Just bought a 95 Disco... questions requesting answers

[KO-SALES-TEAM]

I just bought a 95 Disco with 107k miles on it on Sunday evening, and I spent about 4 hours reading threads on this forum and one other last night! lol...

I am very well versed with BMWs, but new to Rover. This is my second SUV work truck though, as my last one was totalled in an accident in August, (a 93 Pathfinder XE-V6), and the Rover is my new truck (finally got the insurance cash!).

Here's some questions I've not come up with good answers for yet from doing all my reading up:

Q#1 - will switching to 10/40 (I think that's what it was) really make a good difference in gas mileage and power / smoothness? Why does this change work so well for these Rovers?

Q#2 - I noticed that the engine bay and hood got VERY hot on my test drive. I have never had a vehilce that got a hot hood like that before, but, seeing as the car wasn't making any strange sounds or anything I figured this has somethig to do with this model Rover and I even found a thread were someone else mentioned engine bay heat being a typical part of Rovers. Is this true?

Q#3 - K&N vs. Stock OE Air box filters... what's the current opinion on these... I saw some guys that said, yes, these work great as a mod, and later on almost seemed to change their minds!

Q#4 - I noticed a "dead spot" on normal acceleration around 40-60 mph... is this normal? If I kick it down, it seems to get up there, but this is my first Automatic in a while so it is weird for me. Normal?

Q#5 - I would like to see if I actually like offroading... any good spots to get out there in South Florida?

Q#6 - How many front brush guards are available for my 95 Disco from Genuine Rover, and how many and what brands are available aftermarket? I don't live near any rocks so I don't think I'll be looking into a Rock Slider (? I think that's what you guys call them), but would like a cattle pusher / traffic clearer beefy brush guard.

More questions coming soon!
-John Paul

[01001010]

John...I'm going to be back down in Miami Nov 9-21...I'll be taking a friend off road in her new Jeep JK so if you want to tag along for introductory lessons...feel free...I'll PM you my phone number.

[Capt. Ron]

Ok KO, since no onw else has answered you, I'll give it a try.

#1) If you want to be safe, use what the mfg recommends. I don't think you'll have any noticeable power increase/loss with thicker/thinner oils and you certainly won't notice a diff. in mileage.

#2) Normal. They are HOT!

#3) The opinions are as varied as there are vehicle set ups. I have a K&N and haven't noticed a difference, except I'm not paying $11.00 every three months for a paper filter. So in that respect, it was worth the price. I'll say this too, if you get one, let it sit out in the open for a couple hours~to dry some of the oil. Then install. There's opinions on that too...

#4) Not sure about that. Mine is a dog at any speed.

#5) I didn't know I liked off-roading until I got my first Disco.

#6) Several, along with some guys who make them to order. You'll find them on places like LRO, Dweb, Pirate4x4. Some of them are better than say ARB in my opinion.

[Funrover]

Q1 - You won't notice better MPG,s but the rover will love you!

Q2 - Yup, they get warm.. just watch the guage as to not overheat!

Q3 - The K&N really seem to cause a lot of issues with the MAF sensor, with the price of those you don't really want to mess with them!

Q4 - Well the rover is nothing like BMW for highway speeds and such. I have a dead area from 65 - 75 (or so)

Q5 -

Q6 - Personally I like the Rovertym bumpers(www.rovertym.com) but other companies such as TJM, ARB, Equipe!

[KO-SALES-TEAM]

Originally Posted by 01001010

John...I'm going to be back down in Miami Nov 9-21...I'll be taking a friend off road in her new Jeep JK so if you want to tag along for introductory lessons...feel free...I'll PM you my phone number.

Hi!

That sounds like a blast. I prefer emails over PM if that is OK, please email me and I look forward to getting in touch with you.

-John Paul

PS - I just saw the new Jeep JK at the SEMA show in Las Vegas (got back today). Very cool!

[KO-SALES-TEAM]

Thanks again to the guys that have been posting back on my questions.

Sorry for the delayed replys. I just got back from SEMA and it was quite an experience. So many great new products out there.

OK... looks like everyone likes synthetic, high mileage, 10W40 which is the recommended oil (10W40) that the factory recommends on new trucks.

Q: what brand oil do you guys most pefer? There are zillions. At the SEMA show, I was impressed by Motul's line. Has anyone tried Motul in their D1?

In addition, my truck has developed (sooo soon after buying it ) an under cabin (towards the front of the truck) "rolling rocks" sound, which I am going to have checked out tomorrow.

Symptoms: It only happens at certain RPM ranges or road speeds, and comes and goes through the range both on the acceleration and braking side. My experience with my Pathfinder having a drive-shaft support bearing go out on the highway leads me to believe that this is most likely the same issue and that the sheer solidness and weight of the D1 is why the truck is not shaking violently when the noise is evident like the Pathfinder did.

The other option is that it may be my sequential differential (correct name?) going out? I read on either this board or the other big Rover board that that can be an issue with these trucks in the mileage range I have.

Any ideas?

The engine seems to be fine, and the speed is there, but the noise is getting worse, so I don't plan on driving it around much except for absolute necessity until I get it fixed.

I plan on changing the oil and oil filter at the same time while I'm at it.

Q2: how much does a drive-shaft support bearing or fixing the sequential gear box run? (different fixes, but curious). I'm interested in both parts and labor, as I can secure my parts at wholesale, but will have to take the truck to a service shop for the install.

Bonus:
Does anyone offer aftermarket tuning in the USA for D1s?

At SEMA, part of the focus of my trip was to research shop tools, in particular dyno's and ECU tuning / EPROM tuning systems and so far, I have not come accross any companies doing aftermarket EPROM OBD1 tuning for Discoverys.

-John Paul

[KO-SALES-TEAM]

Update:

OK... it looks like I didn't last long before my Rover needed repairs ...

Currently in shop for repairing the following:

1) Front Wheel Bearing Kits, King Pins
2) Brake Master Cylinder
3) Guibo
4) Serpentine Belt
5) Front and Rear Brake Pads

Good news is, the car should be safe to drive again (anyone who's ever had the master cylinder go out will know exactly what I'm talknig about)

Additionally:

I found out fromt the mechanic, that my Disco came with 20W50 from the factory (as a natural oil). I have been doing a lot of reading about oils lately and I'm not done yet, but it looks like I am going to change to a full synthetic, and the front runner is Motul, a formula 1 brand I saw at SEMA last week. They have a full synthetic that seems to be the real deal. Of particular note, it claims a very high heat capacity before it fails, which, now that I see how hot these babys run in the engine bay makes a lot of sense to me. In addition, as a full synthetic, it has a very low friction compared to natural oil, so I am hoping to see some better gas mileage and more power to boot, as the engine won't have to lose so much power to the oil and can put it to better use...

More on this later... I still have some more research to do and will get back to you guys... my bank account has to recover after this round of repairs.

-John Paul

[KO-SALES-TEAM]

Update:

OK... so after the repairs mentioned in the posting directly above this one, I had the truck back for about a week and it started dying on start...

This problem turned into the car dying at idle while on the road at stop lights, and eventually I figured out that either:

a) the alternator or
b) the battery

needed to be replaced.

Hoping to get lucky I went with the battery first and sure enough, the car drove GREAT and fired up with no issues, etc. with a new battery.

Since I bought the car used, only after I removed the existing battery and placed in the new one did I see that the battery in the truck was only bought in June of this year!

None-the-less, hey, at least I got back on the road again right?

So I've been driving it around for about 3 or 4 weeks now with the new battery, with the spare ("old battery") in the back, as sure enough the new one lasted about 20 starts and then started showing the same symptoms until it too started to fail to start at all, in which cases, the "old" battery has been used to "jump" the car... handy little trick by the way... I would have always thought another car would have been needed or one of those little charger deals, but the other battery hooked up to the one in the truck seems to do the trick for a about 4 or 5 days of starts for some reason....

Which seems to point out that the Alternator IS indeed the problem...

So now, after doing some research, I have determined that, I may be able to save myself some gas mileage, improve power and effieicnecy all-around in addition to not having to worry wether or not the truck will start each time with a new alternator, and esp. IF I can get my hands on a high-efficiency alternator, or if they don't make one of those for the Disco, I'd opt for a high-output performance alternator.

In addition, I want a truely NEW alternator and not a Reman unit.

Does any one have any suggestions or experience with:

1. high efficiency
2. high output / performance
3. brand new, NOT reman

Alternators for 95 Discos?

(PS - after having the truck now for about 6 weeks, I have to admit I LOVE it when it works, except for the gas mileage! I got about 12 miles to the gallon on my last tank, some of which may be due to the alternator issue?)

-John Paul

[KO-SALES-TEAM]

OK... I ordered a rebuilt alternator, the premium one with the heavy duty parts. It is on the way...

However, now I have a new problem.

I had been successfully buying myself a couple days of starting the car by jumping it with other cars, however today, we tried to Jump the car and NOTHING happened.

The battery was weak, and didn't even try to turn over.

Could this be:

1) the starter is bad?
2) the alarm system kill switch to the starter did not disengage for some reason and so the starter wasn't even engaged?

The strange thing is that even with the jump, the lights on the car did not light up to max like normal...

Could a bad alternator prevent the other electrical systems from functioning properly (ie. why was the dash lights, etc. barely lighting up even though we were jumping the car!)

help on this would be much appreciated!
-John Paul

[KO-SALES-TEAM]

Update 3/8/08 -

OK... so, I've only owned it since October, but I think I've learned a LOT about these things because of all the damn repairs!

Previously, I got rid of the no starting issue by flipping on the headlights when I got the strange electrical issues related to the alarm.

Maybe there was a lose current in the electrical system somewhere related to the alarm and the lighting system, but what did the trick (and I haven't had a single repeat of this issue again) was that when I would turn off the truck, if the dome light when I opened the truck did not come all the way on, then I knew I would have this issue with the alarm not working properly (remote wouldn't open the car, etc.) and the alarm function would leave the starter disengaged, so if I saw the dome lights dim and not full lit, then I would turn on the headlights, and the dome lights would shine full. This signaled me that the rest of the electrical system would work fine.

I had to do that maybe two or three times when I figured out that this would fix the mystery, and I haven't had to do it again not for probably 1-2 months.

the truck has however had more issues with starting up...

I had a timing issue that had to be fixed short of changing out the timing chain (probably will need that to happen within the next 4-6 months actually according to the mechanic... not a cheap job by the way... labor will be like 450$!), and a spark plug change, which really helped pep the car up and got me a little better gas mileage.

A week later the car just stopped starting at all and wouldn't even turn over at all.

I had my sales guys help me push it to the local mechanic and it turned out that the starter motor was done.

Picked up a lifetime warranty premuim rebuilt unit from my NAPA dealer at wholesale and gave it to the mechanic and we are back in business! YES!

I'm hoping that all these fixes will give me 70-100k out of the truck. I'd hate to fix it all up and not get the benefits out of it. I always feel bad for those guys that fix up a car, get sick of fixing it and sell it at a killer deal to the next guy who gets a fixed car, that lasts him for a long time with no headaches... I'm committed to reaping the benefits on my money damn it!

OK... here's another question for you guys:

I thought the fleted change holder in the dash would slide out for easier access and I snapped off half of it with my finger! ARG! the dash was PERFECT before this as the previous owner had had it replaced under warranty due to warping in the sun or something....

I'm guessing I can probably buy JUST that piece from my LR dealer at wholesale, but I am curious if anyone has a clue how to install it?

OR am I shafted and that whole thing is one piece... I hope not.

-John Paul

PS - by the way, the start up issues did not have anything to do with the Battery, nor alternator, which I ended up not having to replace (although I did get a brand new battery) and was still good after all.