well, after not having a disco for a while, i've purchased another. this time a nicer 2003. finally took it out today to test all the bells and whistles it has (hill descent, and traction control) and it all worked beautifully. nothing notable, just some logging roads. looking forward to building it up for more off road capability, especially new tires and a locking CDL. pretty long list of things i need to do to it, but that's all part of the fun.
cheers,
jon

 

Very nice. You know where to get the free RAVE download (link below), covers that year as well. The tech section of the D1 area has a technical sticky with write up on rebuilding front propshaft, needs to be greaseable. A number of members have reported failure after a "chirp" begins to sound. It spears the transmission, knocks a hole in the case, etc.

 

i've already downloaded the RAVE, thanks.
first thing i did upon buying it was change out all(most) of the fluids and greased everything up. when i crawled under it i was pleasantly surprised to see the front shaft had already been rebuilt with greaseable ujoints. score one for me.
jon

 

So next you'll be looking at water pump and oil pump (time chain at same time) - but those may wait until you have some fun. WP is an hour, front cover is not one hour...

You might consider an aftermarket oil gauge, like the Glowshift product. Low oil pressure seem to be a problem when the oil pump breaks into several pieces, just not low enough to turn on the light.

I'm not a fan of the temp gauge, the ECU controls it and what you see. The temp can move around a lot, and gauge does not change, so you don't get any advance warning. Spike had recent posts about a sawnky aftermarket digital display for under $80 that had all kinds of things on it.

Your thermostat is mounted in the plumbing, it has four small holes around the flange that can get plugged and contribute to overheating problems.

And a far to common problem is battery going bad during time the truck is locked, and you come back to alarm immobilzation. Lots of electronics, need good battey in top shape and all big cables clean and tight.

 

Great looking truck, hope to see you for the Tahuya run in November.

 

I hope you checked to see if the block was in the line of "bad block numbers" to make sure your oil pump isn't in the warning... Just to save future $$

 

trying to talk the wife into pushing the CA trip back a week. this was the test run to see if i felt confident in it, i do.

it is in the bad VIN range. i'm not terribly worried about it. it has 120k miles, not a single tick, clatter, chirp, nothing coming from the motor. if it fails, i'll buy a new one. i was after a straight body, and this style. if a motor expense at a later date comes up, no worries. i got a killer deal on it, and i'm not looking back.

thanks
jon