Disco 1 common faults

[tom_tom]

Hi guys

Ex military Defender owner here,

I am (This weekend) on the hunt for my 1st cheapish disco 1 (TDi)
(3 figures rather than 4) ;) as it will be a 2nd vehicle

Any chance of a few pointers to watch for please?
(I know we could probably go on forever) but a few main bits to look out for would be much apriciated guys please :D

So far I know about ..

Boot and rear wheel arch Rot

2nd and reverse gear crunching

Central locking or rather it doesn't :-)

and leaky sunroofs

Any help would be very greatly recieved

Thanks in advance!

Tom

PS if any forum members have maybe recently upgraded or had a change in circumstances, and have a half decent disco 1 for sale TDi or LPG only please pm me

Thanx again gang!

[Swingletree]

Sills and body mounts rot out, Sills are easily replaced with a length of box section but body mounts require a bit more skill at fabrication.

The running gear (transmission, axles, steering etc) are pretty similar to defender/90/110 so look for all the usual faults, corroded brake lines, ball joints, UJ's etc etc. Good luck and let us know the outcome. ;)

[redhand]

I'd just add that the price of all 4x4's but particularly Discos are falling rapidly so what may have seemed a reasonable price 3 months ago is now rediculously overpriced. So have a good look around and make sure your upto date on the sort of prices their fetching. I've seen half decent early disco 1's going for £400 and recently saw a 98 300tdi which needed new drivers side sill, go for £800. So make sure you do your homework.

[redhand]

Sills and body mounts rot out, Sills are easily replaced with a length of box section but body mounts require a bit more skill at fabrication.

The running gear (transmission, axles, steering etc) are pretty similar to defender/90/110 so look for all the usual faults, corroded brake lines, ball joints, UJ's etc etc. Good luck and let us know the outcome. ;)

YRM metal Solution sell replacement body mounts for less than £20 and make the job an absolute doddle

http://www.yrm-metal-solutions.com/

[kevinrbeech]

Hi,
Anything less than a grand will be pretty rubbish, and well used. Rust will be the biggest problem, inner wings, boot floor, sills, body mounts, rear cross-member and even the chassis. Mechanical faults can be fixed, but can be expeansive, 200 tdi's have the better head the 300's are pron to warping. The 200's blow the head gasket on pot no 4, that said mine has done 220,000 and as far as I know the head has never been off.

Look for;
Low mileage
Service history,
Tidy interior
Treated underside if possible, ideally from it's early years
Don't buy from an enthusiast, not at less than £1000, a scraper will fetch £5-600

There are lots of bargains out there, don't buy the first one, and drive them all.
K

[brent downey]

hi tom tom, what part of the country are u from ,as there are lots of cheap discos in the hereford times , start at 650 . with mot and tax. obviously only any good if u live near hereford :D

[redhand]

Hi,
Anything less than a grand will be pretty rubbish, and well used. Rust will be the biggest problem, inner wings, boot floor, sills, body mounts, rear cross-member and even the chassis. Mechanical faults can be fixed, but can be expeansive, 200 tdi's have the better head the 300's are pron to warping. The 200's blow the head gasket on pot no 4, that said mine has done 220,000 and as far as I know the head has never been off.

Look for;
Low mileage
Service history,
Tidy interior
Treated underside if possible, ideally from it's early years
Don't buy from an enthusiast, not at less than £1000, a scraper will fetch £5-600

There are lots of bargains out there, don't buy the first one, and drive them all.
K

You haven't been on ebay recently have you:D I've seen loads of v8's with MOT that haven't got past £400. There cheap enough now that you could buy a decent V8 and a scrapper tdi swap the engines over and then weigh in what you don't want and get a couple of hundred quid back off the scrapman.

[kevinrbeech]

You haven't been on ebay recently have you:D I've seen loads of v8's with MOT that haven't got past £400. There cheap enough now that you could buy a decent V8 and a scrapper tdi swap the engines over and then weigh in what you don't want and get a couple of hundred quid back off the scrapman.

Sorry redhand, did I have an opinion, well silly me, maybe I should get my facts right before I answer a post in future, what a dickhead I am. I bow to your superior knowledge of Discovery's and the market for them.

I don't remember attacking anyone else's opinion but you obviously think that I shoud check e-bay more frequently, what a load of crap. The original poster wanted idea's of what he should look for to ensure buying a reasonable Discovery, you obviously read between the lines and realised that all he was looking for was a car that had an Mot regardless of condition.

My new reply should read;
Go on ebay, buy the biggest load of SH1T for the cheapest price that you can get it and keep your fingers crossed that it will last until it fails next years Mot. Now there is some good advice.

Now I know why I don't bother anymore - don't dis-respect the opinions of others, after all, we are all entitled to our own.

When you become mature you may realise that you don't have to always be the TOP DOG

[redhand]

Sorry redhand, did I have an opinion, well silly me, maybe I should get my facts right before I answer a post in future, what a dickhead I am. I bow to your superior knowledge of Discovery's and the market for them.

I don't remember attacking anyone else's opinion but you obviously think that I shoud check e-bay more frequently, what a load of crap. The original poster wanted idea's of what he should look for to ensure buying a reasonable Discovery, you obviously read between the lines and realised that all he was looking for was a car that had an Mot regardless of condition.

My new reply should read;
Go on ebay, buy the biggest load of SH1T for the cheapest price that you can get it and keep your fingers crossed that it will last until it fails next years Mot. Now there is some good advice.

Now I know why I don't bother anymore - don't dis-respect the opinions of others, after all, we are all entitled to our own.

When you become mature you may realise that you don't have to always be the TOP DOG

Well I don't know what crawled up you're ar5e! but it must have upset you, The whole point of a forum been public. Is that people post their opinions, hopefully without been abused for daring to have an opinion. I've read through my previous posts and I still can't see why you feel you have cause to be abusive to me. I pointed out that the price of disco's is falling rapidly and cited Ebay as a prime example of this happening. There are plenty of P, R, & S reg disco's going for between £1000 & £1500. At the beginning of the year they would have been fetching £2000 to £3000. I'm sure there are some still making that sort of money, But not as many as there was. Just because something isn't fetching top price doesn't mean it's knackered. I bought a set of 4 P38 Spyder alloys with tyres, for £5.50 last week. By your reckoning does this mean all the tyres will be bald and the rims all bent and warped??

[brent downey]

good point .well put. couldnt agree more.:)

[tom_tom]

Hi Guys

Cheers for the extra pointers everyone!

Brent D - I live in the North west.. but work in the Midlands so i'm quite flexable with viewing :)

Once again cheers guys!

Tom

[nomoreleafs]

Sorry redhand, did I have an opinion, well silly me, maybe I should get my facts right before I answer a post in future, what a dickhead I am. I bow to your superior knowledge of Discovery's and the market for them.

I don't remember attacking anyone else's opinion but you obviously think that I shoud check e-bay more frequently, what a load of crap. The original poster wanted idea's of what he should look for to ensure buying a reasonable Discovery, you obviously read between the lines and realised that all he was looking for was a car that had an Mot regardless of condition.

My new reply should read;
Go on ebay, buy the biggest load of SH1T for the cheapest price that you can get it and keep your fingers crossed that it will last until it fails next years Mot. Now there is some good advice.

Now I know why I don't bother anymore - don't dis-respect the opinions of others, after all, we are all entitled to our own.

When you become mature you may realise that you don't have to always be the TOP DOG
:confused:

[thebiglad]

Well I don't know what crawled up you're ar5e! but it must have upset you, The whole point of a forum been public. Is that people post their opinions, hopefully without been abused for daring to have an opinion. I've read through my previous posts and I still can't see why you feel you have cause to be abusive to me. I pointed out that the price of disco's is falling rapidly and cited Ebay as a prime example of this happening. There are plenty of P, R, & S reg disco's going for between £1000 & £1500. At the beginning of the year they would have been fetching £2000 to £3000. I'm sure there are some still making that sort of money, But not as many as there was. Just because something isn't fetching top price doesn't mean it's knackered. I bought a set of 4 P38 Spyder alloys with tyres, for £5.50 last week. By your reckoning does this mean all the tyres will be bald and the rims all bent and warped??

Hiya Redhand, I agree with you, just because it's cheap doesn't make it rubbish and just because it's pricey doesn't neccesarily make it good.

4x4 prices are in freefall now because no-one wants them due to Red Ken and this luvverley government etc.

We are going against the natural order of things today running vehicles like Disco's, 2 ton neanderthal machines - with cheap parts and relatively easy to work on, so saving garage costs. And environmentally friendly in comparison to a new car total carbon footprint. Sorry, I just went off on one:o

But hey, it's great if the silly people have lost interest in Disco's , it means we can buy them at good prices :D:D:D

[brent downey]

check out herefordtimes.com ..i live naer malvern, and quite happy to have a look with you .:)