| Author | Message | ||
     Glen A Stromquist (Glen_stromquist) New Member Username: Glen_stromquist Post Number: 1 Registered: 09-2003 |
Greetings all! New to the board so not even sure if this should be posted here or in another area, but here goes... We just purchased a 95 Discovery with close to 200,000 km's on it. My wifes ailing trooper was well past its day and we were actually going to buy another when this LR caught my eye. My wife fell in love with the better visibility and other niceties the LR had that the trooper we were looking at didn't, and that was it. It was a tad pricey, but thats pretty well standard with any used SUV in this class so c'est la vie... It seems solid as a rock, which is how I remember a LR I drove years ago. I am a bit concerned about the nearest dealer being 200 kms away as I heard that LR's diagnostic software it pretty proprietary and it cannot be done elsewhere or myself like I can do my Ford diesel. I did a bit of reading up on it, read about the electrical issues and the previous owner had just replaced the "clock spring"? and other components to the tune of about C$1800 so I'm hoping that this is not going to be an issue, although one warning light is sticking on (airbag I think) but is covered under warranty the next time I can get it down there. So my questions to the group and thanks in advance for your help... What areas should I be diligent in watching, body and mechanical wise to avoid any BIG headaches down the road? Any other good web resources out there I should bookmark? Aftermarket goodies such as K&N air filters etc... lots available for inexpensive gains? The radio antenna is broken, is it a standard antenna jack, so easily replaceable? It is a fairly loaded unit, power sunroofs etc.. but no cd, although it has the option of the cd unit under the seat, is this an expensive and recommended add on? or should I go aftermarket? I like to have temp gauges for auto trans, is there preferred gauges you all like to use? I also run synthetics in my autos, good idea for these units as well? Has anyone put command-start units in these? thats all for now, but I'm sure I'll have more... thanks again! | ||
| Andrew Maier (Newman) Member Username: Newman Post Number: 216 Registered: 04-2003 |
First of all, welcome aboard!  Let's see if I can help with some of your questions... ...other good web resources out there I should bookmark? http://www.expeditionexchange.com http://www.pirate4x4.com http://www.roverparts.com http://www.roversnorth.com http://www.thatchedroofgarage.com All are in the US but can give you prices, tech help, and modification suggestions and ideas. The radio antenna is broken, is it a standard antenna jack, so easily replaceable? Yes, although most people here replace them with a genuine LR antenna. If you search through the archives section on this bulletin board you're likely to quickly find how to do it. Basically it's (1) remove inner wheel well (2) unhook antenna (3) remove old antenna (4) replace antenna (5) attach new antenna (6) button up wheel well. It is a fairly loaded unit, power sunroofs etc.. but no cd, although it has the option of the cd unit under the seat, is this an expensive and recommended add on? or should I go aftermarket? Again, the archives can be of assistance, but to answer: (1) If you're not going to get the floorboards wet the changer is nice, otherwise stick to cassette or use adaptor to hook in a portable unit (2) Aftermarket might not be compatible with factory stereo and more importantly the controls on the instrument bezel. Again, welcome to the gang! Andy | ||
| Ian Bentley (Ibentley) Member Username: Ibentley Post Number: 42 Registered: 06-2003 |
Change your oil and filter every 3000 miles. Rover engines don’t have a sense of humour about this. I use synthetic myself, as do several others on this board. www.robisonservice.com has a useful maintenance schedule and some more things to check. Watch the cooling system. It’s reliable, but the radiators don’t last forever. You DO NOT want to overheat an aluminum block engine. Keep an eye out for rust on the underbody, and on the roof (It’s steel, not aluminum alloy). Most of the rest of the body doesn’t rust, and this can fool you. As you live in a nice, sunny climate where they never use road salt, you probably have no experience of this. Check out Waxoyl or some other underbody protector. | ||
| John Roche (Jroc) Member Username: Jroc Post Number: 176 Registered: 08-2002 |
Speaking of rust on the underbody, clean your A/C Drain nipples under the truck! They become clogged and can lead to rust in the footwells. Ask me how I know!!! Also, the '95's have a issue with the rear window circuit board (bad solder). If/when the rear windows stop working, or work infrequently, this is what it is. You'll have to pull the circuit board behind the glovebox and have it resoldered. There's a great write-up on this in the tech section. John... | ||
| Chris Browne (Chris_browne) Senior Member Username: Chris_browne Post Number: 359 Registered: 02-2003 |
Great to have another 95 owner out there! I'd recommend you take it easy and get to know the car....before updating it to your liking I hope all the fluids are fresh.....just crossed over 130k miles in mine Also www.roverparts.com mostly genuine parts at non genuine prices.... | ||
| Alan Yim (Alan) Senior Member Username: Alan Post Number: 771 Registered: 09-2002 |
Hey Glen. Welcome to the board. Just noticed in your profile that you're from Alberta (quoting mileage in kms kinda gave you away ). I'm in Edmonton. For the CD player, if you can avoid buying it from LR do so. They are extremely expensive for that CD changer. I've seen the odd CD changer for sale on ebay so that's a good place to start. I've run synthetics in all my trucks and this one too and as Ian mentioned, quite a few others on this board run synthetics. Never had any problems with it. Another source for Rover stuff is: www.atlanticbritish.com although they can be a bit pricey but you can find most everything you need but if you hang around here, you'll find the answers to most everything you wanted to know about your truck as well as where to find parts. | ||
| Glen A Stromquist (Glen_stromquist) New Member Username: Glen_stromquist Post Number: 2 Registered: 09-2003 |
Thanks all for the advice & suggestions... Yes Alan, I'm from AB, 220 km's north of you... It's fortunate to find a board with so many knowlegeable people on it, especially since I like to do many things myself rather than pay bloated dealer prices for poor service (ask me about ford one day) I do have one rust bubble by the rear rain channel just above the back door that I'll have to get looked at soon, other than that she seems pretty solid, I really like how the doors feel on this unit. As for oil changes I am entertaining the idea of running synth at 10,000 km intervals with filter changes between at 3 or 5k intervals. Lots of guys here that run diesel trucks do that and oil test analysis shows this to be ok, not sure about on a gasser though... speaking of gassers, how often should these plugs be changed? The previous owner had just put in platinum plugs so I'm hoping it'll be ok for a bit here. He also put a stainless exhaust system in so hopefully that'll be good to go for a bit as well. I would like to get a washable filter system in, since most factory systems are quite restrictive, but I havent checked in to K&N or equivilants yet... cheers! | ||
| Chris Browne (Chris_browne) Senior Member Username: Chris_browne Post Number: 360 Registered: 02-2003 |
I would shy away from the oil basd K&N as many people find the oil destroys their Mass air flow sensor which is expensive. The Stock CD changer is expensive...but its all proprietary so you have to change the head to use a stock unit, unless you go with one of those that connects via the aerial input. They are very sensitive to oil and changing it and the filter at 5k miles has worked for me. You might want to change it more frequently when you swap to help clean out gunk that develops. You are lucky with the exhaust thats great. Plugs, they seem to like the recommended ones best. | ||
| Wei Quek (Apohis) New Member Username: Apohis Post Number: 11 Registered: 04-2003 |
Hi Glen, welcome aboard! I'm from Alberta as well (Calgary) we have a D1 with 154K on it. Recently I did a whole bunch of work on the truck as part of the 90K service. - shocks/springs - ignition wires/cap/rotor/plugs - coolant/rodded rad/hoses/thermostat Fortunately, the D1 isn't all that complicated to work on and there's plenty of room to work in. I'd stay away from synthetics for the auto transmission. And BTW, the power steering fluid is ATF fluid. BTW, anyone from Calgary around here? I want to see a D1 with 235/85 on it in person. | ||
| Glen A Stromquist (Glen_stromquist) New Member Username: Glen_stromquist Post Number: 3 Registered: 09-2003 |
Hi Wei I just bought mine from Calgary!, a private deal and there was also a nice one just north in carstairs(sp?) we were going to check out if this one didnt look good. Any particular reason not to run synth in the trans? I switched my Ford CC diesel to synth and it runs cooler and shifts better... As for a cd changer, I'll keep an eye on ebay and check the wrecking yards on occasion, until then we'll do with tapes... | ||
| Milan (Milan) Senior Member Username: Milan Post Number: 266 Registered: 10-2002 |
Hi guys, I'm in Calgary. I have a 96 and I was just looking at Blue 95. You did not snatch that one by any chance, did you Glen? Sorry Wei, I only have 245s but you're still welcome to look at it or we could just get together for a beer. I'll try to get Kevin, who frequents this board also to join us. | ||
| Alan Yim (Alan) Senior Member Username: Alan Post Number: 772 Registered: 09-2002 |
Milan - you've got mail | ||
| Wei Quek (Apohis) New Member Username: Apohis Post Number: 12 Registered: 04-2003 |
Glen, do a search for ATF in the archives. There's discussion about synth ATF being "too smooth" for the ZF. Also, they are wrecking a 95 Disco at Standard Auto Recyclers in Ontario. I just bought a Castor alloy for 120bux. Give "Don" a call there and maybe you can find your CD. http://www.standardautowreckers.com Milan, beer sounds great! i already sent an email to your surelux.com addy. Email me at cactus(a)packetlabs.net | ||
| Milan (Milan) Senior Member Username: Milan Post Number: 267 Registered: 10-2002 |
Wei/Alan, Please use my hotmail account - milans37@hotmail.com | ||
| Alan Yim (Alan) Senior Member Username: Alan Post Number: 773 Registered: 09-2002 |
Oops, I sent it to the one listed in your profile. Send me an email to the address listed in my profile and I'll forward you the email I sent. | ||
| Milan (Milan) Senior Member Username: Milan Post Number: 269 Registered: 10-2002 |
Ok. Done. And I fixed the profile also. | ||
| Scott Paauwe (Sidewalkman) New Member Username: Sidewalkman Post Number: 1 Registered: 08-2003 |
Glen, welcome. Although I don't post much because I'm reading and learning I have a similar story. My wife drove an 89 Trooper for years and when the time came 6 months ago to replace it we looked at a few then looked at a few Discos. After seeing the additional value for a few bucks more we ended up with a mint 98 D1. I have heard every English LR horror story and last night though to tackle the front brake pads. They are by a mile the easiest brake job I have ever done. Hopefully all the rest will be too..... Good choice on a vehicle. | ||
| Glen A Stromquist (Glen_stromquist) New Member Username: Glen_stromquist Post Number: 4 Registered: 09-2003 |
Milan: Nope - mine is a beige model, IIRC I think the other I was going to look at may have been blue though, pretty sure that was the one in Carstairs and it may have been a 96... this is mine here: http://tinyurl.com/phqy ps. as it turns out this week there is another one that sounds like an even better deal!! oh well... http://tinyurl.com/phrk | ||
| Alan Yim (Alan) Senior Member Username: Alan Post Number: 774 Registered: 09-2002 |
Nice one Glen! Now get rid of those running boards and trim your front air dam! (if you plan on taking it off-road) | ||
| Milan (Milan) Senior Member Username: Milan Post Number: 270 Registered: 10-2002 |
Yeah, nice one Glenn! Kevin's the same color I think. I like the 95s because of the Distributor but that silver 96 looks like a good deal. Alan, did you get the mail yet? | ||
| Glen A Stromquist (Glen_stromquist) New Member Username: Glen_stromquist Post Number: 5 Registered: 09-2003 |
Scott - almost the same story as mine, our 89 trooper was getting tired and needed a head or head gasket, I still plan on getting this done and perhaps using it as a hunting vehicle or sell it to #1 son. We looked at a 95 trooper that was nice, V6 was very spunky and my wife had really gotten to like the standard (after MANY teeth-gnashing driving lessons from me!) But it was not much less $$ and by the time we added air for $1500 we were almost at the same price as the LR, so we decided to make the 600 km round trip and take a look, the rest is (recent) history as they say... But I have to say here that I have NO complaints about troopers, I picked my 89 up in 98 for a song and it gave many trouble free years of use... very nice little units all in all and a better choice than most other SUV's in the same class. We were also looking at adding the additional seat in the back as I have 5 kids, the LR already had the cool little jump seats in the back and it was a $700 add-on for the trooper (if I could find one up here) | ||
| Glen A Stromquist (Glen_stromquist) New Member Username: Glen_stromquist Post Number: 6 Registered: 09-2003 |
Alan - nocando! this is my wifes ride and the running boards were a BIG + for her, she really likes them for the littler ones getting in & out. I do plan to take it out on the odd little foray tho, but I doubt I'd be to popular carting back a deer or two int the back, even though there is plenty of room!! When the current michelins wear out I want to put something a bit taller on though, but it doesnt look like there is an abundance of room in the wells, so we'll see.... | ||
| Andrew Maier (Newman) Member Username: Newman Post Number: 222 Registered: 04-2003 |
Glen -- there's a solution to your "not much room in the wells" problem: a lift. Look it up in the archives here, but there's a veritable ton (tonne?) of information here about lifting these trucks for bigger tires. And get rid of the running boards. The kids'll learn to get in and they're really not that much help. And trim the front airdam. It even looks better without it! | ||
| Alan Yim (Alan) Senior Member Username: Alan Post Number: 775 Registered: 09-2002 |
Glen - if you still want to have a step for the kids and wife to step up into the truck, go to http://www.rovertym.com/ and check out the sliders for the Discos. Kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. I don't have any but a lot of folks here seem to like them. Milan - yea I did. Did you get the email I sent you about the two 98 Discos for sale up here? | ||
| john heath (Jheath6) Member Username: Jheath6 Post Number: 50 Registered: 09-2003 |
all running boards are is snow plows with a different name take them off my little one get in just fine without them | ||
| Milan (Milan) Senior Member Username: Milan Post Number: 271 Registered: 10-2002 |
Alan, I got nothing. I got nothing from Wei too and I sent him an email as well. I'm confused now. |
