First time disco purchase,I want to know how bad it can get with these trucks.what is most common problem,did you fix it yourself or shop and what was the cost.I am seeing a lot of blown head gaskets,why so premature on these engines.transmissions not shifting smooth and slight clunking or tap,then goes away after warm up, is this common,two test vehicles did this.how bad is electrical system any fires,how many sensors did you have to put in before you got the right one.how many times were you left on the side of road and what year disco,small and big stories welcome

 

every "horror story" is pretty well documented on the forums; both here and other ones. i know youre coming from a 4.0 jeep, and you will NEVER experience that reliability with a rover... i understood that when i got rid of my XJ. the D1s are pretty reliable save for the HG issue, i dont think the trans is troublesome as people imagine... its just as good as any other ZF trans. as for electronics... well, it can be finicky.

it isnt a honda, it isnt a jeep, it isnt a LS powered chevy. its a british broad that requires a decent amount of attention, and if you dont give her the time of day she's gonna be a bitch.

 

if something breaks, fix it....it's original components are getting a bit long in the tooth.
the great majority of those hg failures are such slow weeps at the beginning that you have a huge # of miles warning. as you can read; many theories on the cause of the failures. whatever the causes, everything is fairly simple and straightforward to repair, head gaskets included.
electrical is electrical.....it can have issues and the more you have, the more opportunity you have for those issues..................it is what it is.
before you become overly concerned with possible failures, remember you are reading a forum. people are much quick quicker to post of complaints and problems, than they are of easy going ownership. it's just the nature of it. makes it easy to convince yourself, that the same problems are lurking around your corner, too. not always the case. when I first started following these forums, I found myself fixin' $*&t that wasn't broken. I was treating my disco like a leper, when it just wanted to go down the road.......oh, the humanity!
set of wrenches, routine maintenance, and good to go. I am pretty rough on mine and even though I have broken stuff, I have not been stranded. between the 3, that's a combined 9yrs of discoing without being stranded. can not say that for the jeeps, I own/ have owned.

 

Don't mean to sound critical.I have owned British cars MGB,spitfire and tr6 long ago and they were quirky,but fun.I feel the same way about disco but never owned one and am willing to deal with a little crap for something that grabs me.Its hard to find a perfect running D1 that doesn't have problems.I am almost tempted to find one with a few problems even blown head gasket and fix it and at least I would know what has been done to it,but that is strange way to buy a truck.Its nice to know you were never left on side of road,I like road trips and that's a big concern.

 

I hear you. We take our family road trips in the disco. I carry spares, within reason, of anything that might leave me stranded. Fortunately I have not needed them.

 

Dusty1 what do you carry with you,sound like you have had good luck with your truck