Hello all, I bought my first car, 2003 Land Rover Discovery 2, no clue on how to maintain or work on a vehicle, but I intend to learn and appreciate any help given to me. I'll be making another post, probably in General Tech Help, unless I find a more appropriate sub-forum, to hopefully get some advice on some visible issues with the car that I've observed.

Only **** thing about this car is the MPG, but other than that I like it. I don't mind having to learn to work on it since I've been told they aren't reliable cars, but we shall see. Don't have money to toss at it every time something goes wrong, hence why I intend in learning on doing things myself.

I bought it last Monday, didn't have a mechanic friend, so I asked a self-taught friend of mine who works on motorcycles. Best I could get, ha. Private seller, he was an honest guy, told us things he didn't have to, so I felt comfortable enough purchasing it on the spot.

The LR runs great, tires are good, engine is good, transmission is due for a fluid change / flush, interior/exterior is good (will be cleaning thoroughly today), AC/Heater, Power Windows, etc..

Cons:

• Seller told us the engine knocks when it gets too hot, not sure what causes this, will be looking into it so any help is appreciated. I haven't personally heard it knocking.
• I looked at the undercarriage yesterday, there's a lot of built up gunk/grease it seems like. Hoping it's not leaking as I haven't seen anything on the floor, idling there aren't any visible leaks. I'll be cleaning it off and observing it over the next few days.
• Driver door latch is malfunctioning. Locks seem to be finicky as well.
• Few interior cosmetic issues, will fix myself.

My mother introduced me to a mechanic friend of hers, he will be checking it out soon, I'll let him know everything I know about it, he will be teaching me how to do things myself as well, so I have that to look forward to, but I figured I would try to learn more about LR's in general, so I'm excited to be here.

I was going to ask what a good resource to start with would be, but I think the car manual is good, haha.

Anyway, thanks for reading, I'll be posting for some help in the near future.

Paid $2500 for it.

 

Land Rover's are only as reliable as the people that have been working on them.

I've owned many different vehicles (all 4x4's) I've had nothing but a perfect track record with 87-06 Land Rover's. Heck my 99 D2 drove thru water over the hood 6 times (thru Harvey Flood waters) and I didn't have a single issue, or even get the carpet wet!!!

It's all about how it was maintained. LR's get a bad wrap from people that neglect them or people that buy neglected ones. Like any used car you honestly have to know what to look for to avoid a money pit. Anything can be fixed it just depends how much you wanna spend.

 

That's good to hear, as long as I take care of it, shouldn't have any issues. Will get it inspected properly soon by a mechanic.

 

Welcome Roteak, I hope your journey is a good one. I am amusingly "offended" for mine because I know it was badly abused and will probably be a money pit. Any Bad Rap it gets will be the finish if I try to paint it!

 

Good luck, with your new rig. Welcome to the fold.

Bria.