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doing my own maintenance

First off I want to say this news group is one of the best I susbscribe to.

Maybe its because most of the posters are not from here (US), I don't know.

Anyhow, I live in San Diego, grew up in Fiji, lived in New Zealand and Australia, have owned Fords, Jeeps, Hondas etc.. and always wanted a Land Rover. I bought a 98 Disco last year and have come to know it and love more than any car I have had since.

I just recently replaced all the fluids, spark plugs, filters, and serpentine belt and must say that had I taken it to the one and only local dealer I would have been set back at least a grand. Instead, I spent about $200 on parts and spent a couple Saturday mornings doing the deeds. And from what I my research says on getting replacement parts here, they are no more expensive then my previouse Jeeps, which compared to my disco, was a much less refined piece of engineering.

My question is:

If I care for this car well (its got a good service history), what sort of mileage will I see before needing to replace such things as the transfer box, transmissions or any other high priced major part? I drive it in the desert about 20 weekends a year, not much serious off-roading, but some harsh envirnments none the less.

Reply to
Marc
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Well you don't say whether or not it is a Diesel or Petrol.

If you are driving a Diesel Disco then I would expect that you could hit

300,000 miles on the engine without any major problems, if you change the oil regularly. If a Petrol then maybe 250,000 would be tops. You will need a clutch before then at about every 90,000 maybe a little more. Transmission and Gearbox could have same life as the engine but I would budget for a new one every 150,000 miles. New Diff at maybe 200,000. I would suspect though with desert driving you could reduce this to 150,000 miles.

You are talking in years for most of these components. A long time.

Can you get hold of Slick 50 and treat the engine with it? I swear by it, it is PTFE technology and so makes the engine more smoother.

Yours

A
Reply to
Andrew Renshaw

I've read pro's and con's about slick 50, personally I'm of the mind to regularly change fluids regularly with good quality stuff, but that's a whole other subject.

I love land rovers because they are built to last, when something does need fixing you can fix the bit that is broken rather than the whole unit (excepting newer LR's as in another thread at the moment). and if you keep rust at bay it'll go-on more or less forever.

I'm a fan of diesel engines as it's generally the case that they always outlive petrol engines, I have no idea why though. Having said that if you have a petrol engine in a land rover it's either the

2.25/2.5 engine which lasts a looong looong time or one of the rover V8's of which there are many running very well at over 20 years old now.

Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)

Reply to
Mr.Nice.

Because of the higher compression they are built more rigid. Heavier/larger/stronger bearings, shafts, pistons etc.

Kind regards, Erik-Jan.

Reply to
Erik-Jan Geniets

Oi, Marc, you can't just suck up to us like that! 8-)

"Anyhow, I live in San Diego, grew up in Fiji, lived in New Zealand and Australia, "

You have to be more discreet! Leave your money on the fridge.

Welcome to the list. The biggest problem here is that most posters are Pommies and they usually forget to say that they are in the UK when they ask a question requiring locality-specific help. The forget that we have the same name towns as they do. For example, I live only a few minutes from Penrith (but not Penrith in Scotland).

Ron Beckett Emu Plains, Australia

1995 P38A Range Rover HSE 4.6 Litre V8

Reply to
The Becketts

He did say he is in San Diego, USA, so that rules out diesel Discos.

Ron Beckett Emu Plains, Australia

1995 P38A Range Rover HSE 4.6 Litre V8

"Andrew Renshaw" wrote

Reply to
The Becketts

The Penrith in the UK is in the country of Cumbria, in England. ;o)

Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)

Reply to
Mr.Nice.

Bugger! I got that wrong!

Is Cumbria near Scotland?

Maybe I was confusing it with Perth?

Ron

Reply to
The Becketts

Yea Cumbria is one of the counties bordering Scotland.

There is a Perth in Scotland though :o)

Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)

Reply to
Mr.Nice.

Thanks for the replies all

I have a 1998 Disco I 4.0L V8 PFI 16V with automatic trans. My goal is to get another 6 years outta her without replacing the motor. The tranny, transfer case, and diffs I know may not last as long but I plan on doing my best to keep fluids and lube in top shape.

I too have read alot of pros and cons about slick 50 and am still too unsure to hop on the band wagon. I plan on doing oil changes every 3000 miles using quality oil so am not sure if I'd see any benefits with slick 50.

Regards, Marc

Reply to
Marc

That's in WA isn't it? Nick

Reply to
nick

I think the fact that diesels run at much lower RPMs also makes a difference.

Reply to
Gordon Wedman

In news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net, nick blithered:

Washington state?

Reply to
GbH

Agreed. Kind regards, Erik-Jan.

Reply to
Erik-Jan Geniets

With good servicing like that it'll be fine. The only things that will go wrong will be irritating little plastic things or electrics.

My '92 Tdi is at 200,000 miles and still going strong on all major components. TonyB

Reply to
TonyB

In message , The Becketts writes

I live in Penrith not the one in Australia or Scotland but the one in England.

Is there one in Scotland? Never heard of one.

Reply to
Freda Howson

Ahh! Thanks for that.

I haven't done geography since primary school and that was more than 45 years ago (didn't do it in high school).

Ron Beckett Emu Plains, Australia

1995 P38A Range Rover HSE 4.6 Litre V8

Reply to
The Becketts

Wot! In Washington, USA, as well? Well, I'll be!

Ron Beckett Emu Plains, Australia Mobile (within Australia) 0415 286 921 or (international) +61 415 286 921

1995 P38A Range Rover HSE 4.6 Litre V8

Reply to
The Becketts

Ahh, well you never went to same school of bad learning like me! 8-)

Ron Beckett Emu Plains, Australia

1995 P38A Range Rover HSE 4.6 Litre V8

Reply to
The Becketts

The benefits of an antipodean education - same quality, broad-ranging, classical education that I got. All these poms with 8 o-levels and 7 a-levels must be superior to us with our 5 subjects if we were lucky and went to a good school.

On the flipside we both probably learned to drive before our age hit double digits, and I've had my drivers licence since the day after I turned 15.

Reply to
EMB

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