Your help and advice please - buying a 2000 Discovery 4.0 V8i ES

£3500 from a garage? Bloody hell! I sold my 2000 DII 4.0 V8 XS (on LPG) 13 months ago for £6500!! It was a real tidy one though, with around 55k on the clock. Watch out for coolant usage, usually indicative of a more serious issue developing, either head gaskets or the dreaded cracked block issues. Rear brake calipers seem to get sticky, various people report air suspension issues and ACE pipework leaks, but I never had any issues at all with mine, it was a superb vehicle. Mine was a relatively unusual colour as well, metallic Kinversand, a sort of orangy/redish bronze colour. I got virtually a steady 15mpg on gas regardless of how I drove it or what type of roads I was on, even with a trailer behind me. Badger.

Thanks very much for your advice! You note a few things to be wary of - coolant, head gaskets and cracked block - are there any clues or noticeable signs that there are problems in these areas? You also mention the 'dreaded cracked block' - does this imply that it is a common fault - and an expensive one also? Thanks for you help - V8 is new to me!

Check coolant level. Test drive. Check coolant again. Any sign of water leakage, walk away.

Exactly what Rich said! Roughly around 10% of these engine blocks either have or will suffer from cracking of the aluminium block casting behind the cylinder liners, allowing combustion gases to pressurise the cooling system excessively and then blow water out of the pressure relief valve in the header tank cap. A permanent cure is available by way of a modified engine block, but whilst permanent it isn't cheap at around £2k for the rebuilt engine! The problem is nowhere near as widespread as some would have you believe, but it does happen. I know of plenty of 4.0 engines that have well over

100,000 miles on them with no issues. My own one was worked hard from time to time and had no issues whatsoever. Don't let it put you off what is probably one of the best variants of the Disco ever made - it's like a limousine compared to the TD5! Badger.

I had the auto td5 & i could walk faster. Also only did 20mpg.

Now that was an unreliable pile of s**te.

Thank you all!!! Brilliant advice!

In message , Cymro writes

Ask if there is a certificate for the LPG conversion. It is not mandatory or essential but will show who installed it and also widens your choice of insurance company as some insist on it. It will also show the date of certification. Tanks are only certified for 10 years so you could be approaching the end of their lifetime if the vehicle was converted when new.

Also put some gas in it and take it for a test drive. There should be no hesitation when accelerating and no problems such as stalling on tick over. None of the problems are insurmountable but you can always use them to negotiate the price down.

My 98 Defender has virtually the same engine and goes well on LPG, but don't ask about the mpg. It's done about 85k on it. I do use a bit of coolant but I reckon topping it up is cheaper than sorting it even if it is a bit inconvenient.

If you've never had a V8 then I would say go for it. Every one should own one at least once.

Agreed.

Whaaaaat? I got at least 21-22. :)

Mine was pretty good, reliability-wise. It was just a crap towcar. 120-odd horses pulling a 2-tonne vehicle through an autobox was never going to set the world alight. Add a heavy trailer and acceleration is akin to watching paint dry. And you could sit and watch the fuel gauge go down. In comparison, the 16mpg I got from the 4.6 RR (twice the power, twice the speed, half the effort) was good value :)

On or around Sun, 4 Jan 2009 18:37:10 -0000, "Badger" enlightened us thusly:

[good stuff]

I assume that's a thor engine, in which case finding out what gas conversion is on it would be good. ISTR that they only really work well with SGI?

Brilliant - thanks very much. Hoping to go as see her on Saturday - and the advice is so helpful. As a mater of interest - what is the general opinion on a Disco V8i ES or a Range Rover V8? I see that the prices are so close these days as to make both viable options. (I might ask this as a question in its own right if no one sees this!). Would the RR make a better machine?

Disco II or I? The Disco II ES is pretty much top of the range for a Disco, so has lots of "toys" and "nice things". If the RR is nearer the bottom of the range it may well be significantly lacking in "toys" and "nice things" compared to a DII ES.

On or around Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:25:06 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice" enlightened us thusly:

Disco I and Classic Rangie are very similar, so it's down to what you're after: The disco is better as a people-carrier, has a rear door not a split tailgate. Boot space is about the same but the rangie has the option of leaving the tailgate down (albeit you can't see the numberplate then) to move a large thing short distances.

Front seats are better in the rangie, especially if it's a vogue. back seats are not much to choose, I think the rangie ones are slightly better but they tend to have less knee room as the front seats are bigger.

I've had both: I like the rangie better, I think, but I'm not trying to take a family on holiday.

I'm guessing that you're actually asking about DII and P38, but similar comparison applies. As was said, the Disco is more likely to be top-of-the-range.

The older RRC number plate on the 3 door hinged down, too.

... and you can carry longer things too, poking out the back. Lowered the tailgate's a seat, workbench, table, standing platform. You can reach the towball from inside without getting your feet wet, reach inside without the contents falling out ..... all in all a much more practical arrangement in my eyes.

The 'it's easier to get stuff out of the Disco' argument is a non-starter for me.

If you're choosing between the Discos, all this is irrelevant!

As a matter of interest how much does an LPG conversion cost? There is another - slightly fresher and cheaper V8 in the garage - but no LPG. Could anyone suggest a ballpark price for converting to LPG. Thanks again for all your advice.

800-1000 quid ? Depends on your tank options. I saw a Tinley Tech tank for discos which on its own was 650 quid.

Steve

I don't know about ballpark figures but here's what I'd charge. Done properly, with decent quality equipment and fully tested with no issues, for a single tank in the boot I'd take £1850. It's not the easiest of engines to set up properly and there are certain issues with where you take various electrical feeds from as well. If you wanted underneath tanks, it'd be more due to the extra cost for 2 tanks instead of 1, an additional (smaller) petrol tank and the extra labour. Some people, when quizzed about internal tank sizes, will tell you that you can't put a 90ltr tank down one side of the boot - it can be done with a bespoke tank frame, I know because I've done a few, keeping 2/3 of the boot free and the larger of the rear seats still foldable for longish loads. You can't fit sill tanks to a DII because of the ACE and Air Suspension. Badger.

Depends on which type of system you go for. I'd recommend an sgi system on a DiscoII and Badgers quote is about right.

You can get away with a simpler system - an Impco variable geometry open loop will work adequately and cost about £1100. I'm not a fan of the single point closed loop systems on this size of engine.