Hey everyone. I've finally gotten into a deal with a 2002 Discovery SE! My wife and I have been looking for one out here in Oregon. One popped up on Autotrader this week, and it was exactly what we wanted. Low Miles (90K), Some newer components, and basically one owner. Here's the issue. The idiots at the dealership lost the keys in the process of receiving the vehicle into inventory. We drove three hours to check this thing out, and couldn't test drive it. Today was our only day to make it over there (and we had to put everything we HAD planned on hold). Long story short, I made a deal with the dealership to trailer it to my house so I could test drive it. If I'm happy with the drive, I keep it and they "cash the check" so to speak. If not, I have full right of refusal and they'll trailer it right back.

This is why I am posting. Since I have the luxury of time, I'm putting together an inspection checklist. I would really appreciate anyone's input. Essentially, if you had 30 minutes to accurately evaluate an '02 Disco, where would you look? I'm an aircraft mechanic, so I have very good mechanical skills, but not a wealth of experience with the Discovery. I did a once-over in about 45 minutes, and things looked pretty good. The only standout is that there is a pretty good amount of oil coating the underside of the engine. I can't determine a source of a leak, but know they are prone to them. I plan to clean it and inspect for seepage during the test drive. The only other things that I know need work are the driver's window (won't roll down), headliner (not bad, but loose in a few spots), and some minor cosmetic things. The chassis and suspension are excellent, and the tires are pretty new.

Thanks for taking the time to give me a hand. I look forward to many exciting experiences ahead with this new member of the family.

 

check the back corners of the heads. the head gaskets like to leak from there. let it warm up to operating temp and listen for ticking, the sleeves in these also like to slip. make sure all electricals work. check the frame and see what it looks like, make sure the rust hasnt totally taken it over yet.

 

I thought it is me only who always stucks in situations like this. Managers from dealerships lost the keys and I didn't want any conflicts so just called guys from Replacementcarkey.org to fix everything with the lock and new keys. Still I was too happy with my new car to be disappointed with the key lost.