DiscoDavis
Explorer
Not much to go here. I got really, really bored this winter and snatched a 1995 Discovery 1 with the 3.9 and 5-speed off craigslist in Prescott, AZ. If you read any of the D3 build thread, the original plan from 2013-2014 was to find a white Discovery 1 with a 5 speed and start there. However none could be found at the time, or at least in running shape.
2018 mileage: 212,XXX
Her name is Elizabeth
The day we flew down and got her, evening on the first day driving home.
Colin helped a ton with putting an 02 sensor in for me to pass smog... Booo CA.
Of course I had to immediately find some defender wheels and pizza cutter tires. (Michelin XCL 4x4, 205 85 R16) (apparently these are THE RRC tires for classic rebuilds, I'm sorry I'm wasting these! They just came with the wheels...)
Short story time:
Guy I bought her from neglected to disclose SEVERAL issues, he stated she drove fine, no issues, and told me before we got tickets and flew out that everything worked that should work. WRONG! Many many electrical items were inop.
>rear defrost inop
>rear washer inop
>headlight washers inop
>rear wiper inop,
>reverse lights inop
>drivers side rear window switch (the one on door) inop
>Diff lock warning light inop
>coolant cap failed (barfed a bit of coolant every once in a while as I discovered later)
and majorly,
>the transmission whines like a banshee in almost every gear
>2nd gear's syncro is basically gone
>Transmission was almost empty of fluid
>LT230 almost entirely emply of fluid (like seriously crazy low)
Some stuff we discovered as we drove with him, some stuff we discovered later while driving... He played hardball and I should have walked away but did not. We paid a good amount because it had no rust anywhere, and had the rare trans with white color and complete base interior, no sunroofs etc.
He also neglected to explain that he bought the car from someone in CA in 2014, and never informed the DMV that he bought it, did not smog, did not pay taxes on sale, did not even change the title. It was super asinine for him not to have changed the title, especially because you still have to smog it anyway. Hit with a ton of penalties because of this when I returned to register it. Whatever. Not going to publicly slander this dude. Sketch factor 9000 on the whole thing.
About an hour into the drive the whine became a scream. The transfer case was getting too warm and confirmed with the IR heat gun. Opened the case at a truck stop in Havasu and it was nearly empty... I thought we broke it, maybe only a small puddle of fluid was inside. Proceeded to buy truck stop EP90 (thankfully it was a huge truck depot) and flushed, refilled. Immediately quieted down. The next day we checked the trans and that was low too but not really bad.
Basically don't do what I did buying this Land Rover. Do as I say and not as I do etc. etc.
2018 mileage: 212,XXX
Her name is Elizabeth
The day we flew down and got her, evening on the first day driving home.
Colin helped a ton with putting an 02 sensor in for me to pass smog... Booo CA.
Of course I had to immediately find some defender wheels and pizza cutter tires. (Michelin XCL 4x4, 205 85 R16) (apparently these are THE RRC tires for classic rebuilds, I'm sorry I'm wasting these! They just came with the wheels...)
Short story time:
Guy I bought her from neglected to disclose SEVERAL issues, he stated she drove fine, no issues, and told me before we got tickets and flew out that everything worked that should work. WRONG! Many many electrical items were inop.
>rear defrost inop
>rear washer inop
>headlight washers inop
>rear wiper inop,
>reverse lights inop
>drivers side rear window switch (the one on door) inop
>Diff lock warning light inop
>coolant cap failed (barfed a bit of coolant every once in a while as I discovered later)
and majorly,
>the transmission whines like a banshee in almost every gear
>2nd gear's syncro is basically gone
>Transmission was almost empty of fluid
>LT230 almost entirely emply of fluid (like seriously crazy low)
Some stuff we discovered as we drove with him, some stuff we discovered later while driving... He played hardball and I should have walked away but did not. We paid a good amount because it had no rust anywhere, and had the rare trans with white color and complete base interior, no sunroofs etc.
He also neglected to explain that he bought the car from someone in CA in 2014, and never informed the DMV that he bought it, did not smog, did not pay taxes on sale, did not even change the title. It was super asinine for him not to have changed the title, especially because you still have to smog it anyway. Hit with a ton of penalties because of this when I returned to register it. Whatever. Not going to publicly slander this dude. Sketch factor 9000 on the whole thing.
About an hour into the drive the whine became a scream. The transfer case was getting too warm and confirmed with the IR heat gun. Opened the case at a truck stop in Havasu and it was nearly empty... I thought we broke it, maybe only a small puddle of fluid was inside. Proceeded to buy truck stop EP90 (thankfully it was a huge truck depot) and flushed, refilled. Immediately quieted down. The next day we checked the trans and that was low too but not really bad.
Basically don't do what I did buying this Land Rover. Do as I say and not as I do etc. etc.
Last edited: