Discovery 300tdi
Discussion
Hi I'm looking at buying a 2500 quid 300tdi disco for lugging the dog around in etc. Is the manual or auto box more reliable at this sort of age. Will the auto have been kinder to the rest of the drive train? I'd preff a defender but they all seem old rusty and knackered at this price. Anything else i need to look out for, I know the main rust areas boot floor sills rear set belt mounts etc.
Discos are rustier than defenders and on a defneder its easier to sort the rust to. As for the box issue both do get tired with age syncro's go on The manual box and the shift gets rather sloppy tho it was never great to start Auto's are seen as tougher tho they often hold onto first gear for longer than they should especially when cold. I had a 300tdi auto which doid this it also was rather clunky when slecting drive tho some of this was an amplification of wear all along the drivetrain. I sold the disco to my dad and last year it had to have a new transfer box and it was decided to swap the auto box to as it was a little worn. This was at about 170k and it had spent quite a bit of life as a tow truck. One thing to note is the auto is so slow with a diesel. If its only to take the dog out as a second or third car £2500 would get a lovely series mottor that may be tax free or have rust issues banished with a galvinased chassis be cheaper to fix and run to.
pikeyboy said:
Hi I'm looking at buying a 2500 quid 300tdi disco for lugging the dog around in etc. Is the manual or auto box more reliable at this sort of age. Will the auto have been kinder to the rest of the drive train? I'd preff a defender but they all seem old rusty and knackered at this price. Anything else i need to look out for, I know the main rust areas boot floor sills rear set belt mounts etc.
Both auto and manual are fine tbh. Auto's might be a bit clunky but they'll probably be fine for another 20 years!!!Same with the drivetrain, it doesn't wear. It'll either be fine or broken.
Only thing to say is most petrol V8's have auto's. Very few manuals. And most diesels are manual, but there are a few auto ones.
A stock auto diesel will seem quite slow however, often been called Slugs! A few tweeks to the engine will make a difference though, but a manual will always be more sprightly.
Rust can be an issue, boot floor most likely, but it's fixable. Then just check the chassis. If those seem alright the rest probably is too.
West4x4 said:
Discos are rustier than defenders and on a defneder its easier to sort the rust to. As for the box issue both do get tired with age syncro's go on The manual box and the shift gets rather sloppy tho it was never great to start Auto's are seen as tougher tho they often hold onto first gear for longer than they should especially when cold. I had a 300tdi auto which doid this it also was rather clunky when slecting drive tho some of this was an amplification of wear all along the drivetrain. I sold the disco to my dad and last year it had to have a new transfer box and it was decided to swap the auto box to as it was a little worn. This was at about 170k and it had spent quite a bit of life as a tow truck. One thing to note is the auto is so slow with a diesel. If its only to take the dog out as a second or third car £2500 would get a lovely series mottor that may be tax free or have rust issues banished with a galvinased chassis be cheaper to fix and run to.
I've been looking at the old series's landys and I like them but my girlfriend needs to be able to drive it so it really needs PAS and she has no idea about mechanical sympathy what so ever and I'm frightened she'd break one too easilly, hence looking at something more modern. Tax free and classic insurance is awfully appealling though. Series Landys are pretty though. If she breaks one then she'd likely have broken anything.
Steering should be fairly light on them. If it's heavy it just needs all the steering joints sorting. Not quite power steering light but even at parking speeds it should almost be onehand friendly.
Bigger thing with a Series is they are rather rugged, even compared to a Disco. So it may be a culture shock if you've not been in one. Also not very fast and the 2.25 petrol drinks as much as a V8.
Steering should be fairly light on them. If it's heavy it just needs all the steering joints sorting. Not quite power steering light but even at parking speeds it should almost be onehand friendly.
Bigger thing with a Series is they are rather rugged, even compared to a Disco. So it may be a culture shock if you've not been in one. Also not very fast and the 2.25 petrol drinks as much as a V8.
300bhp/ton said:
A stock auto diesel will seem quite slow however, often been called Slugs! A few tweeks to the engine will make a difference though, but a manual will always be more sprightly.
kiwifraser said:
300bhp/ton said:
A stock auto diesel will seem quite slow however, often been called Slugs! A few tweeks to the engine will make a difference though, but a manual will always be more sprightly.
Oh the Discovery 300TDi ! In actual fact the cars are no too bad ONCE SORTED and I must stress the ONCE SORTED.
A mate used to work in Transmitter Maintenance and many of the unmanned sites didn't even have a tarmac road (this discourages the diddycoys in their white vans!) A lot of driving up steep hills covered with wet grass was required and as to 4x4s they tried them all (most of the medium to high price models anyway but probably not the top of the range millionaires toys) The number one big hitter was the Discovery 300TDi, Range Rover and Toyota Landcruiser were joint second. The Land Rover 110 was OK and way behind them all was the Nissan Patrol. Allegedly the Nissan had military type bar tread tyres which on tarmac in the wet were basically like driving on bald tyres. Some of the staff refused to drive it and in the end owing to the dodgy tyres someone skidded and crashed it into a wall. The right tyres are important!
As to old 4x4s, very often the radiator will be badly corroded and there will be very few cooling fins left in it. Often they will have had the heater on full blast to avoid having to buy a new radiator. The car may be OK on the school run but anything else e.g. towing a 3.5 tonne trailer will be extremely iffy. With the 300 TDi Discovery one MUST have a new or an as new radiator. On the 300TDi Discovery the header tank is rather low and air locks and overheating can be common. Note that there is a small bore rubber hose that runs from the thermostat housing down to a 3 way widget. This widget is supposed to be a non-return valve that is intended to vent air and combustion gases if the engine happens to be microscopically porous. The pipe stubs on this widget are only about 1/8" diameter and they are easily blocked if radiator sealer has been used. By using a spike the crimped clamps can be eased-off, the tubes can be removed and the widget inspected. Rust and radiator sealant might be found plugging-up the pipe stubs. This detritus can be removed using a wood-screw and the pipes flushed at the kitchen sink. Blocked widgets cause big big trouble, been there done that!
As to radiators, there is an excellent pattern-part aluminium radiator sold on-line for about £85. Allegedly these have a 10% cooling upgrade compared to standard. Compared to a corroded copper radiator the increase in cooling might quite easily be ten fold. Unless one lives somewhere extremely hot the aluminium radiator should be perfect. Just how it compares with the OEM 4 row radiator is hard to say but having towed a heavy boat for well over 100 miles I cannot complain. Allegedly the OEM 4 row radiator costs £250 and as copper radiators are less durable than aluminium it seems wise to buy aluminium and save over £150.
With the radiator and the widget sorted and the maladjusted timing done by a previous owner, put right, these cars are quite acceptable. OK when they are cold and off-turbo they are very sluggish but once warmed up the performance is quite acceptable.
Note that renewing the timing belt and rollers with the engine in place requires not just timing pins as a mirror is also needed. Using the mirror it is possible to look at the timing marks square-on. Viewed from the top without using a mirror one is liable to get the timing one tooth out or more.
Good luck!
A mate used to work in Transmitter Maintenance and many of the unmanned sites didn't even have a tarmac road (this discourages the diddycoys in their white vans!) A lot of driving up steep hills covered with wet grass was required and as to 4x4s they tried them all (most of the medium to high price models anyway but probably not the top of the range millionaires toys) The number one big hitter was the Discovery 300TDi, Range Rover and Toyota Landcruiser were joint second. The Land Rover 110 was OK and way behind them all was the Nissan Patrol. Allegedly the Nissan had military type bar tread tyres which on tarmac in the wet were basically like driving on bald tyres. Some of the staff refused to drive it and in the end owing to the dodgy tyres someone skidded and crashed it into a wall. The right tyres are important!
As to old 4x4s, very often the radiator will be badly corroded and there will be very few cooling fins left in it. Often they will have had the heater on full blast to avoid having to buy a new radiator. The car may be OK on the school run but anything else e.g. towing a 3.5 tonne trailer will be extremely iffy. With the 300 TDi Discovery one MUST have a new or an as new radiator. On the 300TDi Discovery the header tank is rather low and air locks and overheating can be common. Note that there is a small bore rubber hose that runs from the thermostat housing down to a 3 way widget. This widget is supposed to be a non-return valve that is intended to vent air and combustion gases if the engine happens to be microscopically porous. The pipe stubs on this widget are only about 1/8" diameter and they are easily blocked if radiator sealer has been used. By using a spike the crimped clamps can be eased-off, the tubes can be removed and the widget inspected. Rust and radiator sealant might be found plugging-up the pipe stubs. This detritus can be removed using a wood-screw and the pipes flushed at the kitchen sink. Blocked widgets cause big big trouble, been there done that!
As to radiators, there is an excellent pattern-part aluminium radiator sold on-line for about £85. Allegedly these have a 10% cooling upgrade compared to standard. Compared to a corroded copper radiator the increase in cooling might quite easily be ten fold. Unless one lives somewhere extremely hot the aluminium radiator should be perfect. Just how it compares with the OEM 4 row radiator is hard to say but having towed a heavy boat for well over 100 miles I cannot complain. Allegedly the OEM 4 row radiator costs £250 and as copper radiators are less durable than aluminium it seems wise to buy aluminium and save over £150.
With the radiator and the widget sorted and the maladjusted timing done by a previous owner, put right, these cars are quite acceptable. OK when they are cold and off-turbo they are very sluggish but once warmed up the performance is quite acceptable.
Note that renewing the timing belt and rollers with the engine in place requires not just timing pins as a mirror is also needed. Using the mirror it is possible to look at the timing marks square-on. Viewed from the top without using a mirror one is liable to get the timing one tooth out or more.
Good luck!
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