Hi there.

i'm going to see a discovery at the pre purchase inspection next week. maybe i will lurk in this forum from now on

confess i'm a city car guy and i believe the outdoors are for bikes (advrider.com) but wife wants a minivan now that we live in the US...

joking apart, i've already looked in the forums here and the content is top notch! congrats everyone!

I've already printed discomike's discovery maintenance list to check on the inspection. Besides that, anything else I should be aware when buying a Discovery II? around 2000-2002.

I am clueless to this world. Anything like features to be avoided (like non-spring shocks in the case of jeeps, etc) or features not to be ignored when shopping for an old discovery?

thanks!

 

Saw the car, it has a front collision. Front bumper is very bad. front grill is damaged but i will not even change it.

besides that, i don't know if that's because of the collision, there's one plastic piece underneath the wipers that is cracked. right in front of the base of the windshield.

And there's some water leaking under the car, right in the middle of it (and it surely wasn't because of a recent rain or car wash! the car do not see water on the outside for some time)

Is there anything i should tell the mechanic doing the inspection to look closer because of the font damage?

Thank you all

 

Mechanic gave me a full page of problems with the car.

- abs module (he didn't know about the hummer fix mentioned in the forum)
- knocking noise from engine
- no coolant in expansion tank, apparently for some time
- coolant leaks
- a bunch o bad gaskets, incl head, intake, valves cover
- some bad hoses (i looked at them, some had cracking on the connections but overall where pretty ok)
- engine mounts broken
- transfer case input & output shaft leaks oil
- heat shield missing for starter motor
- water pump fixed with black silicone
- rear brakes rotors have lip formation
- DTC - shuttle valve switch failure


Now, i backed off the deal, because i picked some 5 items there and the costs prediction already was over 7k. Is that for real?

Do you guys also feel this is way too bad for a 2001 discovery II or that's about the regular state for one that old? Mechanic told me that i can't find a usable British car (he's a rover and jaguar dealer) over 80k miles.

 

They are out there, it is just a matter of waiting to find one. I bought mine almost 3 years ago for $2500. Other than a *bad engine, it was in great shape: new tires, mint condition paint and interior, only 85,000 miles. I put a $2200 used engine in it, and since then, other than normal maintenance and modifications, it has been perfect.

*no oil to one cylinder resulting in damaged block from connecting rod running through the center of the engine splitting the camshaft and destroying and locking the flywheel with a piece of camshaft ejected through rear of block.

 

gcb - I would run away from that one. It has been very neglected and will need more help than you want to give it. If you can do all the work and it is a toy then it might be worth it for a project.

 

That should have been fun. Any idea what happens to the car if it's on the highway during that? Or a ABS malfunction due to an old module?