Just got back from two weeks touring la douce France. I phoned the dealer when I got back, so here goes (this contributrion might deserve a long message alert):
My '98 Disco 1 actually was in the danger zone (of affected VIN-ranges), but neither repair kit was ever fitted. If you want to be really sure, your second hand 300 TDi (Disco, Defender or RR) was "fixed", contact the importer (outisde the UK) or Land Rover. There, a warranty administrator keeps track of all the warranty stuff and lists all ((partly) refuted) warranty claims with their VIN-numbers. Dealers often can't remember and/or keep lousy records. For instance, the dealer who sold "my" Disco to the first owner, marked his warranty claims on small cards, the paper kind, which all vanished into the BMW-parallel universe when the Germans took over.
The dealer explained that not all timing belts from the "danger zone" were in any actual danger. Premature wear and failure due to misalignment of (injection pump) pulleys (should) manifest themselves before the 40.000 km (25.000 mile) mark. Mine has done some 65 K km now, and the timing belt is still going strong. I'm having it changed at the next MOT-check in november though, because of old age (5,5 years). According to the (very able) head mechanic at my service shop (which is not the Land Rover dealer) and Land, a French magazine for Land Rover enthousiasts (that did a special on the 300 TDi engine in their august-september issue (not on the internet)), there is a reasonably (!!) safe and easy way to see if your timing belt is on the way out: in the bottom section of the timing belt cover, there is a small, threaded venting whole, where the plug goes when you're going wading (Haynes "Disco", 2B-8, ill. 6.26: between the D and the B); take a small flashlight and point the beam inside the timing belt housing: if there is a fluffy black substance, dust, so to speak, you ought to start worrying. The French suggested taping the whole off with some masking tape and "reading" timing belt wear after three days of driving. I fear, however, that the masking tape will not stick very well to the greasy, oily engine of a car that - like somebody remarked recently - has more leaks than Titanic.
A few words on paintmark policy. Dutch paintmark policy, like I said, but with a distinct international ring to it. There is in fact such a thing as paintmark policy, but you don't want to trust it: some dealers have a tendency to sloppyness, mechanics are overworked and may tend to forget their paint jobs, and not seldom the repair guy turnover rate precludes the implementation of a fail-proof paintmark policy. This is not my imagination, this is what the "field" told me.
Finally. Mine had the green tabbed gasket, but no repair kit. For those who are interested: for repair kit part numbers, what they contain and which vehicles to fit them to, see
Cheers,
Richard.