lrnewbie

OMG that's pretty heavy duty, pity, there's a 4.5 ton press going fairly near me that would have done nicely otherwise. Is the metre height enough space at least and would 4.5 tons just grind to a halt or would it just do it more slowly? Thanks.

Interesting to note, however I'm not going to be doing any off roading other than getting into the odd green lane/field for camping so maybe it won't get as stressed..... One question; I'm looking out for an hydraulic press in general but want one that can get the old bushes off and possibly oem rubber ones back on (given yours, and a number of people's reservations on poly), will a 4.5 ton press with 1m space between press and table do the job? I have no idea at the moment what is involved with changing the bushes as in whether you take whole arms out, how long they are etc. I'll be researching more on the web but have yet to come across the definitive guide for changing ALL bushes for my K reg 200tdi Discovery. Thanks, Sunny

Bah, still seems a bit dear when britpart specials are in the £60ish region, really worth the extra money do you think?

I've been searching everywhere for the polybush blues, just want it for the family discovery to get back the "factory fresh" feel not for serious off roading. Where can I get them for £100 +VAT, I've seen em for about £150 inclusive?

Brilliant guys, thanks for the tips, plenty for me to look up. I might go out on a limb and take the fan out as a single job, see how it fares, especially now that the weather's getting colder. Then look at fitting the kenlowe at a later date when the weather gets better. I've also heard that the Disco temp guage is set to record hotter than it actually is so it rings true when people say they rarely get hot. I'll update the thread, maybe with some piccies for fellow novices like myself when i get round to the job

Sorry, a bit of a novice in these things....so you're suggesting I chuck the supplied thermostat and use an "X-switch", where do I get one of those? Also, if i don't use cable ties what would u suggest i use instead? Thanks.

Hi all, I've bought a Kenlow fan for my Discovery 200TDI. Any tips on how to make the job go as smoothly as? Piccies would be even better.... Thanks in advance for any advice.

Epic job! Well done for sticking it through though. Bit different to struggling under the car with impossibly corroded bolts etc. but very taxing in a cerebral kinda way! I had a few scary moments putting my tailgate lock back together when I just couldn't remember how it worked but got through in the end. I now have to change the spring in my nearside front door which apparently entails taking out the glass which i'm not looking forward to. Getting the parts from a dealer though...surely you could have got the part 2nd hand somewhere? I find Ebay a very useful resource and Discovery I's are always being broken on Ebay.

I'll have another listen but I'm almost positive it's coming from the bonnet directly from the belt. I'll try tightening belts first and take it from there. Thanks.

Interesting because my friend had a rusty old Rover 4, 100, loads of rust and holes in the sill and an apprentice at a garage tried to fail it once. But my friend pointed out it was a moncoque chassis and the garage gaffer confirmed it, and the the car sailed through MOT. Perhaps if you take it to the right MOT centre with the right experience to think out of the box you could pass it, legally.

In which case it is the barrel of the external lock which is at fault and yes, as far as i know you have to take out the new lock you put in to get to the barrel behind it. I did mine recently but my problem was the barrel was seized, wouldn't turn at all. Tried WD40 from the front but nothing happened, had to change the spring anyway so stripped whole lock and barrel, sprayed the barrel direct with WD40 and now it works fine. Can't remember how the barrel interacts with lock but basically I'd agree you're gonna have to strip it down again at least partially to get at the problem.

Makes sense, so new belts, run in, stretched a bit, need tightening. I'll give it a go and report back. TYVM

I've got a 200tdi with rusty sills that I want to replace in the fullness of time anyway. But I just wanted to be clear; are rotten sills an MOT failure or not for a Disco? I assumed that the Disco was not a mono wotsit and therefore didn't not rely on it's sills for mechanical strength and subsequently wouldn't be an MOT failure. But I've seen threads talking about having to fix their sills for the MOT. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Hi all, I have a K reg 200tdi Disco, manual. When I bought it about 2 months ago I noticed when test driving the steering squeeled slightly when dry steering or at low speed under load, but it wasn't very loud, didn't happen much and I wanted to buy it anyway! Since then the squeeling has gotten worse, particularly when manouvering striaght after start up. I've tried squirting a bit of WD40 on the belts, which helped a bit but not for long. All the belts were changed by the dealer before he sold it, I had a load of old belts slung in the back of the car. Any ideas of what this could mean and how to stop the noise? Not an indication that the power steering is going I hope!

And full service history if you can!

Was the lock mechanism brand new or was it 2nd hand? If it was 2nd hand the spring may have broken and you would have to strip it down again. From your note I'm not sure if you mean the key doesn't work specifically in the back door keyhole or whether it doesn't work with the central locking. If the spring is gone u would be able to feel the lack of tension when you manually lift and press the back door lock. You would also still hear the solenoid trying to do it's job behind the panel. Sorry, just saw the picture which i couldn't download before. Clearly a new unit but looking to the right of the picture/lock looks like the spring could be hanging loose. Perhaps it was dislodged slightly when you installed it and has pinged off after a week's use? A bit of a long shot but you should be able to see if the spring's in the right place or not without taking the whole lock out. However if it dislodged u will have to take it out as previously said.

Mine's a 93 K reg., was there a 92 K reg and if so maybe that's the difference and later K reg. vehicles had em fitted. It'll be a couple of weeks but I'll get under there, have a butchers and update the thread.

Cheers for the advice, like you said I'm not going to be off roading in any serious way so lifting the suspension isn't what I'm aiming for. I've seen various brands of gas shocks kicking about, Monroes seem reasonably priced, are they any good? I'm assuming that I probably won't notice the difference between cheap and expensive gas shocks with my planned use. There's a 2nd hand front and rear anti roll bar set from a RRC on Ebay (see piccie). It looks like it has the fitting brackets as well. Should this fit on to my 1993 Disco? Also, not sure what I'm looking for in terms of my axle, or even body for that matter, should there be square brackets underneath + bolt holes? If there aren't any fittings is it a matter of drilling the appropriate holes and welding brackets? Thanks again

For anyone following this thread; I had a go at the tailgate door on Sunday with great results. It actually turned out to be the spring which I'd ordered from Ebay. I bought a whole set of 5 for about £15 I think as I thought it'd be useful to have them at the ready and I still have the front door to do. What may have confused the symptons was somebody had put an elastic band on the door locking nib (my name for it) so that it always stayed up, explaining why it dipped with the central locking but sprang straight up again. They obviously did this so that they could always open the back door without using their key. Without the elastic the door would have always stayed locked and could only be manually opened with a key or by holding the nib up as the spring was broken. A fiddly job but I had the official Land Rover manual which helped immensely, a few breath holding moments putting it all back together but after a bit of head scratching everything now works perfectly. Also solved the seized key barrel; originally sprayed loads of WD40 from the outside with no joy; but pulled the whole handle out, sprayed WD40 from the back of the key barrel and worked perfectly after a minute of soaking. Will try the front door in the next couple of weeks and report back.

I'm no expert but like you i did a lot of research. Although you read that V8's are reliable there's also a fair amount of comments about cracked cylinder heads/cases. It seems to me that fuel consumption (unless u have lpg) and the fact that if it does go wrong it's that bit more complex being a V8 make it less practical than the 200/300tdi (some ppl say 200tdi is best land rover engine ever). Also servicing costs are higher I think with ignition leads, dissy caps etc. Then u've got better reliability in the wet in case u have to ford any floody bits being on a farm. I have a feeling a number of v8 fans will jump down my throat for this! I chose 200tdi both because of my budget but also I like tinkering and the 200tdi is very basic with no electronic bits. Only thing to keep in mind is that the 200/300tdi is a bit of a tractor compared to more modern diesels, not a problem for me but u may think differently. Other rust problems i've heard on discos are the sils, check behind the plastic trim and check both inside and out (mine has holes in, as it's not a monochoque i don't think it's and MOT failure but happy to be corrected). Also when you open the passenger doors, where the wheel arch meets the pillar is common, inner wings, corrosion around the doors. Apparently rust is the discos worst failing. electric gremlins are common, my central locking is possessed. Again, 200tdi's are less complex but with your budget you'll be aiming higher. One thing I would say though is if £4k is your absolute limit go at least £500 less, u'll need a cushion to get it up to the level you need as you would with any 2nd hand car. I did see some good 300tdi's for the 3.5k mark. In short there is loads that can go wrong but the amount of parts (cheap too), advice and enthusiasts around don't make it difficult to deal with. Also I think the disco is much better looking than any Japanese model and better than the Cherokee. Be patient and wiat for one with extensive if not full service history, that will offer a lot more comfort.

Cheers again, I'll have a go this weekend and update the thread on my efforts.

Well spotted! But you never know, some other indecisive poor soul may find direction in our ramblings....

Thanks for the answers, I 'll order a spring from Ebay: 2. When you refer to the servo is that the same as the door actuator? Also, if it's out of sync would that mean that when I press the fob to release the doors it would actually lock it? Or does it not work like that? I was wondering, because it kept springing back up and wouldn't stay down manually I wondered if it was something mechanical, the spring again?

I flicked through the workshop manual this morning and I'm sure it said the driver's door would control the central locking, both by using the key and also manually pushing down the lock. I'll double check that, also I haven't tested pushing the lock down manually from the inside.

I have just bought a 15yr old Discovery 200tdi as my first Land Rover and it's a family car. I've already got a longish list of things I need to do to it, nothing major but enough to keep my busy. My previous car was a P reg Citroen Xantia estate which I bought for £1,100 and have spent approximately £1,700 over 2yrs before buying the Discovery. At the time my time was more precious than money and I got most of the work done in a garage but did the last job myself, changing a blown radiator. At the end of it I looked at the car and thought "I don't like this car, it's just transport but I'm spending loads of money and time keeping it on the road". Got rid of it and got a car I've always liked, I don't think the Discovery will be any cheaper to maintain but when I've fixed it I'll enjoy driving and owning it. With our budgets you're always going to have a car that needs work so get one you actually like to sweeten the repair bills :-) Regarding the 2 back seats in the 7 seater; I've put my kids in them before but you can't really use the boosters as they're too high and they end up leaning back on the window. Boosters are to stop 3 point seatbelts strangling small children in an emergency stop. Lap belts don't go over the shoulder so they wouldn't work anyway. Does anyone know the definitive law about this? I suspect that it's all probably too unsafe for children and you can't use them full stop?