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Discovery 2 V8


Exmoor Beast

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I am sick of our 300TDi Discovery.

We have had 3 or 4 V8 Series One Discoverys in the past, I have stuck with the 300TDi for a year and have finally deduced that deisel has no place in a road car.

a mate has just bought a late S2 TD5 Disco and its outside our shop most days, I didn't like S2 Discoverys before but its growing on me. This lead me to have a look at Autotrader and I was stunned by the price of S2 V8s now, even LPG ones are cheap with sensible miles and Service history.

So who's got one?

What issues have you had with it?

I assume the V8s are pretty similar to the S1 really other than rear Air springs?

Will :)

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I have Mr Beast sir :)

The V8 in the series 2 has a completely different top end and injection system to S1 vehicles, the "Thor" V8 with the funny inlet manifold. That said, in my experience the Bosch system is better in almost every respect than the 14CUX injection system and mine has never missed a beat on the engine electronics. It is more complicated (wasted spark ECU controlled ignition, no distributor) and less tweakable (don't think you can get any chips for it as the ECU is apparently very secure and hard to get into) but the thing goes much better in the first place so there isn't a lot of point in fiddling with it anyway. Gone are the distributor woes that seem to plague every V8 sooner or later and the electronic auto box works better than the old one in most respects.

Really had very few problems with mine. It needed a new back diff when it was brand new, but that was badly manufactured, just a noisy tooth on the pinion making a tapping noise. The steering box bolts came loose a few times, due to a problem in the way the front end of the chassis was reinforced, there was a fancy way of repairing it but I found that heavy duty Loctite and "adjusting" the torque settings was quite effective ;)

More recently there is a slight dribble from the rear crank seal but not enough to justify fixing it, just enough to make a small damp patch under the bellhousing which needs a wipe at each service. There is a light tapping inside the torque converter housing that has been there for the last four years (vehicle is now 5 and a bit, 37k miles) and has never got any worse, so I haven't worried about it. A slight coolant loss has recently been traced to the gasket behind the timing case but that isn't a big job to do, and it has had about 3 viscous fan couplings. A persistent water leak in heavy rain was eventually traced to the bonnet hinge bolts, somebody cross threaded the bolt when the vehicle was built and the water was running through it to the interior. Occasionally the ABS throws up warning lights (about half a dozen times since I have had it) but I have free access to a Testbook so that isn't hard to cure and doesn't cost me anything. Other than that I can't think of anything that is wrong - a bit of corrosion on the chassis which is due for an appointment with some Waxoyl when I get a round tuit, otherwise it has only had service parts in five years. I do wonder when/if the electronics might start giving bother but I see nothing else on the market new or used that I would rather have so I'm keeping it till it gives me any bother - its garaged all the time which certainly helps keep electrics happy in my experience.

I loved it when I got it and I still do - no desire to change to a D3 unless somebody else was paying for it when it broke and the £15k+ I would have to find to make that change pays for a hell of a lot of petrol....

The V8 auto makes the D2 a far more competent thing on the road than a Td5 and it just feels "right". Mine has neither ACE nor SLS, didn't want the hassle of something that was bound to go wrong, so you don't need to have air springs if you don't want them and to be honest I have driven cars with both SLS and ACE and I think the ride on mine is better than either, though that could be down to the slightly oversize tyres (255/70R16 BFG AT's) and the fact I run them a bit softer than I should. And it simply has far more "discoveryness" than the new thing which is a very nice vehicle to drive but IMHO has forgotten its roots a bit.

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ive also got one

X reg ES premium, stunning car. i have to agree with you, we had a TD5 Disco 2 and i hated it as it didnt feel like a luxury car and sounded yuk. we swoped it for this V8

however my off roader is a 300tdi Disco1.

d2.jpg

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I am sick of our 300TDi Discovery.

We have had 3 or 4 V8 Series One Discoverys in the past, I have stuck with the 300TDi for a year and have finally deduced that deisel has no place in a road car.

a mate has just bought a late S2 TD5 Disco and its outside our shop most days, I didn't like S2 Discoverys before but its growing on me. This lead me to have a look at Autotrader and I was stunned by the price of S2 V8s now, even LPG ones are cheap with sensible miles and Service history.

Sog who's got one?

What issues have you had with it?

I assume the V8s are pretty similar to the S1 really other than rear Air springs?

Will :)

Hi asked same questions as you last month ended up buying 2002 GS sounds like bogmonsters except has ace,we did'nt want air springs and both me and wife hate electric seats she's 5'' and I'm 6'' after having it for 2 weeks was pleased with it I say was due to finding out it leaks (headlining full of water) so my advice to add to the excellent post from bogmonster is check the rooflining after the rain :huh::huh: good luck i think they are potentally very nice
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There certainly were for this market, though there aren't any here. I remember Mark Totty a former member of LRE moaning that it had never been an option on UK models so I am not sure about over there.

I hate V8 manuals all snatch and clonk in the drivetrain if you don't give it 100% concentration at all times. Each to their own I guess :)

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We have a lot of hills too and I find the sport mode on the D2 auto is brilliant for that as it naturally tends to hang on to a lower gear. Try one! You can also lock it in 3rd and 3rd has a torque converter lock like 4th, and in 3rd locked they don't 'alf go and will get to 100mph in that gear if you were in a real hurry :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
Are there any manual V8 S2s, I don't think I have seen any.

I HATE autos with a passion

Will :)

I have a manual ,my first Landrover bought a couple of months ago its a 2000 ,nice motor ,its had LPG done which does restrict the range a bit but makes it affordable. All road use so far(hope to change that). I'm with you on the auto thing .

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does any of you use your V8 s2 for towing?? i am considering a lpg converted one to tow my 90 to events but would need one with a decent range(had a 300 shape 3.9 with twin sill tanks but it would only do 100-120 miles on lpg when towing :o ).Do you think i would be better with a lpg v8 or td5? i am not concerned with reliability issues of either because i worked for landrover for 6 years and know nearly all the problems,would just like to know what they tow like at near their limit(3.5t)?

Those of you with LPG,what tanks do you have and what sort of range do you get?

Paul ;)

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does any of you use your V8 s2 for towing?? i am considering a lpg converted one to tow my 90 to events but would need one with a decent range(had a 300 shape 3.9 with twin sill tanks but it would only do 100-120 miles on lpg when towing :o ).Do you think i would be better with a lpg v8 or td5? i am not concerned with reliability issues of either because i worked for landrover for 6 years and know nearly all the problems,would just like to know what they tow like at near their limit(3.5t)?

Those of you with LPG,what tanks do you have and what sort of range do you get?

Paul ;)

Range should be simple enough to work out - find out what tanks you have fitted, then allow for the fuel consumption being a bit worse on LPG than petrol and you can do the sums.

Unless you put a pretty big tank in you're going to be much better off with a diseasel for range.

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Range should be simple enough to work out - find out what tanks you have fitted, then allow for the fuel consumption being a bit worse on LPG than petrol and you can do the sums.

Unless you put a pretty big tank in you're going to be much better off with a diseasel for range.

The range on my old disco was bad but it wasnt a problem while driving in the local area.The problem was when i went to unfamiliar places where i wasnt sure of lpg station locations.I recently saw a disco2 with twin sill tanks and two smaller tanks where the petrol tank used to live,plus a 4 gallon purpose built petrol tank under the rear corner.He told me that he had a range of around 350-400miles on lpg but it cost ££££££s :(

Looks like it may have to be a diseasel after all :(

Paul :mellow:

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The range on my old disco was bad but it wasnt a problem while driving in the local area.The problem was when i went to unfamiliar places where i wasnt sure of lpg station locations.I recently saw a disco2 with twin sill tanks and two smaller tanks where the petrol tank used to live,plus a 4 gallon purpose built petrol tank under the rear corner.He told me that he had a range of around 350-400miles on lpg but it cost ££££££s :(

Looks like it may have to be a diseasel after all :(

Paul :mellow:

I've been toying with doing the same to my range rover for a while - I already have the twin tanks under the back and four gallon wing tank for petrol, so it would just be a case of adding the sill tanks. There are a couple of things that make this tricky in my case, though.

Firstly, my truck has air suspension, and on the classic the air tank is under one sill and the compressor and valve block the other, so both would need relocating. One could possibly go inside the chassis rails, but would require customisation of the exhaust, probably including loosing the centre silencer (I have a stainless system which is already a little on the noisy side for my taste, so I'm not keen on this). The tank might fit above the A-frame, but I need to investigate how much space there is at full compression. Guess the compressor and valve block could move inside or under the bonnet a la P38a if I can find the space. Then it's all got to be replumbed...

Secondly, I use my truck in anger (or at least mild indignation), so sill tanks are going to get grounded every now and then. My theory is that it should be possible to construct a combined rock slider / tank guard and mount for each side. It'll be heavy, though, and probably quite expensive (especially as I don't weld).

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