How many Miles can i expect ?

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Theduke335

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So i am in the market for a Discovery ..How many miles can i expect to get out of it? the one i am looking at has been taken care of very well. I am just trying to get an idea if im getting an ok deal or not
 

joey

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Depends on lots of things.... but generally if you take good care of it, it could last of 3 to 4 hundred thousand miles... like any other vehicle.
 

Theduke335

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Hey Joey!

You have been very helpful to me thank you! So we have decided to buy the Discovery i posted pics of . The wife loves it and so do i ! So i will keep updates on everything!
 

beemer

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Depends on lots of things.... but generally if you take good care of it, it could last of 3 to 4 hundred thousand miles... like any other vehicle.

Wow! I'm totally shocked and speechless by your reply Joey. You know better than this owning and wrenching on one to keep it running. My Limey tennants sons both have Discos, a 96 and 98 claim not a bit of a problem just oil and gas. Well I know the dealership service manager they use as a personal friend of mine. The 96 had 163K miles. Rear diff seal failure as well wiped out the ring and pinion so a used diff installed. It had the heads off twice, once with a burnt exhaust valve from sticking a commom problem with 3 different design patch up changes by Rover that all failed, twice with head gasket failures having coolant leaks plus later a cracked head, both exhaust manifolds cracked and replaced. many starters and alternators failed, rear windows failed, sun roof tracks failed, door lock springs broken, ABS failures, rubber U joint replacements with still a driveshaft vibration plus the cam cam chain timing set and lifters . At 163K a complete used engine replacement then sold. On the 98 with 203K miles had the oil pump relief valve stick open hence a wiped out crank, cam and bearings a total engine rebuild, again big money out of pocket. Later the slush box quit shifting after the dealer service. Within 500 miles it was a totally welded up tranny plus converter. Tranny replacement then a radiator failure and replacement. Months later a old hose they reinstalled failed causing a dropped cylinder liner, the engine becomes a future bier can. Again another used long block installed. The AC failed as well holding more water inside than out with mold in the carpets and a fogged over windsheild inside. leather seats split apart, window regulators quit working, front driveshaft failed on the highway in Nevada, he had to drive late at night until it caused a transfer case to be destroyed. Bring it in we can fix it dealers told him. Mind you these are British Tea and Tie White Shirt clean finger nail people that believe in the dealers BS. They both had doubled their Rovers value in money sunk on repairs just to keep their "not to have a bit of a problem" Rovers running.
I bet they never drove more than 1/2 throttle as they were pansies and mommy boys. They both about **** out their English Scones after I gave them a little short test ride in my Disco.
A Rover's a far cry from a 68 390 Ford engine that will go 2-400K miles untouched with hard use. There's a reason why my wife gave me the Rover and keys back then purchased a new car for herself, stranded many times with her bad replacement knees is just one reason besides having ABS go off her ripping up lawns and bushes vs running over kids. The last straw was when SRS light turned on. She parked it and called a cab home. I had to pick it off the road before the police had it towed away. I chit you not being a rather good wrench with a A&P mechanics license plus a 29 year wireman.

"Could last 3-400 hundred thousand miles" yes if every part was replaced 5 times, even 300K kilometers would be hard to fathom at owning a D1 for over 15 years.

Don't take this personal Joey, i've known you too many years, I speak my mind be it harsh it's just me. Carl.
 
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greg409

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I disagree w/joey, also.

If you maintain it and pay attn to routine maint.
I doubt you could get over 200 -250K b/4 rebuild of the upper end.

I do agree tho' , the rover is a far cry from the ford 390 as it was the single most notorious engine ford made that overheated & I had (2) in the 60's / 70's

luck,greg
 

beemer

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I disagree w/joey, also.

If you maintain it and pay attn to routine maint.
I doubt you could get over 200 -250K b/4 rebuild of the upper end.

I do agree tho' , the rover is a far cry from the ford 390 as it was the single most notorious engine ford made that overheated & I had (2) in the 60's / 70's

luck,greg

News to me Greg; over a million miles on my 69 CS, the factrory 390 option vs 360 ran 473K then the 414 I build that pushed the truck now at a million thirteen thousand. I've never had a overheating problem the past 41 years even pulling boats up and down the California central valley and over grades in the summer time. Yes a couple stats that went south and failed. No problems with overheating the 454 and 482, both FE motors with the future planned 520" FE MPI build i'm starting on for the 68 CS. I'll be making some more heat at 485 HP and just over 600 ft/lbs TQ. I see you had two FE motors, there are 11 complete in my shop from 390, 406, 427 and 428's plus many performance FE heads and intakes in my collection. I've built over 50 FE's over the years without any overheating problems, this from mild to wild, broke a few motors when drag racing but then the price you pay for speed and HP. My friend runs a 514 a 385 series 460 with his 4 row radiator in his 67 CS without any overheating problems and this is a 600 HP dynoed motor. This is making some serious heat.
 
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Theduke335

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Ok so the main question is is $2900 too much for a Disco with 190K miles the guy replaced the heater hoses, the water pump has been changed, plugs, wires, coil. It also has a 2.5" Old Man Emu lift and full skid plates under it and an ARB front bumper and a custom Rock Ware bumper on the back..He also told me something about the drive shafts have been converted to U-Joints or something like that and something about slip yokes.. he says the truck runs great with no leaks and no noise from the engine .I am good at working cars and i have every tool you can think of..I just dont want to buy this truck and end up putting a new engine in it in a week
 

antichrist

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The engine on my Disco finally packed it in last week at 260k miles. I fully expect it would have gone a good deal longer if it hadn't severely overheated at around 120-150k.
Drivetrain wise the only other thing I've had to do was put a clutch in it around 150k.
 

alzerom

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He Duke, I recently paid $2,900 for a 97 disco with 215,00 miles.. I bought it to see what it would do for the Pan American Highway, my plan is the "PanAmerican". Most of the lights dashboard and warning lights were lit-up but it just keeps running. "Service Engine"

I took it to a non-Franchise repair and they said, "drive it around and tell us what's wrong!" I took it to the dealer and they said... keep driving it, but we won't touch it! .

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I thought "Fine" and I bought a 2004 with zero problems for $10,900. Indeed, zero problems. Even the dealer was pleased.

My wallet is bigger than my toolbox, I don't throw money at old cars, boats & junk! I spend money on a good experience. (I don't go to Vegas).

My experience with Land Rover is:
at 200,000+ miles they are more expensive than the 60,000 mile versions.

Do you remember the old song lyric? "I limped back on the shoulder on the rim" ?

How long is your shoulder? if it's 25,000 miles into South America, I recommend getting a better one. If it's only 20 miles out to the lake, or the gravel pit. Hey! cheaper the better.

I have both... David

I"m selling the older one.. by the way. :)

db
 
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wolf

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So i am in the market for a Discovery ..How many miles can i expect to get out of it? the one i am looking at has been taken care of very well. I am just trying to get an idea if im getting an ok deal or not

Hmmmm? That's a tough question about how long they will last and as Joey said - that depends on a lot of things and number one is (at least for a NAS 4.00 liter/241 CID) - has that engine been seriously over-heated at any time in its life? If the answer is affirmative - then I would say - you would be lucky to see 200 K max ouit of it (and probably not even that) - sleeved aluminum blocks do not appreciate being boiled! The number 2 question is (quite apart from what sort of oil has been in it) - what sort of fuel has been running through it (for most of its life) as this is related to number1 reason - i.e., a continual diet of low-grade (i.e., below 91 octane fuel) does not conform well to the fuel-mapping for these engines - causing high internal temperatures and sleeve shifting, etc. Yes, some guys get away with it - they run them on crap and they keep running but there are also dudes who smoke and never get cancer - odds are better if you don't smoke and, in the case of your Rover engine, odds are better for a long life if you run it on the highest octane you can find.

Remember also - a lot of the first time owners for these Discoveries were not owners at all - they leased them as the purchase price was so high (50 to 75 k in the mid-1990s was not cheap by anybody's standards) and when the lease was about up they beat the living tar out of their vehicles - I know - i have seen what they have done - unbelievable Eval Kaneval stuff - jumps - leaps - see how many rocks you can hit on the bottom - just pure bs insanity. Stuff - I would add that would smash most North American trucks to smithereens! So you must bear this is mind.

But if you get one from the original owner who, following the British traditions of 'motoring' - babied it - Joey's guesstimate is not outrageous at all.

In order to save yourself a lot of frustration you must keep in mind that there are profound differences between North American engineering perspectives/expectations and British ones. I will give you one of the best examples I know of personally: i.e., when the IDF/ZAHAL was starting up its fledgling armor corps to hold off the Gypos with their T-34s/Stalins/etc. - the Israelis went for reliable AFV's - i.e., you could plunk an undertrained farmer's son in one and he could make it roll and not throw a track at each turn - so they bought a pile of American Sherman tanks which were well-known for mechanical reliability. Unfortunately they were also known for being a rather lousy tank as they had an exceeding high profile with a small turret which meant you, the tank crew, were a motorized gun-range target armed with a pop-gun for main aramament. The Israelis, ever inventive. pulled all the Sherman turret and pop guns and placed on the slightly larger and seriously upgunned French AMX 90 - thus creating the hybrid known as the Super Sherman. Their experience was that these were good reliable AFV's in the desert and no real match for the continual resupply of the latest Soviet armor to their foes in Egypt and Syria. America balked at the idea of selling their latest tanks to the Israelis so they turned to England where they purchased, at that time, the finest MBT in the world - the Centurion (out-classed anything the Commies could throw at it in Korea - and was basically impervious). it had a huge cast turret with a formidable high velocity tank-killing main gun that also had the world first auto-gun lay apparatus that permitted the gun to stay on target while the tank moved and shot - no less. But the problems began all over the place when the Israeli tank crews took delivery of their Centurions - parts broke, engines over-heated, guns could not stay on target, bells and whistles didn't work for long - in general they were having the 'Land Rover' experience only with a vehicle that they had to depend on with their lives. The Israeli crews were ******-off and wanted nothing to do with their new rides and they all wanted their Super Shermans back. General Isarel Tal knew that what was going wrong was because of the way they were treatuing their AFV's as he knew the battle-winning history of the Centurions. So he made a date and packed off all his chief trainers to the Centurion factory and test-grounds in the UK and he invited out British tank techs and experts to Israel to retrain his crews. After 'going back to school' and learning how to work with a superb but cranky piece of machinery - the Six Day War was upon them and the rest, as they say, was history - as the Centurions tore the guts out of all their armored opponents - quite literally - they out-gunned and out-armored and out-manouevered the best the east had to offer at that time.

Here's the point of this long history lecture: i.e. Tal knew that the North American approach to machinery (which his under-trained crewmen had) was simply not up to getting the best out of the best equipment - which demanded more knowledge and more coaxing than the 'Walmart' fire and forget attitude so popular in NA.

If you tune into the British websites on these rovers and their engines - you will see what i am gettng at here. No - you cannot operate a Rover V8 like a Dodge 225 slant six: i.e. - stick some oil in it - put in the cheapest gas you can find and forget about servicing or treating the engine with any kind of expectation for the next 500,000 miles - when you might think that perhaps it needs a quart of oil (LoL). you have to monitor these beasts and you have to keep on top of all their intricate eccentricies - including what sort of gas you feed them and how cool you keep that block with its steel sleeves! Moreover, there is no point in babying some poor old tired-out 4.00 liter that the original leasee decided to drag race everywhere with in the last few months of his lease (I am speaking from personal experience here).

So, Joey is not off the mark at all - if you can get a well-looked after engine but that's probably the greatest problem of all - i.e., finding a 4.00 liter that has not been seriously abused by folks who thought they were treating it just fine.

Wolf
 

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