Hello. I've been reading posts in this group for a little more than a month now and I finally decided to sign up. My wife and I were looking online for a used Land Rover Discovery for about a month and we finally chose a 2003 LR Discovery SE with 97,XXX miles. We paid $5,250 for it and during the past week I have realized why these SUV's have the reputation they have. I have never owned an SUV or anything with 4 wheel drive and I didn't know what to expect when I drove this Discovery for the first time.

I live in DFW TX and an ice storm blew through here this past weekend. I am glad I was in the Discovery instead of the Ford Fusion I was driving prior to purchasing this vehicle. Other than the extremely stiff suspension, which was making going over ice a very bumpy ride, it handled very well in the snow/sleet/slush. While many motorists were getting stuck in the mess that mother nature created, I was able to use the 4X4 in low gear and get out of any road hazard.

I have been using the Discovery every day, almost all day, since we purchased it. We have taken it to Waco, which is how I learned to appreciate the 32MPG I once got in the Fusion

From what I am reading, these SUV's are prone to leaking. I guess I got lucky because this Discovery has no leaks, that I know of. It has been in the garage every night for a week and I see no puddles forming on the floor (fingers crossed.) The only problems I have noticed so far are the Three Amigos lights that turn on after a while of driving, it has a slightly rough idle, the exhaust has a strong unburnt gas odor, the steering is a little sloppy, the cargo space door does not lock or unlock with the remote, the cigarette lighter does not work, when I put gas in it the gas backs up and spills over so I have to fill it up very slow which makes putting 20+ gallons in it a very tedious process, and the transmission has a slight kick going into 4th gear.

I knew I was going to have to do some work to this Discovery and I don't think that this SUV has been beaten up, too much. It started right up and has no problems what-so-ever in 20 degree fahrenheit weather, it doesn't shake at high speeds, it doesn't burn oil, it doesn't overheat and it doesn't leak. I purchased all of the tools I'll need to do most of the maintenance on this vehicle and I am looking forward to getting under the hood and cleaning everything up and get it running as good as possible.

I have driven close to 2000 miles in the last week and it has performed wonderfully. Other than the poor gas mileage and a ridiculously large turning radius (it took a couple days to figure out how to park it properly), I have no real complaints.

All I have done to this vehicle since it was purchased was an oil change. I used Castrol GTX High Mileage 10-W30 with a qt of Lucas Oil Stabilizer. Tomorrow I will be changing out the transmission fluid, spark plugs and spark plug wires. I understand that this may be an all day job so I will be up bright and early. I purchased Castrol Dex/Merc Transmission Fluid and Lucas Stop Slip, Bosch Platinum Spark Plugs and AC Delco Wires. I am hoping the new plugs and wires will help with the semi-rough idle and the unburnt gas smell, we shall see.

 

Welcome.
There is a sticky in the top of the disco 2 section it is high mileage maintenance. It will lend guidance on the junk to do and junk to use.
here go=https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...service-29020/

 

the gas smell is probably a bad O2 sensor? you might want to rethink those AC Delco Wires,
these things run super hot and can bake mid grade wires in a relatively short time.

 

After driving this Discovery for almost a month and close to 4,000 miles I have really come to liking this SUV very much. I still have not changed the spark plugs and wires and I will more than likely pay someone to do that job for me because I can't get my hands anywhere near the back of the engine to remove the old wires.

I have done two oil changes this month. For the first oil change I used Castrol 10w-30 part synthetic oil, a quart of Lucas Oil Stabilizer and a Bosch oil filter. For the second oil change, which I did on Christmas eve before driving the Discovery down to Waco from Dallas, (approximately 300 miles round trip) I used Royal Purple 15w-40, a quart of Lucas Oil Stabilizer and a K&N oil filter. I probably didn't need to use the Lucas product but I had it, so I used it. After using the Royal Purple oil, I noticed that the ticking noise at idle completely went away. The engine is noticeably quieter and it gets better gas mileage.

I did a Seafoam treatment, one can in the gas tank with a full tank of 93 octane, a big bottle of Turbo 108 octane boost, and one can in the intake manifold. I noticed that the slightly rough idle is now nothing more than a few tiny vibrations that I feel when sitting at a stop light. What is left of the rough idle is more than likely due to the worn out spark plugs and wires.

I changed out roughly 5.5 quarts of transmission fluid with Castrol Dex/Merc and Lucas Stop Slip. I instantly noticed that the transmission shifted smoother. There was no more hard shifting from 1-2, no slipping going from 3-4 or downshifting from 4-3. The transmission has a nice "whine" to it, it sounds and feels very strong.

I got a chance to use the Hill Descent Control and Manual Mode in 1st gear, that was a lot of fun. The torque on this SUV is amazing, my head was thrown back a couple of times before I got used to it.

I got a carfax report and it shows that the ABS modulator was replaced in 2007, which is great because that part is apparently very expensive. The Three Amigos lights rarely come on now that the 20 degree weather is gone. To get the Three Amigos lights to shut off I just tap the ABS modulator with my hand while the truck is off and everything works fine again... I hope that this doesn't mean that the ABS modulator is going out again, but I suspect that it does.

During the last road trip I drove the Discovery between 80-100 MPH for roughly 30 minutes without one single issue. :-) I don't normally drive that fast, I just wanted to see how well the truck handled at that speed and I was very impressed.

I haven't done too much to this Discovery except minor maintenance but it already feels like a totally different vehicle since I first drove it. I hope to have this SUV around for a long time.

 

Great stuff. I'm about a week behind you in terms of Discovery 2 ownership. I took care of my amigos and took care of the U joint issues as well.

Am very interested in the transmission work you did. Could you elaborate on how difficult and/or expensive it was? I've noticed the same hard shifting, and would like to mimic your experience.

 

Draining and refilling the transmission fluid was very easy to do. You'll need a fluid transfer pump, 5 qt's of Castrol Dex/Merc transmission fluid and 1 qt of Lucas Stop Slip. That is what I used and everything seems to be working great.

Use a T30 Torx Screw to undo the drain plug, wait for everything to drain and put the plug back in. Mix the Lucas Stop Slip with the transmission fluid and shake it up to mix them together well.

On the front of the transmission sump there is a refill plug. I don't remember which ratchet I used to undo the plug. Place the intake end of the pump into the container of transmission fluid/lucas stop slip mixture and the other end into the refill port on the sump.

Pump until some fluid starts to spill out of the refill port. Put the plug back in. Start the engine and shift the transmission through all of the gears several times. Make sure that every gear engages before switching to the next gear.

Shut off the engine, undo the refill plug and put some more of the new fluid into the sump until it starts to overfill again then put the refill plug back in.

That is all I did and I noticed a nice change in the transmission. I've driven close to 2,000 miles since I did this. I am going to change out another 6 qt's in a day or two and I will post pics.