By Brett Barton (Brett) on Friday, October 12, 2001 - 03:52 am: Edit

I know that many of you have answered my posts. I sincerely appreciate all of the help that everyone has given me. I now need your experienced advice again. I am trying to decide if I should keep my beloved Discovery or trade it off for something else. Here are the facts.
95 Disco with all the options
90,000 miles.
In the last 3 months I have put on a new alternator, new serpentine belt, new tires and alignment, new brakes all the way around, new battery, new sheepskin seat covers, new exhaust, and a new rear window lift mechanism.
Here are my concern points. My thermostat locked up yesterday. (Not a huge cost, unless I got it too hot on the three hour trip home.) Leaky valve cover gaskets and a slow leak from the right front swivel. The climate control speed switch has two settings, off and intermittent on. Earlier this week it started raining inside the truck when it rains outside. I have no idea where the water is coming from. It looks to me that it is coming from both of the rear alpine windows. Could this be?

Will you all please tell me what else I should be expecting to replace in the near future. I rely on this car for my business every day and it really is tough when it is down and out of service. I am trying to decide if I should simply cut my losses and move on, or if I should continue to fix these things and keep it. (My fear is that whoever buys it will have 18-24 months of trouble free ownership and I will be sitting, wishing that I would have kept it.)

Any thoughts?

By Ron on Friday, October 12, 2001 - 03:58 am: Edit

Fuel pump would be my next concern. Maybe buy one and keep it in the truck. 20min swap and you are on your way.

Pour some swivel grease in the swivel and be done with it. Figure out the water leak and odds are it will be an easy fix.

Brett it is all in the attitude you have. Do you want a honda? or do you want a LR?

Ron

By Brett Barton (Brett) on Friday, October 12, 2001 - 04:48 am: Edit

Ron, Thanks for the input. I love the truck, I just want it to run and not give me any unnecessary problems. How would you best diagnose the water leak?

By Rob on Friday, October 12, 2001 - 04:48 am: Edit

Brett,

Did you do all the work yourself? What are you complaining about then didn't you have fun?
The great thing about a Disco is you can still climb in the engine and do the work yourself. That's what we are hear for.

By cartner on Friday, October 12, 2001 - 10:53 am: Edit

You mean climb ON the engine....Yeah man, keep the truck and think about how much you'll miss her when she's gone if you sell or trade. I mean, how much fun have you had when she IS working well...I wonder too sometimes, all of us do, but then think about all the cool stuff you can get done with a rover vs. a honda....

By gp (Garrett) on Friday, October 12, 2001 - 02:19 pm: Edit

get a watering can and start trying to isolate where the water is coming in. the alpines are very prone to leaking for sure. could be just a seal, but there are other areas water can leak in as well.
my '96 leaks in from the rear portion of the rain gutter and comes in from the rear speaker and just below the alpine. it is actually leaking from inside through a small 'body' seam.
before you go replacing the seals i would try and isolate it first. if you are using a watering can like i did give the water a little time to leak into the truck.......in most cases it will not be immediate.
the sunroofs are prone areas as well. try taking off the inside panel that is around the alpine. pretty easy to take off. just remove the rear seatbelt anchor and some of those plastic screws and you are set. good to get this taken care of as it will rust the floor and also stink up the truck.
good luck.

By Ron on Friday, October 12, 2001 - 02:29 pm: Edit

My bet would be rear door is misadjusted and water is getting by there. But what garret says will find the leak.

Ron

By Brett Barton (Brett) on Sunday, October 14, 2001 - 12:12 pm: Edit

Garrett and Ron- I had to drop the truck off this morning at the shop. I am leaking coolant somewhere on the back side of the engine between the engine and the firewall. I am too big to get in there and see exactly where it is coming from. When I get the truck back, I am going to try and fix my water problem. I looked in the sunroof and did not see any foreign matter that looked like it would cause problems. How would I adjust the rear door? Also, where would it leak there, since the water appears to be coming somewhere in the roof? Garrett, how would I fix a leak on the alpine window? Please do not laugh, but I am thinking of resealing all of the alpine windows with black silicone. (The truck is black.) Where specifically do you think that I should look in the sunroof area, since I did not see anything when I looked the first time?

By gp (Garrett) on Sunday, October 14, 2001 - 02:52 pm: Edit

nothing wrong at all with using the silicon. that is what i used along the rain gutter. just filled it up pretty good and figure i will have to re-apply ever year or so, since i currently do not keep the truck garaged. the tailgates on these trucks can also tend to sag a little and come out of alignment. mine is not perfect at all and rattles a good bit. it helped that i re-adjusted the striker plate at the locking mechanism. it was a little loose and straightening it up and tightening it as well helped. but take a look and see how the gaskets work. you will have to lift up the gasket and pump the silicone in for your idea to work. but first make sure this is where you are leaking the water in. you may end up doing it all for nothing. took me a little time to pin point the place where mine was leaking, but the alpines are pretty common for leaking. even the side windows tend to crack at the corners on trucks over 4 years or there abouts.
as for the leaking coolent. check the archieves. this is also something that seems to happen to some folks as i have seen this posted many times on this board.
good luck.