'99 D1 Buying Advice

[FLoffroad1]

Hello,

I'm looking at possibly buying a '99 D1 4.0 with 133k for approximately $7000. It has a TJM front bumper, Hannibal roof rack, RTE rear bumper, Ramsey winch (metal cable) and about 6 lights on it wired up to the factory buttons. It also has some form of 2in lift coils with shocks, then the most recent owner added 2in spacers within the last 20k; tires are 265-75R16 on OE alloys. It still has the factory radio. The owner has all the previous paperwork (the Rover lived most of its life in Las Vegas, now it's in southwest Wyoming, where snow just blows away after falling).

Apparently, the owner mostly just drives it less than 15mi a day to/from work. The current owner does equipment repair in a local mine and worked for 10 years as a Ford tech in Alaska. He says he recently did the water pump, and he has previously done the fuel pump (and the $7k includes a spare fuel pump). It currently has a check engine light, which he thinks is the engine evap system. Also, he says there is a small oil leak, which he believes to be rear main. As far as rust is concerned, the thing is immaculate; the RTE rear bumper seems to have more surface rust than the entire vehicle. We did a small test drive, and the vehicle is an absolute dog with stock gears and 32s; however, it seemed fine other than that. Even the headliner and seatbelt tensioners seem in great condition. The driver headlight housing has a minor crack, but the lights functions fine. Also, cruise control is broken, and the owner unsuccessfully troubleshot the issue. The cruise control isn't a big deal to me though; it's just a convenience item.

If I bought it, I'd definitely take out the 2in spacers right away (maybe add some 30mm spacers to help against rubbing), and I'd be looking to sell both bumpers & the roof rack. I would daily drive the D1 and offroad a few times a month (my current vehicle would become a garage queen). I've read about the park mechanism failures on D1s (no spares included on this buy), and I've read about the stepper motor failure. I watched a video about 3.9 stepper motor failures, which mentioned using a tool called 'ECUmate' to reset the stepper (which is for the Lucas, not GEMS). Can any old OBDII reader reset the stepper, or would I need a Hawkeye DAP or something? There is a local mechanic in town who owns at least one Rover (and seems to DD a newer one), but I would have to drive 3 hours to get to a Rover dealer, or GBR.

Can anyone suggest anything else to look into on the vehicle?

I know ExPo has suggested the '04 D2 as the 'best' used for D1 vs D2, and I have always thought '04 D2s looked cool; however, I think, when it comes to ownership, I'd prefer the D1s with fewer electronics. Also, this particular example is a white D1 with rather good finish, so it's somewhat 'classic' Rover. I'd also be hoping to sort of use the vehicle to get more experience working on my own vehicles, and I'll always have my 08 Explorer if anything crazy happens to the Rover.

Thanks for any pointers (and sorry for the long-winded post).

 

[RonL]

My wife has a 1999 Series1 as her daily driver, she loves it and will never let go of it. Yes they are slow, they do leak, and her cruise is not working either.

 

[roverandom]

Wait, it has a combined four inch lift for just 265/75R16 tyres???

With only a 31-32" tyre the truck should not feel significantly down on power.

Cruise control issues is an easy fault to diagnose. If the owner has not been able to do so it perhaps casts doubt on his mechanical ability and therefore the rest of the vehicle. +2" coils AND +2" spacers also tell a story.

If you don't want all the off road stuff find another DI. There are lots to choose from at a much lower price and it won't leave you looking for stock bumpers in good shape.

In short, keep looking.

My 2c.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FLoffroad1]

I agree about the lift being discouraging, but it's only been like that for less than 20k mileage, so hopefully very little damage/wear has been done. Also, as for the cruise control, he has a bunch of project vehicles, and I think, to him, the D1 is just a basic-ish vehicle that uses to drive a minor distance to/from work. He supposedly got it because he had a Series II in Alaska, and wanted another Rover.
When I spoke to him, he said he tried fixing the cruise control by doing one fix, and that didn't work, so he just decided to go without / do it later (in his mind). He wasn't exactly advertising the Rover for sale; I just complemented him on it while on a walk in town, and he offered to sell.

Also, my opinion that the vehicle was 'a dog' was mostly because I drive a 4600lb truck with 210hp, and the Rover felt like a dog compared to my current vehicle (which is also a dog compared to lots of other vehicles). I was basically just saying that I was surprised. I'm also really gentle with the throttle, so part of it was definitely my fault.

And, yes, it looks a bit silly with 265s and a 4in total lift.

As far as the bumpers and rack, I would just sell those because I know the TJM bumper and Hannibal rack mean a lot more to other people than me, and the RTE bumper is nice, but I'd rather have something more basic. I'd probably just get some DOM bumpers F&R. I don't want the factory D1 lines 'spoiled' by large bumpers or a rack (not to say that Discos with heavy bumpers, etc. can't look cool).

Finally, I can hardly ever find D1s the Wyoming-Idaho-Utah-Colorado area. Plenty of D2s for about the same price, many with less mileage, but most, if not all, without CDLs.

Thanks for the input though.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the current owner has only owned the vehicle for about 30k, and he is the second owner.

 

[Ray_G]

$7k is a lot for a D1, even with all the listed goodies (not all of which are optimal)-especially for the mileage. To put it in context I got a 96 D1 a few years ago with 80k on it for $5k and it had a complete maint history and similar mods.

Some of the issues really aren't worth being concerned about (cruise control), the lack of power is tough to diagnose as its all relative-a 4.0 isn't exactly the peppiest of motors (but 32's shouldn't be bogging it down).
In terms of being able to work on it, I wouldn't fear that at all-if you've got mechanical inclination and the ability to search Discoweb a D1 is a cinch.

Likewise for your application, I'd say get a D1 over a Dii anyday. While it might be the consensus here that the 04 Dii with the 4.6 is the 'best' of the first two generations of Discovery to own I wouldn't say that's a valid fact. The simpler, smaller, D1 seems to be holding up better in the long term than the porous block, thin framed Dii's. But I'm biased.

If you could get the owner down to a reasonable amount for the D1, say below $5k, and felt comfortable that its issues were minor, consider it. Otherwise keep an eye on classifieds in places like Discoweb where there are some decent examples popping up.
r-
Ray

 

[FLoffroad1]

Thanks for the advice. I just passed on the D1 because I doubt he would've even gone below $6.5k; especially since it hadn't been for sale in the first place. I'll just keep my eyes open.