Land Rover Discovery Series II

Tempest*
Send comments/questions to
hansongzhang@yahoo.com
Also, if you're interested in computer graphics,
visit http://www.cs.unc.edu/~zhangh
* Clipped from a photo of the cover of the gas tank, which says "'Tempest' Gas Tank".

Land Rover Discovery Owners Mailing List
What's New

Table of Contents

My Rover
  • Land Rover Discovery Series II, B. Silver
  • Leather, cold weather
  • No ACE
  • No SLS
Pictures Tech

Most sources don't have anything for Disco II yet (May 98). My first mods will be body armor, sliders, bull bar, diff guard, etc. The Disco II needs some serious protection for the big butt, but so far I've only seen SG's expensive rear end combo. Really need some more info about South Down (have these guys ever heard of the web?).

But, really, how many modifications do you need? Look at Axel Haakonsen's web page, and you'll see that he's gone wild places with minimum modifications (mainly mild pretection). Land Rovers are very capable vehicles right out of the showroom.

Problems

This section is mandatory for all LR related web sites. At the very least, this serves as a proof that you really own a Land Rover :-) "If it's not leaking, it's empty."
 
Problem
Milage when problem observed
Excerpt service record 
Rear sunroof totally inoperational
43 (day of purchase)
"CAUSE: FAULTY WIRING... FOUND GREEN AND WHITE WIRE PICHED AT 'A' POST. THIS WIRE GOES FROM REAR SUNROOF SWITCH TO SUNROOF ECU. REPAIRED WIRE AND REPOSITIONED HARNESS"
Brief engine overheating (needle almost at high end of the normal range); not reproduced later
50-100
 
Bad oil leak (oil dripping from front diff)
~300
"REPLACE 'O'-RING AT OIL FILTER HOUSING"
Coolant leak
~300
"CHECK FOR COOLANT LEAK... CAUSE: LOOSE CLAMPS... TIGHTENED AND REPOSITIONED HOSE CLAMPS"
Front seat will not adjust intermittently
(although not fixed by the dealer, I later found that the problem's caused by fact that some mechanisms under the seat tend to bind when the seat is at its bottom-most position.)
50-100
"UNABLE TO VERIFY, ORDERED SEAT SWITCH IF FAILS"
Oil leak (not fixed by first visit - not merely an o-ring problem); dripping from front diff
~800
"SOME MISALIGNMENT OF ADAPTOR TO TIMING COVER NOTED. TIMING COVER LEAKING AT PLUG AND PRESSURE RELIEF VALVE SEAL AREA... R&R TIMING COVER ASSEMBLY (R&R WATER PUMP, DRAIN COOLANT FROM TWO BLOCK PLUGS, R&R OIL SUMP ASSEMBLY (SOME LEAKAGE AT REAR GASKET AREA)...
Hard object inside the headliner traversing left to right (or right to left, depending on the direction of the turn) during cornering. Have the mechanics left their tools over there?? (They pulled open the headliner when fixing the faulty sunroof.)
~1000
They left there a screw!!
Slow but accelerating coolant leak. "pssssss" noise (water dropping on hot pan sort). Leak about a tank in a week.
8500
Head gasket leak. The noise was coolant dripping on the exhaust pipe. Head gasket replaced - it was a pretty big job (5hr). They disconnected the battery but they didn't adjust the clock back to summer time. On the plus side, temprature was back to Celsius.
Serious coolant leak but don't see any dripping. Serious overheating on the highway (needle way past the red area) temporarily fixed by adding water, but coolant keeps leaking.
25,000
The head gasket was leaking, and head gasket has been warped by heat and had to be re-machined. Either last time they installed the head gasket wrong, or the head had already been warped, or both.

Good thing is the dealer put in the ultimate solution. The engine block was replace with a new one - now the car has a mostly new engine in it! It has been fine for a few thousand miles and hope it keeps this way.

Links