Land Rover D II buyers guide by one of your friendly neighborhood Land Rover nuts.

"TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts." (thebloody) 11/24/2013 at 14:34 • Filed to: Land Rover

1

20

The reason I'm writing this guide is because I want to share what I've learnt in my years owning my Land Rover. This way I can let you guys know what to look out for when buying a Land Rover Discovery II, now this isn't a definitive end all be all guide. I strongly suggest you do your own research and go in with your eyes wide open and have an idea on what to expect. I'm writing this from the point of an enthusiast of Land Rovers so things I find easy to look over other people may not.

*Disclaimer: I am by no means a professional, just your average Land Rover enthusiast who enjoys wrenching.

I'll start off with 3 jokes commonly told amongst the Land Rover community,

1.) If a Land Rover isn't leaking oil, it's out of oil.
2.) Land Rover: Making mechanics out of owners for 60 years
3.) Land Rover: The most reliable unreliable vehicle in existence.

The reason I'm sharing these with you is because there is a lot of truth to them, Land Rovers are not Toyotas that you can just ignore. You have to keep on top of your maintenance at least with the newer Land Rovers (Series trucks tend to just keep running), and a lot of times people buy a second hand Land Rover that has been neglected by the idiot soccer mom and they're stuck with huge repair bills. If you are seriously considering buying a Discovery II I'd say budget around $2000 for repairs (worst case scenario) and with any used car purchase insist that the seller let you have the vehicle inspected by a 3rd party mechanic to verify what is and isn't wrong with the vehicle.

Now lets get to the reason for this post.

Common issues on the DII's:

- Is it an 03? !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Although now now days it's becoming less and less of a problem because the ones that were going to grenade, have.

- Check coolant for gasket sealer (should be a milky color)
- The V8 engines have a tendency to blow head gaskets due to the shitty coolant that never gets changed (becomes corrosive after a while and literally eats the head gaskets) or if somebody overheats the all aluminum engine and warps the cylinder heads.
- If the coolant is clear, check to see if the head gasket hasn't already been replaced and if it is you're good to go on that front.
- Check the front prop shaft for greaseable nipples on the U-Joints. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
- If if the U-joints do not have nipples then that means that it needs to be rebuilt pronto ($120 roughly at your local shop that rebuilds prop shafts) as it is close to failing. The reason is that due to the proximity of the U-joints to the exhaust they dry out and fail after around 80/90k miles and sending the rest of the prop shaft into the transmission making a nice big hole.
- 3 Amigos (TC, hill decent and ABS lights come on as yellow) This is a fault in your abs unit or a bad wheel hub sensor and all it means is that you loose TC or ABS (The truck will still stop though). The ABS unit is a very easy fix that takes about half a day and $120 in parts
- Sagging air bags, check to make sure that the rear self leveling suspension air bags aren't cracked and leaking. It could also be possible that PO replaced the back with the coil sprung conversion (which makes life much easier).
- Leaking sun roofs, what happens is that the plastic drain pipes become hard and brittle over time which leads to them breaking. Fix requires removing the headliner and going buck wild with JB Weld (much cheaper than replacement drains).
- Speaking of head liners: Sagging head liner, it happens you have some choices on what to do. You can replace the head liner, reattach the fabric or just strip the fabric and foam off replacing it with bed liner spray (doesn't look to bad, it's what I did).
- Chassis Rust, if you're living in a very cold area of the country make sure that the chassis hasn't rotted out due to all the salt (not common but can happen).
- Various leaks, well it's a Land Rover and if it's not leaking then it's probably out of oil.

- Not a problem, but Land Rovers run premium and with the permanent 4x4 they can be thirsty.

Now the good things about the DII's

- Awesome off road, especially if you're lucky enough to get one with a center locking diff (On 04's they're standard so no jerry rigged setups)
- When the Traction control works it's amazing what you can do with it, it only needs a 1/4-1/2 turn to sense wheel slip to detect the need of traction control activation which then applies the brakes to the slipping wheel. Of all the Discoveries you see in the proceeding video's only around 3 or 4 have any sort of LSD/Locker setup.
- Easy to Mod. This truck lends itself very well to off road modification.
- Crap ton of available off road goodies (even in the US). Bumpers, lift kits, skid plates, lockers, LSD's ext…
- Parts are easy to come by and if you go to the right places (read NOT stealerships) parts won't require your first born.
- Of the Land Rovers sold in the US in the last 12 years, this is the closest thing to a Defender you'll get legally.
- Very active and helpful community
- There are tons of Land Rover clubs all around the country with plenty events scheduled every year to give you a chance to break your truck off road (if you're into that sort of thing, there are also bunny trails for the less experienced or sane people).
- Tons of online advice. If you head to sites like !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! you can pretty much get an answer to any question you have regarding Land Rovers and there are plenty of guys willing to walk you through step by step in diagnosing an issue.

Here are some videos of Land Rover gatherings:

Also for the last video I heard there is a D2 with a recently cleaned interior that ran when parked…

So that's that. Again not a professional, just giving my humble opinion.

Svend > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 11/24/2013 at 15:32

1

Awesome. It's never over, in a Rover. Sure things brake, but it's bonding time with family. A Landie isn't just transport, it's a member of the family.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > Svend 11/24/2013 at 15:34

1

That is so true, mine's name is Dagga Boy and my dad's is just "The Landie".

Svend > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 11/24/2013 at 15:40

0

Keep Rovering guys.

HammerheadFistpunch > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 11/24/2013 at 16:51

0

This is a great write up. Thanks. Its funny that most of the stuff you right about applies to most old 4x4wagons, i just replaced my u joints for example

HammerheadFistpunch > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 11/24/2013 at 17:04

0

as a side note, when I found out they made land rovers without a locking center and relied wholey on the TC...it blew my mind a little. That's trust...trust in British electronics to be precise

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > HammerheadFistpunch 11/24/2013 at 17:06

0

Thanks, yeah there are times I love my Land Rover and then there are times I want to set it on fire. During those times I'm glad it isn't a Jeep otherwise it might oblige me... hehe burn...

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > HammerheadFistpunch 11/24/2013 at 17:11

0

Don't worry, that is a thought shared amoungst many in the Land Rover community. There are many threads dedicated to lt230 transfer case swaps into the 02-03 D2's.

Textured Soy Protein > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 11/24/2013 at 23:09

0

Well, this just completely talks me out of considering it at all for my trouble free winter vehicle.

Prophet of hoon > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 11/27/2013 at 00:42

1

I just bought a 2000 today with bad head gaskets - got a good deal on it (but mostly because I'm intimately familiar with the Buick 215, it was in my 1st car.)

With that said, it's getting a 4BT diesel and that should solve all of its motor ills. The rest of the drive train seems pretty bulletproof as long as you stay reasonable on the power and the throttle.

And it will get the jerry rigged t-case fix :)

thanks a lot for putting the major community knowledge in one place

plus, the car is for my wife and I have a Hummer H3 and a 83 Chev diesel 4x4 to go rescue the LR (hmmm, I can almost hear the steam rising from the LR fans :))

Prophet of hoon > HammerheadFistpunch 11/27/2013 at 00:42

0

which is really funny since the english don't believe in electricity

Svend > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 11/27/2013 at 03:26

1

To anyone looking to buy a Landy. Most important bit of advice when buying a Landy, is to know what to look for and know what your looking at. Landy owners are a diverse breed of pac animals and will look after the whole, not just themselves. If you want a good one that has been treated right or just a little advice, join a Land Rover club.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > Prophet of hoon 11/27/2013 at 07:29

0

It's okay, when your wife is pulling you out of shit with her Disco you'll see the error of your ways...

Be careful of the engine swaps, depending on the State you live in you could be limited to same displacement and no older model year engines. Was researching a diesel swap but I've grown to like the 4.6.
Also the bell housing bolts are still SAE which is funny as the rest of the engine is metric so why LR did that is any ones guess.

Prophet of hoon > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 11/27/2013 at 13:48

0

While I understand your reluctance to admit that the H3 is a superior vehicle, I'll point out one fact that will help you understand why I'm so confident in who's pulling whom out.

I'm the one who's built them both, and if you really believe I'm going to build something that's better than mine - you've another think coming. :)

Thanks about the SAE - that makes things a lot easier. At this point, I'm leaning towards the TD5 or an Isuzu 4bd2t.... I've always been concerned about the weight of the 4bt cummins, and as there are reasonable, other alternatives... I'll take easier every time.

As for emissions.... amazingly enough, in Washington, as long as the motor is post 2005; there are no emission regulations. In fact, in 2034, no car will be smog checked.... (a matter of a great deal of smiles for me - and almost makes it worth dealing with all the liberals).

Finally, I know the liberals will get their panties in a bunch with my comment.... it's okay, they're always upset about something, so, frankly, it's hard to tell just how bunched the panties are at any given time/issue.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > Prophet of hoon 11/27/2013 at 13:58

0

Well when a vehicle starts out better, you really can't build it better now can you? ;). Careful with the TD5, it's not US DOT spec nor is the 300Tdi so they're technically "illegal". I've heard of guys importing them as industrial water pump engines or somthing to that effect. Not that I'm telling you to do anything illegal that is, I'd never do that...

Prophet of hoon > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 11/27/2013 at 14:10

0

I'm a lawyer, I can f*** anything up :)

... I also understand that "illegal" under law is merely "arguable"...

technically, we can't burn veggie oil either - but I can't imagine anyone arguing (especially in the state that smokes weed) that getting better mpg with no visible exhaust should be banned....

or put another way, when you don't have the law on your side, argue policy

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > Prophet of hoon 11/27/2013 at 14:37

0

I dated a litigator for 3 years, sound familiar...

Prophet of hoon > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 11/27/2013 at 17:18

0

got off on a technicality?

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > Prophet of hoon 11/27/2013 at 20:00

0

Yup, she is a city dwelling liberal and I'm a country boy who likes shooting Bambie for jerky. Guess she figured I wasn't going to change and didn't want to accept me as I am so gave up. She did me a favour because now I'm marrying a girl who buys me shit to put on my truck and likes helping me work on it.

Prophet of hoon > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 11/27/2013 at 22:39

0

I was driving a Hummer H3 when I met her, she was driving a Smart car and a Prius. Now, she drives a BMW manual trans 325xi wagon - and soon a Land Rover. Not all liberals are stupid, some get smart :)

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > Prophet of hoon 11/28/2013 at 09:39

0

Nice.