Hi all, just joined this forum for some advice. I'm driving a 1995 Discovery 1, my dad bought it a couple months before I was born and I grew up in the car. Wasn't interested in it for a while but then he taught me how to drive it a few years ago (manual trans) and I've loved it since, it's taken me a lot of great places in Colorado and Utah and Oregon. My dad has upgraded it slightly over the years, maybe 2-3 inch lift, ARB bumper, lights, replaced front right panel and hood after hitting a tree about 15 yr ago. Over the past few years it's also gotten pretty tired, it's around 225k right now. It's currently my only car - It's still driving alright on paved roads and I can get it 17-22mpg driving conservatively (drove strong from CO - WA in May) but I've been warned not to put it in diff lock or low or drive too rough of roads with it, which is a limiter. I've had two mechanics look at it without tearing into it too far plus what else I know about it and these are all of the known issues/needed fixes:

- Needs front CV joints replaced, heavy clicking w/ acceleration when wheel is turned hard
- Needs new axles
- Needs new swivel seal kits
- Needs new driven flange
- Bad synchro, 1-2 shift will grind if not patient
- Lot of slop in the transmission
- Left rear shock is broken, top of shock is unseated slightly from broken mount
- Leaks at rear pinyon, transmission, transfer case, lower steering
- Some rust starting, roughly angle ground and sealed the roof this May, rust near trunk hinges, maybe sparingly other places

Less importantly
- Needs new driver seat
- Rear left passenger door latch broken, passenger latch might break soon
- Trunk hinges may be starting to warp

Both mechanics have advised against putting the money into getting the car back into shape - I'm inclined to listen to their advice because I don't have a lot of money I can spend on it right now, maybe a few grand currently. However, the nostalgic value of the car has got me feeling tied to it as well, and I don't know if I'm willing to give up the rarity of the manual transmission, really enjoy the control. I was hoping some of you more knowledgeable folks on here would have some advice to give on what you'd do if you were in my situation. Currently in central WA and I found a mechanic who can work on it although he did say he's not confident he would have the proper tooling if he fully tore it down. Same mechanic happens to own a 96 D1 @ 141k automatic in decently good shape, he offered to me for $2000, which I could probably afford now.

Looking forward to hearing what you guys think, thanks ahead of time for the advice.

 

Keep the truck you know and love. Most of that is easily done. You can replace the vehicle but not the memories.

 

2x on keeping the truck.......it may seem daunting, but your list isn't really all that bad.....one thing at a time

 

Yep, keep it (or sell it to me ).

Those of us who've worked on our own D1s have likely already done most of those things, so we're going to say it's not that hard to address. Having someone else do the work is the real expense, as the parts wouldn't be that bad via a junkyard.

For the transmission, do you have any idea what fluid has been run in it all these years? Highly recommend throwing Redline MTL in there to see if it will calm down the 1-2 shift issue... I see a difference if I go too long between MTL changes.