it was immaculate.

 

thanx for the link! good 2 know hes there if i need him.

 

Aside from the 60k service link, some of which is debatable, you'll want to pay particular attention to the front propshaft. Just because it has 4 grease fittings doesn't mean it's ok. A lot of people don't know how to properly lube a u-joint. You want new grease coming out from around all 4 seals on each u-joint. If you can't get it to, you need to replace at minimum, that u-joint. Then you want to lube it at least every 5k miles.