Just Purchased a '02 Discovery

[BoerneDiscoII]

my wife and i have always wanted one and we just got it with only 52K. it's in great condition but am getting a vibration between 30-50mph which upon further investigation could be the u-joints going south on me.

any advice since i have about 2 weeks of warranty left with carmax?

also, i keep reading about K&N filters. are they worth the hype?

glad to be a LR owner!
-dave

[stolenheron]

congrats on your buy and welcome to the family. can you extend the warranty with carmax? if you can, definetly do it, a warranty will be a godsend when you get higher miles. also a big No no on the K&N filters, the oils on the filter will f-up your MAF sensors. stick with a factory paper filter, its much better for your rover as suprising as it may seem.

[KDamericano]

Sounds like probably the front driveshaft u-joints are on their way out. It's a very common problem. Best thing to do is to pull the front driveshaft and take it to any driveline shop and have it rebuilt with greasable ujoints.
Extending the warranty wouldn't be a bad thing, especially if any big repair comes up. Though, aftermarket warranties can be hit and miss, so you just have to educate yourself.

Welcome to the club!

[IWANTADISCO]

We had the same problem with our O2 as well. The dealer told us we needed new tires, and I just told them to please rotate and balance the tires. The problem is no more and I think we saved ourselves a ton of money. However, I would definitely have someone check and see how the drive shaft is just in case. Just remember that it might be a fix as easy as a rotate and balance.

[stolenheron]

i just needed a new set of tires when i had the problem at around 50mph. my disco's goodyear's got dimples on the lot from sitting there for so long.

[BoerneDiscoII]

thanks everyone.

i actually got the extended warranty as well.

wow...so no to the k&n filter? will keep that in mind.

great to meet everyone!
dave

[stolenheron]

yeah, no K&N, as shocking as that may sound, it can cause several issues on our rovers.

[slangel]

Welcome - you now have the disease! I love Boerne, TX! I used to live in SA - my son spends the summers there with his Grandmother.

[RudemanRB]

Welcome to the living hell, know as the Disco.

does the vibration appear when you accelerate? if so then it's a U-joint.
if not, then most likely the insides of your tires are worn, there have been so many versions of tire inflation. I tried several and I like 34PSI in the fronts and 38PSI in the rear.


K&N = Knuckleheads & NumbNuts filters

those filters are crap the reason why you get this "increase" in power is because they hardly filter anything. they let in more dirt particals than the OEM paper filter, which can lead to more dirt contaminating you MAF Sensor. and you'll have that check engine light staring at you.


Rudy

[Alak]

Automakers arnt dumb. They research their stuff and find the most cost effective way to maintain the longetivity of their vehicles.


For Example: K&N Filters are cheaper for the manufacturer as they are 'reusable'. But they arnt good for the vehicles lifetime so they dont use them.


Another thing is MAF sensors. MAP sensors are dirt cheap and take up virtually no space (Smaller than a cassette tape). MAF sensors are far more accurate than MAP sensors and cost more to make.

This is why expensive cars have MAF's (most of the time) and GM/FORD/Dodge's have MAP's. Of course, alot of the time depends on the TPS setup (Throttle position sensor).

MAF: Mass AirFlow (A 'tunnel' like sensor in the intake stream)

MAP: Manifold Absolute Pressure (Plugs in with a vaccuum line).

[Neil McCauley]

Wait til you get a visit from the 3 amigos....

[mark-ak]

I had a vibration issue (it was minor but noticeable) with my 2000 Discovery II (75k on the odometer at the time) that I noticed right after buying it -- also at similar speeds that you indicate. The tires were unbalanced and balancing solved this.

[RudemanRB]

like i said, you'll know if it's a u-joint if you take your foot of the gas pedal and the vibrating goes away.

[BoerneDiscoII]

Originally Posted by RudemanRB

like i said, you'll know if it's a u-joint if you take your foot of the gas pedal and the vibrating goes away.

yeah...it's at carmax right now. they are obviously going to try to rotate/balance the tires but i made it clear that if it doesn't resolve the problem, they owe me some u joints under their warranty.

they need to hurry because the weekend is coming and i want to get this thing dirty!

dave

[stolenheron]

good luck getting it fixed. i hope you get it offroad this weekend too, post up some new pics on the sites (btw thanks for joining my cardomain group!)