Disco oppinion

[ksaile]

I'm not terribly familiar with Discoveries and I thought I'd ask a couple of questions here. I'm a diehard Land Cruiser nut, however a local dealership in town here has a '96 Disco with a 5speed trans with 85,000 miles for $10,000. My girlfriend is entertaining the idea of getting it. My knowledge of LR's is a little weak. First off does that seem like a reasonable price. Second, what are some common problems with the series I Disco's. I've heard horror stories regarding electrical problems, how much truth is there to that? From what I understand the 5 speed is pretty rare, anything unusual to be aware of there? Thanks

[jsb88]

That doesnt seem bad.... The only problems I have had with my Discovery is the turbo pipe falling off, and the Head Gasket blowing.

[IXLR8TL3.2]

valve problems, valve problems, valve problems, valve problems, infamous on the 1996 only, we have one. another thing on the series 1 discos... if you look along the door jams of both rear passenger doors, theres a weld where to panels meet, this spot is famous for rusting, ours has twice, if you notice on the series II where these panels meet, that area has been replaced with 1 panel so there is no weld there. one more thing, the rubber flange on the rear door, dovetail type flange, the one that comes on the series I becomes loose and worn, this allows the rear door to rattle during driving, take it to the dealer, the repace this unit with the one that comes on the series II, this stops the problem completely. umm also the rear quarter panel windows, the rubber seam that goes around the outside of the window cracks, there isn't a way to prevent it, so you have to replace them every so often, at my dealer its $35 for both of them. i think thats it, personally i think owning a land rover is awesome and great, but they need attention and when they need attention you have to give it to them or else they are going to go down hill, and its great and all until your warranty runs out then shit starts to get expensive, so if you have an older one, i suggest you purchase the aftermarket warranties that are available online. the 5-speeds are very rare and i wish thats what i had, i have not heard any problems that pertain to the 5speed transmission, so i think everything i said still applies to you. as far as electrical problems go, i have not heard that nor have i ever experienced any problems with mine as far as electrical problems. the Series 1 discos are amazing off road the have huge chrome swivel balls extremely strong, due to the live axle suspension however, the on road ride is a little above harsh, so as long as you don't mind the on road ride, for $10,000 i say go for it

[kraller]

I say go for it also, I had a 97 previously to my 01, there where only a few problems i had. One being the cruise control hose was coming lose so that it wouldnt set itself to cruise, also there was a problem with the valves as stated by IXLR8TL3.2. The 97 didnt have very many problems that couldnt be easily fixed except again as IXLR8TL3.2 said once the warrenty runs out, we caught the problems right before it ran out and traded it in to the dealer twords the new 01, the cruise control problem they will charge an outragous price of $1100 to fix! There where also a few problems with exaust, we just added a cat-back borla system customized for the 97 and that was an easy $600 lifetime guarenteed fix. Thats all I know of on the older models, but I know that the 5speeds are extreamly rare and if i came accross one that was in good condition like the one you are looking at hopefully is I would definetly say go for it!

[Cbass94]

I would definately say go for it too! We have a '94 defender and discovery, and I wish we had the manual discovery. The defender is, of course and there have been no problems with the tranny. I believe it is the same one that goes in the discovery too, solid as a rock. Go for it.
-Brad

[Cbass94]

BTW, try here for cheap parts www.rovercity.com